Stress. Not only the title of one of my favorite songs, but also something that i have recently had quite a lot of. What is one of the best ways to release stress? Right, a day at the swimming pool. Or, as my favorite rapper put it:

Pack die Badehose ein, nimm dein kleines Schwesterlein, wir gehen ins Schwimmbad.

Two foreigners, who i had never met before, picked me up at the station. Judging by their accents, they were "Hollanders" or "Belgians". The three of us drove in a car that had only two seats to a parking lot where we met some more foreigners. After synchronizing watches, exchanging radio frequencies and assigning call signs (i finally got "Mr. Pink"), the fun part of the day began. I simply followed the others, they knew which stack of fridges in what backyard we had to climb to get inside without paying admission. Once inside however, we quickly found out that the pool was empty. And by the looks of it, it must have been abandoned some ten years ago. Fortunately, we had also brought our cameras so we could take some pictures instead of swimming.

Got Water?

What happens when one guy with a Fuji, one guy with a Sony, two guys with Canons and one hell of a guy with a Pentax walk into an abandoned swimming pool?
Well, they make fun of each others cameras and lenses for a while and then agree that Nikon is clearly the worst camera brand of them all.

Changing Rooms

We got really lucky with the weather. The sun was shining out of a cloudless sky through the various windows of the pool building, creating a warm and kind atmosphere. An interplay of light and shadow flooded the rooms and hallways, turning an otherwise grey soup into patterns of beautiful colors and textures.

Basement Workshop, HDR

What i loved most about this place is that it had so much to offer. Not just a swimming pool. Also a sports hall. And plenty of offices and service rooms. The basement alone contained enough subjects for an entire day of photography. And, the building had just the right amount of graffiti and vandalism. Enough to make it look desolate, but not enough to ruin everything.

Sharp Glass

After everybody (well, almost everybody) got tired and hungry, we called it a day and drove off to a well known chippy for some fries and caffeine. Sitting in the sun, eating fast food and watching other people pushing around their photgraphic equipment in baby buggies is a wonderful way to finish the day. Thanks and greetings go to arubaGT, el-shorty, So-Minded and A461

Now go and check out all the lovely photos in the gallery:

Stadtbad