Author Topic: Kempton Park sewage works  (Read 2568 times)

Martin Kellermann

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Kempton Park sewage works
« on: September 04, 2017, 21:11:38 »
Sometimes photography takes us to queer places. Some time ago my friend who is a water scientist and I visited an abandoned sewage works of the Ekhuruleni (previously Kempton Park) city. It was a fascinating pace, not all that safe, but full of photography opportunities. I was happy to have an expert with me who could explain what all the structures are used for. The graffiti artists were there long before us  :) :) :). Martin

Peter Connan

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2017, 18:39:06 »
Martin, you are a braver man than me. I drive past this facility regularly, but have not been able to scrape up the courage to examine it on foot.

Do you live close by?

Martin Kellermann

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2017, 19:19:50 »
Hi Peter,
Nice to meet a fellow SA NG member in cyber space. I used to live in Pretoria, I am now located in George. I would also not venture there on my own - I was with a friend that knew the facility in his professional capacity. Always the better option to be with company in these run-down places.
Kind regards, Martin

Peter Connan

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2017, 05:30:21 »
Thanks for the reply Martin. Give me a shout if you ever come this way again?

elsa hoffmann

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2017, 06:44:03 »
Martin - your sewerage works looks a tad different to our sewerage works in Cape Town... We dont have such lovely art. cool shots
"You don’t take a photograph – you make it” – Ansel Adams. Thats why I use photoshop.
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Jakov Minić

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2017, 08:55:15 »
Always nice to see graffiti, thanks.
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

Akira

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #6 on: September 07, 2017, 13:39:21 »
Colorful but a bit spooky.  I wonder where the skeleton of a crummy (?) came from.  Did it accidentally fall into the sewage and drowned (when the sewage was still in operation) or starved (after it had been abandoned)?
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Martin Kellermann

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2017, 09:54:09 »
Akira,
The place is a bit spooky. All the closed structures and vessels had a gap blown by dynamite so that when you fall in you could get out. Some of these openings you can see in the images. The animal, I don't know what it was, probably a goat or a sheep, was most likely slaughtered, cooked and eaten by the vagrants that moved in soon after the facility was shut down. When we visited there was no sign of vagrants  - fortunately. Martin

Akira

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2017, 12:44:55 »
Martin, thanks for the details of the place.  Blowing the structures by dynamite seems to be the appropriate way to keep the abandoned sewage from becoming a dangerously secret place.
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Peter Connan

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #9 on: September 12, 2017, 20:48:00 »
Not sure how long ago the photos were taken, but an open field close by is used regularly nowadays for religious ceremonies.

I am wondering whether the (goat?) was slaughtered in some form of ceremony? Having said that though, I don't know too much about it.

Erik Lund

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Re: Kempton Park sewage works
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2017, 13:23:06 »
First shot stand out for me, the iron reinforcement blending with the grass in the foreground is striking!
Erik Lund