Automotive Parts

Detroit is synonymous with cars, Motor City, and Motown. What are cars made out of? Parts. So, what's a Detroit Photographer to do? Shoot parts. Some clients aren't asking much from photographs of their parts; others want good photography. They care about their parts, care about their image, and think good photography will help them sell more of their products. These are my kind of clients. Let me know what you think.

Custom Car

It's always fun to shoot beautiful things. This car is no exception. We only had a day and a half, and a long shot list, so we were moving pretty fast. It was pretty interesting working with Jerry, the automotive designer who designed and built the car. He had lots of insight into the shape and rendering of the values describing the vehicle. As always, I am interested in your thoughts and comments.

Exploded View

Exploded views are often seen in assembly instructions, they serve as a visual representation of the relationship between the parts and the whole. In this case, some great clients that make automotive parts asked me to show the parts of their radiator assembly. We shot them individually in position and assembled them in post-production.

Transparent Product Photography

Shooting glass products can be tricky. It's not just transparent – it's also shiny. It's essential to see the background behind the glass and have things (lights) reflecting in the glass to reveal it's shininess. The edge of the glass needs to be a different value than the background so you can see the shape. I think I solved those problems for my client that manufactures these industrial LED lights. What do you think? 

Environmental Portrait

Not a portrait of the environment, nor the "Environment" as in climate change. Instead, a portrait of someone in their environment. Perhaps including things in the background that tell you a little something about the subject. Maybe this person works in a trendy office, lab, factory, or plays the guitar. Let me know what you think.

Industrial Location Photography

Shooting on location is often full of surprises. You’re never sure what you'll find when you get there, even if there has been a lot of pre-production. Often there is not. I enjoy the challenge of pulling a photograph together on the spot. Fortunately, this client had prepared well and knew what they needed. This makes it easier for me to make better photographs. I am in awe of the amount of coordination required for a factory to function smoothly. It was like watching a dance. I am lucky to be able to illustrate it with photography.

A Wrench in the Works

That’s how I feel about plumbing. Is it really not leaking? Why is this thingie the wrong size? Rats, I’ve got to go back to the store again. No Fun! 

On the other hand low-key images with lots of texture make me smile. Either it’s a metaphor for midwest industry, or just a couple of old monkey wrenches. Regardless, I like the color and feel of the image. Let me know how you feel.

Playing with Toys

The goal of The Bottomless Toy Chest, is giving toys to children that are in the hospital with cancer. This is the third year they’ve asked for some help with photography for the “No-Show Black Tie” fundraiser. This would be a no-brainer even if Micky & Cindy weren’t loads of fun to work with. Unsurprisingly, toys are the subject. Micky & Cindy did all of the hard work of finding the dolls and props. First, go make a donation, then, let me know what you think.

Carwash

Somebody has to make the brushes that clean your car at the carwash. We spent a day shooting a carwash door that moves up and down quickly to keep the heat in during the winter months, and some brushes. The door was beautiful, but I took a liking to the brushes. Red, graphic, and oddly organic looking, this one reminds me of a sea creature. All in all, it was a great day with a great client, excellent art direction and a stellar crew.

Robots!

We recently finished a project photographing the Litter-Robot 3 Connect in grey. It's always a pleasure to work with this company. It's a great crew and a great product – such a great product I gifted a Litter-Robot to my son and daughter-in-law for Christmas last year. The robot keeps their tiny Brooklyn apartment odor free. Their cats, Andie and Dosa, love to sit and watch it rotate!

Handmade

How to communicate hand-craftsmanship in a photograph? Hands! Specifically, the hands of the maker. I’ve been making photographs of Richard’s hands with his jewelry for over twenty years. I love the juxtaposition of his dirty working hands and the intricate shiny metal. The contrast between Richard’s dark hands and the bright jewelry makes the product pop. I’m always interested in your thoughts.

Shiny Tools

I love photographing shiny things. Kinda doesn't matter what it is. Cars, jewelry, industrial parts or tools, as long as it’s Shiny. I photographed this tap on a white background and put in the blue handmade paper in post production. I’m always interested in what you think.

Surgical Torque Wrench

Who knew surgeons used torque wrenches? I don’t think about it that much, but I guess it makes sense. Surgeons are sort of body mechanics. True, the stakes may be higher than a brake job on your car, but a bad brake job could be fatal too. Anyway, we spent the day working and collaborating with an excellent art director and ended up with a bunch of nice images and had a good time as well. Let me know what you think.

Medical Device Photography

Chicago Hot Dogs

Here in Detroit we have Coney dogs, Coney Island hot dogs. Like our neighbor to the North's dish of poutine, there is no pretense of health. I suppose you could argue hot dogs themselves are not all that healthy. But when you smother them in chili, mustard and onions you reach a new level. And, like doughnuts, bacon, and all unhealthy foods, they are delicious. Chicago Dogs on the other hand at least have the air of being healthy, with their vegetables, pickles, and the like. Lots of fun to shoot with a super client and crew.

Sausage Photography

Go ahead, guess what this is. Stumped? It’s sausage casing! Really! I just love the things I shoot. I hope the affection comes through in the photographs. Photographers have been shooting circles for ages. Usually it’s pipe, maybe with a couple of people wearing hard hats in front. I was drawn to the the luminescence of the casing. Less and less light getting through to the lower tubes. I like finding beauty in unusual places.

Industrial Cockpits

It’s not the cockpit of a jet plane, but it looks pretty cool for a pallet jack. Excellent industrial design makes my job a little easier. It’s more than just a pallet jack, as you might guess from the complexity of the controls. I’m drawn to the the lines and values of gray. As always I am interested in your thoughts and comments.

Heavy Industrial Product Photography

You’ve gotta lift those really heavy parts with something! This is the smaller of the two that we shot the other day. I was attracted to the yellow I beam this one moves on. We created a studio in the plant where they build these, which, funnily enough, included another crane to move this one into position for a photograph. I love variety of my photographic life!

Very Small Industrial Photography

The biggest of these little steel balls is about a millimeter in diameter, about the thickness of a dime. It’s called wire cut shot. It's used in industrial processes. I had to level the table so it wouldn’t all roll away. It’s challenging to get them into the shape you want and make it look natural and random. I love the little glimpses into otherwise invisible areas that commercial photography provides.

Tiny Industrial Photography

The biggest of these little steel balls is about a millimeter in diameter, a little less than 10 times the diameter of a human hair. They are used as an abrasive in industrial processes. They were fun and challenging to photograph. I had to level the table so they wouldn’t all roll away. The best part of this profession is that there are always new and interesting things to shoot.

Macro Industrial Photography

Photographing very small things can be challenging. The product in this photograph is an abrasive, but to be honest, I don’t know how it is used. I imagine that it’s similar to sand blasting. The largest of the stainless steel balls is about one millimeter in diameter. For comparison, a BB is about 4.5 millimeters in diameter. So these are pretty small. As always, I am interested in your thoughts and comments.