Photo: "Natural Draft Tower"

Cooling Tower, Hartsville Nuclear Power Plant

The concept of a cooling tower is to reject heat by cooling water in an evaporative manner. The heat from the water transferred to the air raises the temperature of the air and increases the humidity and that air is released into the atmosphere.

Cooling towers are very effective at the disposal of heat, more so than dry devices, as water can cool much faster than other methods. This natural draft cooling tower relied on the buoyancy of the heated air to provide the draft up the tower and was incredibly efficient as it cooled water by the thousands of gallons. 

'Women In Photography' Panelist

Former California based pipe factory during blue hour

This afternoon, I'm heading down to Google to be a panelist on the 'Women In Photography' Hangout hosted by +Laurie Rubin. I'll be a guest amongst some other talented female photographers; +Alexis Coram, +piper mackay and +Jessica Ambats. It begins at 6pm PST and can be viewed via the link below!

Hangout Link: http://bit.ly/1e6QhAu 

Photo: "Peeking"

Top floor in the Walker Building

The Walker Building at Central State Hospital was constructed in 1884 and abandoned nearly 100 years later. The last 30 years have not been kind to this building. Days like this, humid and rainy, have taken a toll on the wooden elements of the building, causing much of the roof to collapse onto the floor of the third level. 

(Print - http://smu.gs/18H8VsH) 

Photo: "Break In the Darkness"

Hartsville Nuclear Plant

The Tennessee Valley Authority never imagined that construction on this plant would end a few short years after it began, in 1983, with thousands of government dollars wasted, creating a paradise for people like me. 

Walking around this plant, I felt small. Being surrounded by a massive world of nuclear concrete that is slowly being overtaken by nature, after being abandoned for three decades, is an experience you can't easily forget. 

These places are my home. It's hard to convey how much life lies within the places most people consider to be dead. The walls of these buildings speak many words as long as you're willing to listen and embrace the history. I don't believe in ghosts, if they existed I definitely would have seen them in some of these places, but I believe in the countless stories and memories the patients and employees left behind. 

Photo: "Roost"

When construction began on the Hartsville plant in the late 1970's, the Tennessee Valley Authority never imagined less than a decade later, they would be canceling construction of the plant. 

In 1983, when the plant was canceled, the reality set in that the needs for nuclear power were not as great as many predicted years before. 

Now the plant sits abandoned, a home for vultures and small birds nesting in the building's orifices.  

Photo: "Admin Offices"

Former administrative office, Babcock Building 

The administration section of the Babcock Building at the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum was the last section of the building to be constructed and was completed in 1885. 

Within the central building was a central hall, with offices on either side, and a connector hallway to allow for passage from between the north and south wards. The second floor contained operating rooms as well as residences for the doctors and supervisor. 

(Print - http://smu.gs/13HnQzN) 

USS Mount Hood AE-29 Hull Cleaning

On Wednesday, August 21, the USS Mount Hood was removed from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet and transported to Mare Island to receive a hull cleaning before making the long trek through the Panama Canal to be recycled in Texas. 

The USS Mount Hood, a Kilauea-class ammunition ship, was the second ship to be named after the Oregon volcano. Her hull was laid down in May 1967 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Sparrows Point, Maryland and commissioned in 1971. Her homeport was Concord, California, a short distance from where her hull is being cleaned. 

She was decommissioned in Bremerton, Washington in 1999, and transferred to MARAD and placed in Suisun Bay shortly thereafter.