The Christie Machine Works Welding Co. in Indianapolis has been around for more than 100 years, and when you walk in, you can feel it.
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Owned and operated by the Humphrey siblings, my interest in it was first aroused when I need a welding repair to a vintage Danish lounge chair. Rick Humphreys expertly took care of it right away, and while I was waiting, I looked around the shop. The mix of old and newer machines, and the colors, lighting and patina just begged for documentation. I know that older industrial environments like this shop are disappearing. Already in the area where this shop is located, many older metal shops have succumbed to real estate development.
The Humphreys let me spend a day shooting as they worked. The interior was dark but available light seemed the way to capture it, so the challenge was stopping movement and working with the light to illuminate faces and equipment. In post, I corrected the mixed lighting, which included daylight and yellow fluorescent, and retouched just enough to adjust the exposure ranges within the images.
These images will be placed in the image archive of the Indiana Historical Society, so in another hundred years, everyone will be able to see what an old-school metal shop looked like in 2016.
Owned and operated by the Humphrey siblings, my interest in it was first aroused when I need a welding repair to a vintage Danish lounge chair. Rick Humphreys expertly took care of it right away, and while I was waiting, I looked around the shop. The mix of old and newer machines, and the colors, lighting and patina just begged for documentation. I know that older industrial environments like this shop are disappearing. Already in the area where this shop is located, many older metal shops have succumbed to real estate development.
The Humphreys let me spend a day shooting as they worked. The interior was dark but available light seemed the way to capture it, so the challenge was stopping movement and working with the light to illuminate faces and equipment. In post, I corrected the mixed lighting, which included daylight and yellow fluorescent, and retouched just enough to adjust the exposure ranges within the images.
These images will be placed in the image archive of the Indiana Historical Society, so in another hundred years, everyone will be able to see what an old-school metal shop looked like in 2016.
