More Industrial Stuff

A few more pics ... I will confess that these were originally shot in color, but I've turned 'em b/w in Photoshop. I dunno, I guess spending all that time looking at David Plowden, the FSA photographers, and years of digging through old archival photos has made me favor b/w ... color's nice, especially for landscapes, but in industrial settings, it's kind of pointless, because there's really not much color in the industrial world. Factories tend to be black and white, or shades of gray. Some machinery may be painted blue or green, but it's a pretty monochromatic world.

I wish they would be a bit sharper, but that's probably due more to my vision than the camera ... though my goal one day is to get an old-fashioned large format camera (or I guess a medium-format camera will do), learn how to use it, and then REALLY take some sharp photos!

Factory Floor


Before Cubicals


Ear Protection Required


Extra Dies


Numbered Bins


Shelf 13E


Safety Cage

A little industrial photography

Sorry I haven't been around lately ... not much to take pictures of, unless you like artsy photos of me working in the backyard, or trying to fix a gutter.

And frankly, I'm not that a good ... a photographer, though I'm not that good at home maintenance, either.

Though an opportunity came up to take some neat industrial photos, and I jumped at the chance. I belong to a group called the Society for Industrial Archeology, and it's made up of folks like me who like to poke around old factories and industrial sites. We're amateur historians (I lost my professional status when I got laid off from the museum I worked at), and we just like a part of history that is often ignored or completely forgotten. America's industrial heritage.

So my local chapter got to take a tour of a small company that stamps out all sorts of things. It's been around since before World War Two (earlier, I think), and it's a neat little factory in an old part of town. Best of all, they let us wander pretty freely for hours, and TAKE ALL THE PHOTOS WE WANT!! That never happens ... so I brought my camera along and snapped away.

Here's some of the highlights:

Caution Safety Glasses


11000 lbs per shelf


Dale Junior


Endless Shelves


Non-Conforming Material


Stampings


More Stampings


Even More Stampings

Maybe I'm an oddball ... but I find beauty in industrial settings ... you just gotta look.