NY Times - "The Wilderness Below Your Feet"

Excellent article by Alan Feuer in the New York Times Metropolitan Section (or N.Y/Region section online) on the December 2010 expedition by me and Erling Kagge. Photos in the article by Steve Duncan, Andrew Wonder, and Times Photographer Michael Appleton.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/nyregion/02underground.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
Slideshow: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/01/02/nyregion/02underground-ss.html

"On Top of the World with the Recreational Trespassers" - London's Guardian

 My photos appeared in a short article:
"On Top of the World with the Recreational Trespassers"
Guardian (London)
Nov 15, 2010

"What Lies Beneath" - Metro New York, Thurs Oct 7

"What Lies Beneath: Uncovering NYC's Lost Underground"
Metro New York
Thurs Oct 7, 2010

"An Urban Spelunker Pursues His Vision," The Westsider, June 18 2009, Front Page

"An Urban Spelunker Pursues His Vision" 

The Westsider

June 18 2009, Front Page

Article by Ryann Liebenthal, front page photo by Steve Duncan

 

Website of the Week at the Evening Leader Newspaper, North Wales

So I was in Russia, running through tunnels under Moscow and being terrified of the militisia (sort of the federal police), when I got this email:

to: steve@undercity.org
date: Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 6:10 PM
subject: Website of the week

Hi Steve,
Your site has made it onto our website of the week column at the Evening Leader newspaper in North Wales...Keep up the good work. My editor particularly loves your New York photography.
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/breaktime/Best-of-the-web-.5335134.jp

Cheers,
Mark

 I gotta admit, I was definitely a bit excited about this. North Wales is one of those areas that seemed more legend than reality when I was reading about it as a child. It contained the kingdom of Gwynedd, the Llŷn Peninsula, and has a mountain range called Snowdonia. Rivers have names like the River Dyfrdwy, the River Conwy, and the River Dyfi. Anyone who ever read Lloyd Alexander as a child and fell in love with Princess Eilonwy will doubtless understand my excitement over this part of the world.

Anyway, regardless of my love of Welsh names, I know I'm in good company because Mark's "Best of the Web" column, in follwing weeks, also included things like Alias' excellent photography (mostly of sites in the UK) at http://www.guerillaphotography.fotopic.net/, and Tom Kirsch's - AKA Motts - beautiful photos (primarily from sites in the NYC region) at http://www.opacity.us.

On the cable of the GW Bridge - With permission!

New York Post
April 14, 2009
Article by Don Kaplan
My deepest thanks to Don for taking me along as the photographer on such a fun assignment! Don is an excellent writer and a deeply interested & thoughtful reporter. It's too bad that it didn't get more space to run-- I think that there should have been more of both his article and my photos.

NY Post: Notes from the Underground

"Notes from the Underground," New York Post, 3/6/09
Story by Don Kaplan, photos by Steve Duncan
Had a great time working on this story with Don Kaplan, who writes a fascinating set of feature stories for the New York Post.

Article:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03062009/entertainment/notes_from_the_underground_158320.htm 

Photo Gallery:
http://www.nypost.com/photos/galleries/entertainment/pp_20090306_mole/photo01.htm

The New York Times: Columbia's Historic Atom Smasher (Photo Credit)

The New York Times
"Columbia's Historic Atom Smasher Is Now Destined for the Junk Heap"
December 20, 2007
N.Y./Region
By William Broad; Photo by Steve Duncan

La Stampa (Italy): Urban Explorers, La tribu della notte

La Stampa (Newspaper-Italy)
"Urban Explorers, La tribu della notte"
August 1, 2007
Text by Maurizio Molinari, Photos by Steve Duncan

New York Times: Children of Darkness

The New York Times
"Children of Darkness"
Text by Ben Gibberd, photos by Steve Duncan and Miru Kim
July 29, 2007
NY Region/Metro Section
Online at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/nyregion/thecity/29shad.html?pagewanted=all

Village Voice cover (Gowanus Dredgers)

Village Voice, May 24-30, 2006

This isn't exactly urban exploration, but I love it. The photo on the cover of the Voice shows me and my girlfriend at the time, the wonderful Captain Ellie of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, enjoying an afternoon snack of baguettes and wine on the Gowanus Canal.
The article was about the Gowanus Dredgers and had nothing to do with me, except that I was in love with the Captain.

