Hi, everybody. Welcome to Episode 35 of the photography explained podcast (just crashing the microphone). In this episode, what is industrial photography?
I'm your host, Rick, and each week I'll try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details. My aim is to explain things in just enough detail to help you and I with our photography, and no more.
Who am I?
I'm a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you on my podcast.
Now, that was all scripted, because I still can't remember it, Episode 35 and I'm still having to read the intro. I'll get there eventually.
So what is industrial photography?
Industrial photography is a specialism of photographing industrial plant equipment, processes, facilities, products, services, and also the people who work in this sector. Industrial photography images are used to promote business products and services to customers on websites and in marketing and promotional materials.
Okay, so I've done architectural photography, I've done construction photography, and now I'm on to industrial photography. I love doing industrial photography, I'm not gonna lie to you – I have had some great experiences.
1 What is industrial photography used for?
Well, it's mainly used by businesses for marketing and record purposes (let's not forget that). So I listed equipment, processes, plant, and facilities. These can be impressive setups. I've been to some large industrial facilities, and yes they can be immense.
Now, this isn't all factories, there's all sorts of industrial facilities like utilities, nuclear, power generation, wind turbines, gravel, rail, siding loading facilities (yes, I photographed one of those, and it was brilliant).
And quarries, and all that stuff in the ground.
And there's also lots of industrial plant and equipment out there. So all these things make great subjects. The businesses that own, operate, run, and use them to make things need photographs for their websites, marketing material, brochures, all that stuff.
It's a great area of work to get into.
2 Why do I love industrial photography?
Well, I probably just told you why I love It by what I said above.
3 Who do I take photos for?
Well, I am not able to tell you who I take photos for because I don't like to name clients unless I have got their permission.
I would just like to give an example of one of my all-time favourite shoots. It was three locations, the first location was on a live rail siding. An excavator was taking gravel off the back of, you know those trains that go by with all the carriages with just piles of stuff on them – one of them. This excavator was taking loads and loads of gravel and putting it into concrete bays. That was fantastic, a fantastic experience.
I also had to photograph a quarry where they're digging stuff out there that took in the extent of the quarry, the transport, the machinery that took the stuff out, just the sheer scale of it. And as importantly, if not, more importantly, the people who work in these facilities in their working environment.
It was brilliant.
4 Can you make a living from industrial photography?
If I could just do industrial photography and construction photography and architectural photography and nothing else. I'd be very, very happy. You can make a living. But it's tough, especially at the moment, obviously.
But there's plenty of industry out there. Yes, you can't make a living. You’ve got to be good at what you do. And to be good at what you do, you need to do it consistently. And it also helps if you niche (or niche depending on where you are when you hear this) niche down into a specific area.
I'm focusing (no pun intended) on architectural, construction and industrial photography and nothing else.
No weddings, portraits, family christenings, anything with people, pets, no animals. Just those things. Things that is all I do. And if you want to make a living doing something, that's the best way of going about it but it takes time.
5 Do you need specialist knowledge?
Yes. No, that's qualified. Yes. Any knowledge in an industrial environment is helpful. You're not going to get specialist knowledge about everything industrial because if you know everything about all industrial facilities, you wouldn’t be photographing them, you'd be running them!
An appreciation and being comfortable in those environments will definitely help.
6 Six Do you need specialist gear?
Yes, as for construction you need cameras, lenses, tripods, all that good stuff that is durable, dust, cold, and wind resistant.
You also need the right kind of gear to protect yourself as well as in not only PPE. I was gonna say you need to keep warm, but the problem I had on the rail siding was I had to wear high vis trousers. Now I had to get different colour from my regular ones, because they use different colours on the rail network. It needs to be orange I think - it was few years ago now. Anyway, I've got my high vis (not heifers) coat on, and I've got my high vis trousers on. And the sun came out and it got to about 28 degrees. And believe me, I was sweating profusely, which made it very, very uncomfortable, but still enjoyable.
7 How do you process industrial photos?
As for architectural and construction photography, realistically, technically correct. Make sure that what's in there should be in there. If there's something that's not right, as in someone walking past not wearing a hat you need to either recompose or delete that photo. Or be confident that you can remove that person in Photoshop, or put a hat on them!
Easiest way is just not to include them. Check the frame, make sure.
If you get it right in camera you don't need to remove people.
8 How do I start as an industrial photographer?
I'd find some industrial stuff and photograph it. I'd contact local industry companies and ask them if they want some photos then and say, I'll give you the photos, if you give me the experience. It's a good way to start.
9 Do I need to be qualified?
It’s as a tough one for industrial photography, because it covers a wide range of industry. So no, but I'll stand by what I said before - a familiarity and comfortableness with industrial environments, just like with construction sites, will make the whole thing much, much easier.
If you turn up on some large scale industrial facility and you haven’t got a clue what's going on and your well, quite frankly, scared, you're not going to do a good job and you're not going to enjoy it. So be comfortable with what you're doing.
10 Check out my website
Now this is episode three of me plugging my website Rick McEvoy Photography. The only reason being there is stuff on there which is relevant and will help you if you want to do architectural, construction or industrial photography.
There are also examples of the work I've done for clients.
Quick recap
Industrial photography is a specialist area of photography, taking photos of industrial plant, equipment, facilities, and people.
What do I want you to do now? I'll do well on time here.
1 Go out and take some photos
Of something industrial
2 Let me know how you got
Message me on Twitter @rickphoto
3 Three subscribe to my podcast
If you enjoyed this episode. This helps me and you do not miss an episode
4 Rate and review my podcast
If you enjoyed this episode, of course, this helps me too
5 Tell someone you know about my podcast
This also helps me, and I need all the help I can get believe me.
Next episode
Okay, now I've done the stuff I know. I've now got some work to do. I can't just keep on talking about what I do. I've got to broaden this out a bit. So I'm going to jump straight into the thing I know the least about which is wedding photography! Like I said I need all the help I can get ha!
Thank you
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. Check out my website Rick McEvoy Photography where you can find out all about me and my architectural and construction photography work, as well as my industrial photography work, of course. And also my blog where you can learn lots more about photography, and lots more about me if you want to, but it's more about the photography, isn't it?
And also this finally made into the notes. Check out my Photography Explained Podcast website where you can find out how to ask me a question, find a list of episodes and also things I'm going to explain in future episodes.
That's it, we're done
This episode is brought to you by the power of it nearly being the weekend. not quite there, but we're nearly there. I've been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again for listening to me and for giving me 10 minutes of your valuable time. I'll see you on the next episode. Cheers from me, Rick.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
photography, industrial, photographs, facilities, photos, podcast, episode, work, rail, construction, siding, website, gravel, rick, excavator, trousers, specialist, architectural, niche, wind resistant