Landschaftspark Duisburg (Germany)
In western Germany during the earlier half of the 20th century due to the abundance of coal in the Ruhr Area it was one of the biggest industrial areas of the country. Here you see what is became of it. Most of the Furnaces and mines closed over the decades and were turned into museums. Here you see the Landschaftspark in the city called Duisburg. Formerly Rheinische Stahlwerke where I give night photography workshops every year. So the images you see here are partially taken in areas that are not accessible without prior permit. Also these days due to the energy crisis in Germany the light installations no longer lit outside of events such as the Photo + Adventure where I thought workshops this year.
Here's a little more Information on the history of the place:
The former plant was founded in 1901 by the then "Rheinische Stahlwerke zu Meiderich bei Ruhrort", later a subsidiary of the Thyssen group. In their 84 years of operation, the five blast furnaces produced 37 million tons of specialty pig iron - generally as a precursor for further processing in Thyssen's steel mills.
Blast furnaces 3 and 4 were demolished in 1968 and 1970 respectively. Blast furnaces 1 and 2 were shut down in 1982, leaving only blast furnace 5, which was only built in 1973, in operation. In 1985 this was also shut down after just twelve years of operation due to overcapacities on the European steel market. Thyssen relocated steel production to the surrounding, much larger and more modern main production areas on the Rhine (Bruckhausen and Schwelgern plant sections, today part of ThyssenKrupp Steel).
I've been giving workshops in the area for 5 years now and I guess I will continue to do so, simply because it is just so much fun. I already have new one's coming up for next year. I occasionally also visit for myself because it is very close to my hometown. Usually I travel for my photography, but sometimes I just like to visit to unwind or to test new equipment in the field. I hope you enjoyed this small selection of images.
You can find more of my work on my website here: https://nicolasalexanderotto.net/
