Welcome in the lonesome, but fascinating world of Urban Exploration. With urban exploring, the explorers are creating an exposure of the lost glory and industrial decline. Thus documenting normally unwanted and forbidden parts of our society.
Dutch photographer Jan Stel started taking pictures in his teenage years, visually exploring lifes moments. The old Nikon camera and lens gear from his dad made him even more interested. After the art academy he has done a follow up course in photography. With his skills in Photoshop, Motion and his profession at Souverein it has made him a specialist in creative imagery.
The fascination for derelict structures and corroded colors made him search for unique abandoned and desolate places. Attracted by the beauty of these abandonments, he started capturing the long forgotten history of that past. Trespassing of these abandonments is forbidden and quite dangerous. But in common, gates are wide open and doors are unlocked. Now he's showing the beauty of what most people at first sight experience as ugly and lost. In respect Stel never forces his way in and doesn't take any souvenirs. By doing so, the conditions where left as they were when he entered the scene.
In 2011 Jan Stel made his first portraits. They were exhibited at FotoFestival Naarden in 2011.
