Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama, is a photography playground with free access to the abandoned iron works. Now a National Historic Landmark, it is open to the public, and they even host events (like weddings and senior portraits) and workshops in metal arts and pottery. I spent a few hours wandering around with my camera until it started to rain. The maze of pipes, smokestacks, valves and machinery make for a visual feast of shapes and textures.
Next time I want to spend more time there and bring my tripod for long exposures and HDR. The light was perfect - overcast but still bright. The sky was a huge softbox, although going on a sunny day or in the evening would be fun too with the shadows and different lighting. I enhanced these in Lightroom mostly with clarity (OK, a LOT of clarity). I also played with saturation and vibrance where it seemed to work.