Lehigh Valley photographer, Steven Landis, will be exhibiting his photographs “Bethlehem Steel: Rusting Relic” at the Bethlehem Town Hall Rotunda Gallery from January 7 to February 13, 2026. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, January 11, from 2:00 – 4:00 PM, with an artist talk at 3:00 PM. The Rotunda Gallery is located at 10 E. Church Street. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Twice in 2006, Steven M. Landis was given a rare, sanctioned access to photograph the derelict Bethlehem Steel plant, capturing many never-before-seen and likely never-to-be-seen-again perspectives by climbing everything he could, both inside and outside the abandoned buildings, including to the top of the blast furnaces.
Steven said, “These were incredible experiences for me. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I had seen, smelled, heard, and felt Bethlehem Steel when it was still operational. It teemed with life from thousands of workers operating around the clock. The plant itself also appeared to be its own living thing as it inhaled vast loads of taconite, coke, and limestone; belched a pall of smoke and ash; poured out train carloads of glowing molten iron; and for nearly a century and a half made iron and steel for bridges, buildings, dams, railroad rail, ships, armor plating, armaments, and a huge variety of other products that created and protected the world we know. Walking and climbing among the ruins of the shuttered plant, I could still feel the energy there. Some areas retained an appearance of the workers only being on a lunch break, ready to return to their jobs at any moment. Other areas of the plant were showing heavy signs of dilapidation. The entire site for me held an air of veiled sorrow, of missed opportunity, and of what-ifs. But, within this rusting relic of American industry, I also saw overwhelming beauty in the duality of decay and stubborn perseverance of some of the structures as they were slowly being reclaimed by nature.”
Now in its 3rd printing, Fonthill Media published a book titled “Bethlehem Steel: Rusting Relic” of Steven’s 2006 photographs, alongside text from his Dad, John Landis, who has led hundreds of Bethlehem Steel tours. This exhibition is a grouping of Steven’s favorite photographs from the book.
Steven M. Landis works as a sales executive in the automotive industry, where he has been employed in a variety of roles for nearly two decades. He is an inventor and creative writer, enjoys the agony and elation of mountain climbing, and loves photographing the beautiful, bizarre, and especially hard-to-access or abandoned places. He regrets having been too young to ever have worked at Bethlehem Steel, but counts the rare access he had exploring and photographing the hallowed grounds of the former flagship plant—where so much of modern U.S. and global history was written—as being among the best moments in his life.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission (www.bfac-lv.org) and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.