Foundry Worker #1

Great variety of tones... inspiring stuff.

I really like your portfolio - your images are full of rich tonality and you've presented your subjects as very REAL.

 

This guy looks like he's been working hard all day, and you've captured him at a moment where he's patiently waiting for the next ream of steel to come though. Just by himself its a great portrait, but with his arm stretched out to the machinery, you've created a great connection between a man and his work. And the man in the background tells even more of the story.

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Outstanding. Now I can give the highest rating.

Powerful

Starting previous week, the Elves are assigned a theme. Last weekwe had Sports/Action and this week's theme is Industry/Technology.As before, selecting a Photograph of the Week is not about findingthe best possible picture (we know nobody would ever agree on thatchoice anyway), but about finding a picture that is worth a week-long discussion.

We hope you enjoy our selection for this week and we look forwardto reading your comments addressing the photograph -- its merits and its shortcomings. Feel free to point the members to other works (fitting the theme of Industry/Technology) and explain why you think that other work is worth mentioning.

For more information on posting comments, please read our guidelines

A perfect photo (no wonder though, since it was made by Ian MacEachern). Tells everything about the subject. Who cares about the glases? :)

 

Congratulations!

A good profile of this character, sweat on his forehead, hand on the wheel with gloves. Choice of B/W film is wise. A wide aperture was used to take just the natural light - that gives a better description of the actual work environment IMO. Overall, a very successful environmental portrait !

Perfect story line, Superb Tonal Range, excellent exposer, a worthy POW.

I have seen Ian's Portfolio and that makes me fall in love with B&W

RGDShttp://www.gallerydhaka.com

Hard to find a nit to pick here. It's ever so slightly soft from shooting wide open, but that's such a minor flaw it's easily overlooked. Had a smaller aperture been used (if even possible in this light) there would have been less separation between the foreground figure and his surroundings, possibly making for a less effective photograph.

 

The tonality and contrast are very good for such difficult lighting. The overhead lights and highlights are bright enough to convey a sense of the setting without being featureless, blown out blobs of white.

 

The question of the dark glasses would never have occurred to me. I've been in plenty of places like this and it's common to see safety glasses worn everywhere, including dark glasses where appropriate, including welding areas. If it seems impersonal, that's the nature of the job. This photograph conveys with perfect accuracy the feeling of these hot, gritty workplaces.

 

I particularly like the counterpoint of the two men, the one in the foreground taking a brief moment to wearily tolerate the presence of an intruder; the man in the background simply there, neither acknowledging nor evading the camera's gaze. This photograph conveys a sense of men who are comfortable with their surroundings and with who they are.

This is the kind of image that I can relate to, life rather than an imitation of life. It has many of the classic virtues of great B.W. photography, confident technique and tonal vitality.The composition is well judged - the man in the background is an essential component of it. Am just curious about the date of this.Congratulations!

I may be wrong of course, but I'd say this picture must have been taken some time in the late 60s or 70s, and it looks like an editorial photograph more than an advertising picture to me. At least nowadays, images like this would no longer really appear in company profiles. This image is basically about a man at work, not really about his work or the company. And environmental portrait indeed. With that in mind, I perfectly understand that one may wonder about the glasses. This person seems to be posing for the camera - so he could have taken off his glasses. A minute ago, he was still working, I believe, especially if I consider his sweat forehead. The intruder came and this worker took 1 minute to pose. I see it as a shot that had to be taken quickly, and as such I find it really extremely good. The most powerful ingredient here being in my opinion the light, which is just splendid - especially on the worker's arm, but also in the background. I agree that the 2nd man is a benediction here, as it helps balancing the composition while adding a bit of context and a human touch.

My only minor question about this picture may be: was it better to tilt the camera down just a tad and to include the whole arm on the right ? My personal answers would be yes for the tilt, but there are pros and cons about the cropped arm in my opinion. Glass half empty or half full, up to you. Having the arm complete would add to the feeling of peace - man resting during a short break -; having the arm as it is here rather adds tension, as it anchors the man between the wheel his hand is holding and the edge of the frame. So, I can't decide...

No matter what, to see a factory shot with so much humanity, so much of emotional content and social implications, is the specific magic of this picture for me. I've never taken any factory shot to be used for editorial purpose, but have taken quite a number for company profiles, and it is refreshing for me to see so much soul in an industrial shot, whereas the kind of pictures you find in company profiles nowadays are generally very cold and more "technology-oriented".

