In the district of Buckau, a small distance from the Centre of Magdeburg languish since 1996 the abandoned factory halls of Schwermaschinenbau-Kombinat Ernst Thälmann. SKET, once the largest employer in Magdeburg with around 13.000 employees, produced heavy machinery for the industry here, not only for the Eastern bloc countries but also for the West.
I found this place thanks to a tip from a nice old-port worker. It was a cloudy afternoon with sporadic dabs of rain when I parked my bike near the extensive site. Fortunately there was a door half open in the large metal gate otherwise it would have been a difficult climb to get in. Unfortunately I had but a few hours of time to take pictures. Hope to return soon here before the whole lot has been demolished because there were a couple more, impressive buildings ogling me..
Most photos were made from tripod with (once again) the Canon 24-105 mm. Next time I definitely bring the 17-40 mm with me.
For the enthusiasts who can read German an news paperarticle with some facts about SKET in Magdeburg.

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In a train station annex house near the village of Neuegersleben in Eastern Germany I found a blue, metal letter A. It was not clear where the letter had served for. Maybe someday it hung somewhere in the station and had meaning for the travellers. Or did somebody bring the A from another place and had just left it behind? In two sessions I made a series in which I gave the mysterious A a home within the different spaces of the languishing building.
In the last century Hitler passed here by train on the way to Berlin. Now the rails have been removed and sold as scrap metal. Like a harbour without water.

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Last summer I made a photo series during two days in a dilapidated brewery in the town Oschersleben in Saschen-Anhalt province. Here the in former East Germany popular Germania beer was brewed until the production was stopped in 1995 and the building was abandoned.
When traveling around as a photographer this is one of my favorite subjects. The contrast between mysterious devices that are a prey of decay, half collapsed spaces and nature slowly but surely paving a way on and in between the debris and the rustleaved machines.
The photos are shot from a tripod with a wide angle lens and a 50 mm lens, both by Canon, and occasionally a strobe in combination with a diffuse flash umbrella.

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