[Theme] Industriekultur

[Frank Fremerey]

It is a storage company, with a loading dock in Alcantarilla, for grain items

So they can load and unload ships there?

[ARTUROARTISTA]

So they can load and unload ships there?

No boats, but trucks.

[Ann]

"Mobile phone pictures of steam-age machinery
Plus someone who almost looks like he could have come from that era"

Wonderful series!
I love the Train Guard with his watch-chain and the hidden watch with which he keeps his train running on time

[Ann]

This photograph, which was shot on 5x4 Vericolor film, is one of a series that I photographed under the most horrific circumstances of my life.

The client manufactured Sludge pumps (and the ancillary pipes and fittings) and we had been commissioned to produce a brochure for them.

When we arrived at the sewage treatment plant for the city of Toronto we were greeted by the manager of the plant with the news that they had suffered five major bursts during the previous night so perhaps we would like to return after we had had lunch which would give them the chance to clean up.

I still did not grasp the full significance of his remarks until we returned and descended into the “Wet Room”.

We had been issued with white protective helmets but they were of little protection against the “matter” which was moving along overhead channels. The smell was unbelievable.

I wanted to turn tail and run but we had contracted to design and produce their brochure so that was not an option.

I did have their pipes and fittings painted in sunny yellow and we had the 8-page brochure printed on glossy premium stock so it looked bright and cheerful when it was done — although no-one followed up on my suggestion that we should incorporate a scratch-’n-sniff patch in it.

This photograph was taken in the newly-cleaned-up pump room.

[Akira]

This photograph, which was shot on 5x4 Vericolor film, is one of a series that I photographed under the most horrific circumstances of my life.

The client manufactured Sludge pumps (and the ancillary pipes and fittings) and we had been commissioned to produce a brochure for them.

When we arrived at the sewage treatment plant for the city of Toronto we were greeted by the manager of the plant with the news that they had suffered five major bursts during the previous night so perhaps we would like to return after we had had lunch which would give them the chance to clean up.

I still did not grasp the full significance of his remarks until we returned and descended into the “Wet Room”.

We had been issued with white protective helmets but they were of little protection against the “matter” which was moving along overhead channels. The smell was unbelievable.

I wanted to turn tail and run but we had contracted to design and produce their brochure so that was not an option.

I did have their pipes and fittings painted in sunny yellow and we had the 8-page brochure printed on glossy premium stock so it looked bright and cheerful when it was done — although no-one followed up on my suggestion that we should incorporate a scratch-’n-sniff patch in it.

This photograph was taken in the newly-cleaned-up pump room.

Good grief!  Compared to your sour experience, the despair I felt when I found a white pot filled with the "matter" in the public restroom in the crowded Munich central station seems to be a child's play.  Good to see the cleand-up room looking bright and cheerful...

[Bruno Schroder]

Great anecdote, Ann. I'm guessing that as a professional photographer you have many stories about the making of of what look like innocuous photos.
It would make a good thread, I think.

[Ann]

Thank you Akira and Bruno.

There was a follow-up:

We were staying at a rather nice lakeside hotel.

We returned from the shoot and took long hot showers and washed our hair using every bottle of shampoo and bar of soap that the hotel provided.
We sprayed all the clothes that we had been wearing — both inside and out— with deodorising room spray (which I had fortuitously grabbed from the house just before we left); and we put our shoes in the trunk of the car.

Then we went to Dinner.

When we returned to our room, we found that the maid had opened all of the windows.

This was in Canada — in January!!

[Bruno Schroder]

Good one! Please, more anecdotes.

[Akira]

Ann, thank you for the further details of the "event".  Even in Canada in January, I would prefer the cold room to the stinky one...(I'm from Sapporo, Hokkaido).

Hope you slept well after the room had been warmed up again....