UP FOR A CHALLENGE? HERE WAS ONE WE TACKLED. SHOOT IN INDUSTRIAL PLANT WITH MINIMAL LIGHT AND WE CAN’T ADD LIGHTING!
Los Angeles Industrial Photographer
CASE STUDY:
INDUSTRIAL
SHOOTING IN A FORGING PLANT: MINIMAL LIGHT IS OUR CHALLENGE!
ALLY FINANCIAL
CATEGORY:
INDUSTRIAL PORTRAITS INSIDE PLANT
We’ve shot in many industrial plants: Eaton Steel, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler to name a few. But this was the ultimate challenge: American Axle’s forging plant in Tonawanda, New York. By today’s standards it was dark, and we couldn’t add supplemental lighting.
The shoot occurred toward the end of the photography industry’s move to digital technology and the cameras weren’t quite there yet for low light environments. (For the geeks out there, they lacked wide dynamic range.) Because of this limitation, we opted to shoot film. By then we were getting spoiled by being able to see on the back of a digital camera exactly what we shot. So film forced a certain level of intention and discipline during the shooting.
The shots were fantastic, the client was pleased, but because there is graphite dust flying everywhere in a forging plant, our gear required a good cleaning on our return to Detroit.