I state that one of my photography services is Industrial Photography but I’m often asked what that means. So, in this article, I will try explain further and provide some examples.
Industrial Photography: A definition
Industrial photography can be characterised as photography that captures industrious work, which is defined as someone who works hard, or even very hard.
The Brazilian photographer, Sebastiao Salgado, created the seminal work on industry in the 1990s with his book, Workers, which captured the people who work with their hands and tools who are vital to the health of local, national and global economies.
All too often we associate the word ‘corporate’ or ‘business’ with images of smartly dressed people in offices sitting behind desks. We overlook (and fail to celebrate) the contribution of the millions of engineers, mechanics, fitters and machine operators, who balance precision and craft with wielding hammers, wrenches, and the push-and-pull of machinery.
As someone who sits at a desk or is behind a camera most of the time, I’m in awe of people who can make, build and craft stuff; as such, I love being asked to do industrial photography.
Industrial Photography: Document the Whisky Industry
Working as an industrial photographer, I recently completed part of an on-going project which involved documenting the fascinating process of whisky cask production. (I should also state that I have produced and DVD and written a book about the whisky distillery, Edradour)
Whisky, as we spell it in the UK, or Whiskey if you’re outside of the UK, is matured in casks, commonly known as barrels.
What is now a traditional method of maturating spirit stems from the World War and the introduction of a law that prohibited the sale of raw spirit for three years, in an attempt to clamp down on drinking alcohol. The upshot was the discovery that the spirit tasted better and was less fiery when it was left to mature and so an industry was born – the cooperage.
A Cooper is someone who makes and repairs casks. In Scotland, the majority of whisky is matured in ex-bourbon casks which have been made using new American oak. Other casks include ex-sherry, ex-port, ex-wine, and ex-rum casks but these tend to be fewer compared to the vast numbers of American oak casks shipped from the US to be re-used for Scotch whisky.
When these shipments arrive they go to a cooperage where they are inspected, repaired, rebuilt and made ready for the whisky industry.
Whisky Casks – The Speyside Cooperage
I’ve spent numerous days on industrial photography assignments at the Speyside Cooperage, not far from Stirling in Scotland.
Here, men (and I’ve not yet seen a woman), plane, hammer, drill, knock, smooth, fill and move in perpetual motion as they work on one cask after another throughout the day.
“I don’t have any trouble sleeping” one of them told me, and not surprising when you see the enormous effort involved when hammering steel rings into place to ensure the casks are watertight.
It’s a production line that requires skill, precision and craftsmanship, where machines only do the jobs that can be automated to save time and effort. The noise is at times deafening, the smell is a heady mixture of alcohol and wood shavings. Each person works alone, responsible (and accountable) for the quality of their own casks, only handing them over to be tested for their seals before they are rolled out into the yard awaiting delivery.
Industrial Photography: A celebration of workers
The industrial photography I’ve captured on this assignment, and shared in this article, I hope gives you a strong sense of what I discovered at Speyside Cooperage.
It was my objective to create photographs that captured the working environment and the industrious workers behind the scenes and to create a visual narrative that reveals the processes and craftsmanship involved.
So, what is Industrial Photography?
Industrial photography is a form of commercial photography that celebrates the work that is often hidden away behind warehouse doors and high fences and the workers.
Personally, I find photographing industry to be hugely satisfying because whilst we imagine that ‘real’ work is represented by presentations and smartly dressed people handling tablets and laptops as they stride along brightly lit corridors of steel and glass buildings, industry is far more than this.
The importance of Industrial Photography
To photograph industry is a reminder that skilled manual work is still alive, and necessary. Yet few companies think of documenting the work they do or celebrating the workers who do it, through photography.
As I hope to have shown with this example, industrial photography goes beyond merely documenting machinery and equipment; it aims to showcase the harmony between man, tools and machine, the details of production processes, and the scale of industrial workplaces.
With a creative eye, industrial photography can create images that find the beauty and complexity inside factories, warehouses, construction sites and similar.
It’s my belief that the world is built on the shoulders of industrious workers, we owe it to them to acknowledge the work they do and share it with the world.
Interested in industrial photography?
If you are curious about industrial photography and how you could use it for your business then please get in touch and let’s have a no obligation chat.
I appreciate that it can be difficult to imagine how your workplace might look when documented by an industrial photographer because you see it every day and your emotional connections to the people and the working environment will be different.
I can assure you that your workplace, and the people within it, are well worth documenting and I can bring a unique and creative approach to commercial photography that will bring the stories of your business to life for all your stakeholders.