New York Times: Wriggling Through Cracks in the Urban Facade

New York Times
"Wriggling Through Cracks in the Urban Facade"
March 29, 2006, Metro Section (front page)
Text by Dan Barry, photos by Marilynn K. Yee
Full article online at http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/29/nyregion/29about.html










New York Times, June 7, 2006, a photo from the same trip in a small piece by photographer Marilynn Yee:

Milwuakee Journal Sentinal: Urban Explorers

Milwuakee Journal Sentinal Online
"Urban explorers: No trespassing' signs don't stop them. They love abandoned buildings, but take only photographs"
By Raquel Rutledge
Dec. 27, 2005

Online at http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=380898

New York Daily News: Urban Explorer Leads Drainees

New York Daily News, August 2, 2005
"Urban Explorer Leads Drainees"
Page 27 in Print Edition.
Text by Derek Rose, photos by John Tracy.

Text from: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2005/08/02/2005-08-02_urban_explorer_leads_drainees.html

URBAN EXPLORER LEADS DRAINEES
Tuesday, August 2nd 2005
AS WE DESCEND into the cavernous storm sewer tunnel, the air feels cool and smells remarkably odor-free. There's the soft sound of running water, while the concrete walls are damp and rough. For the next few hours, a tour guide named Steve Duncan will be leading a small group of explorers through the underground network of drainage tunnels in Queens. "Knowing that there's a labyrinth of tunnels, who wouldn't want to go down here?" asks Duncan, 26, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. "Once you realize how much there is out there, it's hard to resist." The editor of the Web site undercity.org, Duncan has seen much of the city that's off-limits and underground, beneath a manhole or behind a closed grate. Today it's a storm sewer in Queens. Tomorrow it might be an abandoned subway station, a derelict mental hospital or the Old Croton Aqueduct, a 40-mile water tunnel unused since 1890. They avoid the sealed "sanitary" sewage system. "It's sort of uncharted territory in a place millions of people live," said Lefty Leibowitz, 34, of Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. "And it's kind of fun to be places you're not supposed to be." The followers of the odd hobby called UE - urban explorations - or sometimes urban spelunking, are young adventurers intent on documenting the hidden infrastructure of cities. But authorities say UE can be hazardous and illegal - especially given security concerns in the post-9/11 world. "They are not allowed in our sites," said city Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ian Michaels. "As you can probably imagine, we do not approve of unauthorized visitors. These are dangerous places. I only hope whatever they're doing, they're being very, very careful." Duncan tries to be cautious, carrying an air monitor to warn of possible contaminants, but concedes he was once caught by a changing tide while exploring a storm tunnel system near Jamaica Bay. "It was actually the closest to dying I've ever been," said Duncan, who escaped the rising tide by making an unscheduled exit up a manhole. Nothing nearly so dramatic occurs during today's adventure, with the explorers mostly encountering just ankle-deep rainwater and the odd bit of trash. "It's a lot less disgusting than I thought it'd be," said Amanda Wagner, 22, a paralegal and Columbia University student on her first storm-sewer trek. "It's clean here, cleaner than it is up there."
drose@nydailynews.com

The Buffalo News (Newspaper): 'Urban Explorers' take on Buffalo

The Buffalo News (Newspaper)
"'Urban Explorers' take on Buffalo"
August 21, 2004, Page D1.
Photos by Sharon Cantillon, Text by Tom Buckham.

New York Times: PsyGeoConflux Festival (Photo only)

New York Times
Article on PsyGeoConflux Festival 2003
May 12, 2003
Metro Section, Page B6
Photo by Michelle Agins