On a cool October morning in 2006, I was circling the property of the abandoned Bethlehem Steel mill. Located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, it had been the flagship production plant of a company that was once one of the largest steel producers in the world. The sprawl of brick buildings was punctuated by broken windows, twisting pipes, and the towering spires of blast furnaces. The very concept of attempting to sneak in to photograph such a labyrinth felt foolish and daunting, but that was what I was there to do. I…
