In the 1980s I had the privilege to handle numerous photo assignments for Emhart Corporation in Farmington, Connecticut. As a fortune 200 corporation; Emhart had several divisions that included industrial operations. As a freelancer, I provided photos for the corporate newspaper, which was mailed to Emhart employees and shareholders. Handling those assignments is where I learned industrial photography. In those days I shot film: black and white negative, color transparency and slides. There were no automatic exposure or automatic focus cameras. I had to figure out manual settings for everything. There were even more ways to mess up. If time permitted, I would set up my roll film camera and use my polaroid back to check my lighting. Most often there was no time to set up lighting. I was never sure that my photos were good until the film processing was completed. It could be later that day or the next day. There was always a chance the the photo lab would mess up your film. A few times I got that dreaded call from the lab.

I was assigned to photograph the foundry at the Farrel Division in Ansonia, Connecticut. At the time, Farrel made 25 foot long iron rolls for the paper industry from scratch. The foundry was in an old brick building that was very dark. The process was called a double pour and lasted about two minutes. The molten metal had to swill through the molds evenly to get a good pour. I hadn't photographed anything like this before and I wasn't happy with my results. I didn't leave the shutter open long enough to get a nice spark pattern.

I asked if I could take this assignment again at my own expense. I got a second chance about a week later. This time, I brought my roll film camera loaded with color negative film which allows for a wider range of exposure. I also shot with my 35mm Nikon F; which now serves as a nice paperweight. The two images above have been in my portfolio ever since. There is something about molten metal, sparks, and fire that is visually compelling. Regrettably, a couple of weeks after I took the foundry photos, I was informed that the foundry was closing and the photos wouldn't be published.

Late last year I was thrilled to hear from the marketing director of Farrel Pomini asking for a quote to photograph a large piece of equipment. Wow, after 45 years I had an opportunity to do more photos at Farrel! I forwarded the foundry photo along with my quote and got the job. The old brick building downtown was sold years ago and Farrel Pomini built a new facility in a very nice industrial park in Ansonia. The machine I was to photograph was still being constructed and tested, so I needed to do some fancy Photoshop work to remove the background and photographically bolt on a cover plate and make wires and hoses disappear. 

I photographed this cover plate separately so that I could place it on the machine in Photoshop.

My good friend Tony helped me with the shoot. I used three large strobe lights with umbrellas on heavy twelve foot light stands, weighed down with sand bags, to evenly light the machine. I took three shots: straight on, at an angle and elevated on a ladder. I used my 45MP Nikon 850 that produces amazing quality 8256px X 5504px images. The tough part of the assignment was the photo retouching. It me took over a week to complete the cloning and tweaking of each image. I added a new background and a drop shadow.

After sending images back and forth to the client, the final images were approved. 

The marketing director told me that the images were "beautiful" and that she would send my invoice to accounting for payment. I was ecstatic!

I don't believe that there are many industrial photographers left in Connecticut; but I love being where metal is being heated, poured, cut, shaped, welded or formed and machines are being assembled and tested. That is my happy place. It is even better if I can get into an enclosed platform that is raised up by a forklift truck to get an overall view with my wide angle lens. That is how I like to get high!