Beneath the metal grate lies the sewer. Pitch black. A torch beam glinting on moving water. Photographer Daan Oude Elferink (1978), known as Daanoe, begins his descent. He wears a waterproof suit, but it does nothing to soften the stench. He breathes as little as possible. There is no turning back. Knee-deep in sludge, his torch reveals a bend in the pipe. He crawls through it, water sloshing around him. Squeaking sounds, probably rats. His heart pounds. He grins. He is in.

“This is the result,” Daanoe says, pointing to a photograph of the abandoned Trade Fair building in Antwerp. He is standing in front of a monumental print at the Daanoe Experience Centre, a 600-square-metre space where his work is exhibited. “It took me two years to find a way in. The sewer turned out to be the only option.”

Three words define his work: abandoned, decaying and forbidden. Walking through the Experience Centre, these themes come to life. Rusted cars and weathered aircraft slowly reclaimed by nature, deserted palaces, empty sanatoriums, a priest long after his final breath. Creeping moss, fungi, crumbling staircases and dust caught in a shaft of light. The silence feels tangible. Time has left its mark. The beauty of decay. Unseen by the world, yet captured by Daanoe. Inevitably, questions arise. Who lived here? What happened? Why was so much simply left behind?

“I rarely go looking for answers,” Daanoe says. “Imagination is often far more beautiful than reality.”

Risk as fuel

The search for beauty in decay demands courage. Climbing fences, entering via rooftops, avoiding security cameras. “Not knowing whether it will work gives you a rush. You never know what you’ll encounter. Floors can be unstable, ceilings on the verge of collapse while you’re standing underneath them.”

He grins. “Copper thieves are a real concern. They operate in organised groups and the last thing they want is a photographer documenting everything. I’ve been pelted with bricks from a great height.”

Dusty 

One of his most dangerous photographs was taken in Croatia, of an abandoned aircraft in the middle of a minefield.

Sometimes the price of his passion is high. After exposure to mould in a derelict building, Daanoe developed an autoimmune disease, sarcoidosis, leaving him unable to work for a year. “I couldn’t walk for more than half a minute. It puts things into perspective, but it doesn’t stop me.”

Staircase obsession

His wife, with whom he has a five-year-old son, occasionally punches him lightly on the arm when he admits how much risk he took that day. “She doesn’t say it out loud, but I can hear her thinking: idiot. Still, she supports me completely. She sees how happy it makes me.”

Like many boys, he was drawn to forbidden places from a young age, sneaking onto restricted sites and into abandoned houses. In 2008, he was running an IT company when an old Napoleonic fort changed his life. “Until that moment, photography meant nothing to me. I didn’t even take photos on holiday. Then I found myself standing in front of a crumbling staircase bathed in beautiful light. The beauty completely overwhelmed me.”

Industrial Light (Belgium)

Because no one else could see it, access being forbidden, he bought a camera. Everything moved quickly after that. His work immediately found an audience. He sold his company, and his wife noticed a smile that never left his face.

Collectors and followers later gave him a nickname, inspired by his unmistakable preference. They call him a ‘staircase obsessive’.

Lazy mosquitoes

Daanoe’s work is available at the Experience Centre, which he runs together with his business partner and close friend Job van Grol. After a trade fair in Berlin, Van Grol wanted to experience firsthand how Daanoe works. “My god,” he says. “We crawled through bushes, followed a river with no crossing, struggled through a swamp. I was covered in cuts and bruises.”

Daanoe laughs. “Job got stuck in a bush and when he finally got out, he said: ‘Daan, your work is far too cheap.’”

Sometimes Daanoe is so covered in blood that mosquitoes don’t even bother biting. They simply drink.

Van Grol shakes his head. “The man who makes mosquitoes lazy.”

The world behind the image

By now, Daanoe has published four photo books and exhibits internationally. Yet one thing was missing: a permanent place in the Netherlands where his work could be seen year-round. That wish became reality with the opening of the Daanoe Experience Centre.

“My brother co-owns the property company Oak Management,” Van Grol explains. “That’s how we ended up here.” Daanoe also works with Gallery The Hague, where his work is represented as well.

At the Experience Centre, companies and groups can organise team events or meetings surrounded by art, with catering if desired. Visitors are taken on a journey through presentations filled with stories, photographs and videos of Daanoe’s expeditions, followed by a VR experience that allows you to step inside the images themselves.

Photographer Daan Oude Elferink (seated) with his business partner and good friend Job van Grol.

His world can also be explored from home. The free Daanoe app was developed as an extension of his award-winning photo book Travel in Time, bringing images to life through augmented and virtual reality. Download the app, scan the image and discover what lies behind closed doors and boarded-up windows.

“It moves me to see how people respond to my work,” says the self-taught photographer. “After an exhibition in a radiology department, I heard how patients found strength in my images, such as Standing Strong. Decay and impermanence are not only about endings. They can also offer resilience and comfort. That may be the most beautiful thing of all.”

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