All this being said, and given the wonderful portfolio Ian has uploaded here, I can't help it: I'd have to say that I truly wish Ian's 2nd POW would have been a street photo. I like this POM very much and find it incredibly subtle, but since one can't have more than a POW per year or so, I would really have loved to discuss one of Ian's most incredible people captures, out there, in the street. Just a tad frustrating for me because Ian's candid shots are among the most impressive on this site...

Never mind, I'm still happy to see this great picture again. Congratulations, and thank you for all these beautiful photographs in your folders, Ian. Best regards.

He's affixed to the machine through the wheel in the same way that I am affixed to this machine through the monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. Where are the marxists when we need them?

 

The photo is technically superb, but the social implications of technology might be the topic behind the topic of the week, or perhaps I am just grumpy because I have to go to a seminar today about teaching a philosophy course on the web. Progress, no doubt. . . .

Great industrial portrait. Being the safety glasses are part of his work attire they belong in place on his face

Karshesque.

What is an "informative impression?" Does it convey an impression of a day's work for this man? Yeah, I guess so, but I suppose it would take one picture per second for the entire 8 hour shift to get the real story.

 

Does the picture tell you anything about his character?

--Looks pretty no-nonsense to me, but then again, he's posing for the photographer, who's probably got a union representative on one side, and a plant manager on the other. I'd look no-nonsense under such conditions, too.

 

His environment?

yeah, he lives in a factory.

 

Perhaps you would prefer eye contact rather than dark glasses?

---yeah! most of us would. especially if his eyes are attractive. But I bet he would prefer the dark glasses, judging from the dangerous sparks all over the place, and the little slivers of metal flying about. You can tell he's not wearing dark glasses to shield his eyes from on-camera fill flash.

 

Ah! Good B&W photojournalism at it's best!

 

Congratulations!

Proof once again the MacEachern's the best documentary photographer on Photo Net.

Great photograph. The contrast evokes a place that is harshly lit and even gives us a sense of the noise in the place. It looks like a hot and sweaty job. The subject looks like he has many hours to go before his shift ends, but he is already tired...

 

I would have preferred that the worker not be posing, but doing his job, that would be a great environmental portrait.

 

Alan.

I used to work in a pipe fabrication plant. In the massive building usually one or two people would get sent to the hospital per month due to injury. A common injury was crunching a finger or thumb in a pipe cutting or grooving machine. Another was Arc Flash. The building was littered with welders and plasma cutters. If you look at the arc on a welder or plasma cutting machine without protection you will scorch your eyes and it feels like (believe me I know) you got whipped in the eyes with sand, salt, and white hot broken glass. You won't feel anything while it is burning but, your corneas feel like HELL the next morning. The glasses here are almost essential. It shows he is in harms way 40 or so hours a week. I am so glad this is POW.

Excellent work, great B+W image,wonderful tone!!!!!!

I like all the images in your Industrial folder; however, they seem a little too contrasty and dark. Of course I can see that somehow this could add to the subject, e.g., image #3 of the folder is generally dark but the contrast is soft. It is more pleasant in my opinion. Congrats for POW anyway.

There will obviously be continuing discussion about the glasses. Even though there seems to be some kind of break going on in the factory (judging also by the position/attitude of the background figure), I like the glasses for the sense of place that they add. The subject's relaxed demeanor conveys the break, but the sweat on his brow and the well-taken scene convey the effort, heat, and intensity of his environment. Compositionally, I find the lines here to be strong and the light and space divisions to be effective at isolating the subject. Nice work indeed. Enjoy.

All I can say is I have this sudden urge to start singing "I owe my sould to the company store".

The elves find this photograph works on two levels; as a character portrait, and as an industrial documentary.

 

This is neither a character portrait nor an industrial documentary. This pic is not about a person or about a certain inanimate thing (factory, workshop, building, industry, ...). It is about a person IN such an inanimate structure and their relation, or in short: an environmental portrait.

That's why the most significant element of the pic (for me) is his right arm holding that wheel, showing the connection and connectedness of the man with and to his work.

The often mentioned glasses not only show something about his environment, but far more important hide some of his individuality, so that the pic is not about a certain man, but about a type/class/... of men and the place they spend a good part of their lives. That's why the title (which is as perfect as the pic) reads "foundry worker #1" and not "Samuel" or "Nathan".

That's why this picture seizes me.

 

That's why it is a masterpiece.

 

 

Classic Tri-X tones & application.

Ian, your portfolio is a huge source of inspiration. Congrats on the POW selection again.