For my first blog post, I am posting some of the most recent photos I’ve taken this winter at the Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco, which is where my studio is located. It used to be a US Navy Shipyard from the start of the WWII until 1974, during which it became the site of the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, the US military’s largest facility for applied nuclear research. Because of all the testing, there is widespread radiological contamination of the site. Since the Naval Shipyard’s closure in 1994, the site has been going through various pollution remediation projects under the management of a federal agency BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure Commission). Today, the shipyard’s various old buildings house about 300 artists, where it has been declared to be contamination-free.

My photos attempt to capture the spirit that still remains in this now a bleak, desolate shipyard. The buildings are run-down, and the property is unpaved so that with every rainfall the ground fills up with mud, gravel and dust. Yet, there are still memories that linger in this worn out place: the fading stories that beg to be told.

Ladder#1, 2012

Ladder#1, 2012

 

Ladder#2

Ladder#2

 

Stairway, 2012

Stairway, 2012

 

Lonesome Hour, 2012

Lonesome Hour, 2012

 

Two-some, 2012

Two-some, 2012

 

Solitude, 2012

Solitude, 2012

 

Dirt Road, 2012

Dirt Road, 2012

 

Rain, 2012

Rain, 2012

 

Ship, 2012

Ship, 2012

 

Lantern, 2012

Lantern, 2012

 

Mist (Trees), 2012

Mist (Trees), 2012

 

Rain (Trees), 2012

Rain (Trees), 2012