floppergostic
Matt BlazeSchuylkill Co-Generation Plant and Arsenal Bridge, Philadelphia, PA, 2018.
Too many pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/42660696454
This was captured with the Rodenstock 70mm/5.6 HR Digaron-W lens and the Phase One IQ3-100 back. A bit of vertical shift was used to keep everything straight. A 1/2 sec exposure provided just the right amount of motion blur for the passing train.
The power plant generates electricity (now oil fired, converted from coal) as well as steam for Philly's Center City steam loop. The rail bridge extends the former Pennsylvania Railroad's "High Line" into south Philly's Greenwich rail yard.
I shot several versions of this, with exposures that kept the moving train sharp or blurred it to varying degrees. I think this was the most successful attempt, with the train blurred enough to suggest motion, but not so much that it's unrecognizable.
Motion can be a central part of a still photograph.
Power plants are often regarded as utilitarian eyesores, and are rarely (generally only under public pressure) built to look beautiful or interesting, (London's Battersea Power Station was a notable exception). Generally, like here, any beauty to be found is accidental, a direct consequence of interesting form happening to follow from function.
Arguably, given the health and environmental effects of things like power plants, perhaps they *should* be ugly. But ugliness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
In any case, if you like this kind of stuff, let me strongly recommend the work of Hilla and Bernd Becher. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/bernd-and-hilla-becher
Gabriel N@mattblaze The small house between the pipes is telling me something
Generally Salty@mattblaze there is a cement works in Israel that should be of interest to them. I drove past it many times.
Carolyn@mattblaze It kind of looks sci-fi creepy, as if mechanical hands are reaching down. :)
cynicalsecurity 
@mattblaze the power plant should thank you then because this photo is particularly beautiful. Utilitarian but not an eyesore, it gives it the look of a steamboat against the cloudy sky.
HankB@mattblaze
> Power plants are often regarded as utilitarian eyesores, and are rarely [...] built to look beautiful or interesting,
I used to write computer code for a living. I thought of the code as a story expressing the intent of the system. If the story made sense, the system was likely to be successful.
I suspect that in much the same way, the designers of these power plants may think of their creations as a scupture that accomplishes a need and design accordingly.
Felipe L. Sologuren G.@mattblaze great photo (& great MANA graffiti)