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Looking for industrial sites in US southeast

Michael Mutmansky

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Sep 7, 2002
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Location
Sacramento
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Greetings APUG folks,

I'm planning a trip from Pennsylvania to Houston at the end of this month, and thought I might get some recommendations for locations to photograph between here and there.

I have been focusing on industrial subject matter recently, and would like to continue working with that as much as possible. I am interested in disused industrial locations as well as active sites.

My route is not specifically selected yet, so I have a good bit of flexibility on how I get to Houston, and how I get back.

If anyone is familiar with locations that they think may be interesting and worth shooting, please email or PM me, and I'll get back to you. I'd certainly be interested in shooting a location with anyone as well, so if you have a location near you and want to spend some time shooting with me, that would be great. I'll be using my ULF cameras on this trip (7x17 and 10x12).


---Michael
 
PM'd ya Michael, you might want to consider the Chicago are for a stop, I'd love to show you a couple spots.

Mike

Mike A
 
hi michael:

you might give the sia (the society for industrial archaeology) a buzz ...

have fun!

-john
 
John,

Great link, thanks! I haven't seen that one before. I will contact them and see what I can find out about sites, etc.


---Michael
 
If you're heading south from Pittsburgh, lots of cool stuff in and around Wheeling, West Virginia. Actually, most of West Virginia is an industrial remnant. Everything from early pre-industrial revolution sites to late 20th century plants shuttered or not. There's a great series of books out that have fun day-trips or longer in various states. I've got one for West Virginia, and I'll post the title and publisher when I get home and have it in front of me. You can order them off Amazon.
 
Sounds like a great trip Michael...how fun. Once you hit the Lone Star State, if you come in on I-10 from the LA you will have a lot of oil/chemical plants from Lake Charles, LA thru Beaumont-Port Arthur. The ship channel can provide some interesting stuff from time to time. Houston area bet Clay Harmon can help out there. There is the old Battleship Texas that could provide some intersting work with the ULF gear...just a thought.
 
Always welcome at the Powers' house, one day out. Ain't got no industrial waste here in the rust belt. Pick your poison.
PM sent.

John Powers
 
Michael,

Mike (photomc) is right--there is a lot in the Houston area (Baytown, Pasadena, etc) and also in Beaumont, especially closer to the port. In the Port Arthur area, Hwy 87 actually goes right thru one plant.
 
Thanks folks,

I've got some destination along the way, and hopefully I'll be able to make some good images between here and there.


---Michael
 
If you're looking for industry to photograph...your best bet are the states south of the great lakes. Because of the basic air currents swooping from west to east, those in New England are getting chronicaly sick with each generation! Sorry...but had to say that, but with no check on industrial polution, what can you do. Lets elect some more ultra conservatives.
 
Drew,

You are correct that the NE states have traditionally been more industrialized than the south, but since WWII the gulf states have an immense amount of heavy industrial processing facilities.

Ecopolitics aside, the industrial base in this country is receding faster than most people's hairlines, and it seems to me that this should be a serious concern for this country. I'm looking to photograph what remains and what is still active as part of this project.

In truth, there's subject matter everywhere, but unless I am aware of it, I could simply drive by without knowing there's a good opportunity just a mile away.

---Michael
 
Georgetown SC had a real-live working steel mill last time I went thru several years back. It's right on the river loop adjacent to US17. Particularly fascinating at night with all the noisy clanking, the whooshing of molten iron.

You might check with the Chamber before making a detour though. It is fairly small and may have fallen victim to The Flat World.

Bruce
 
bruce terry said:
Georgetown SC had a real-live working steel mill last time I went thru several years back. It's right on the river loop adjacent to US17.
Click to expand...
It was still there and operating circa 2001, and west of 17 is a quite large paper mill where I whiled away too many hours on some control system start-ups. Pictures #1 through #5. It almost took stone tablets from Zeus to use a camera in there though, you'd have to settle for the surrounding public streets.

As far as I know, the steel operation was a wire-drawing works. It started with scrap metal, etc., but was not nearly the size of a serious steel mill. In 1960, I toured the Bethlehem Steel home plant in Bethlehem PA with a metalurgy class. They took us around in buses, as the plant stretched a good five miles along the Lehigh River.

Post-Katrina, I've no idea what's left, but there were two semi-operational paper mills and a massive old RR facility on the east side of Mobile, AL (Prichard/Chickasaw). (Yes, I spent too much time there too. :rolleyes: )

Dave T
 
I post this with some trepidation, as Roy Wakefield uses the bit bucket stuff, but last I waded through it, it was all just North Carolina. I believe much of the South had major textile industry back into the late 1800s. All that would of course be accompanied by railroad facilities too.

(Some amazing stuff -- too bad he doesn't use film! )

DaveT
 
Dave,

I agree, it's too bad he isn't making images with film. I've relatives in that area, so maybe I should plan a visit down sometime...


--Michael
 
Actually, you can hit some interesting stuff before you barely get your trip under way. I have passed through but not really explored the "Mon Valley" south of Pittsburgh. A quick Google search turned up some good info.

There is also the East Broad Top RR, a narrow guage line near Mt. Union, PA with complete shops, roundhouse, turntable, etc.

Living in a Rust Belt state does have its photo opportunity advantages!

DaveT
 
Dave,

Here's the Carrie blast furnace in a combination gum bichromate and palladium print that I'm working on right now (what you're seeing is the base palladium print only).


---Michael
 

Attachments

  • Carrie Steel BFsmall.jpg
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Now that is sweet Michael....look forward to seeing the gum over version.
 
A fine looking image.

I get through that corner of the state quite a bit, but unfortunately it is usually the halfway point of an eleven hour trip. One of these times I need to toss an extra day in and check that stuff out.

Thanks for sharing the picture.

DaveT
 
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