Thank you for this. I had no idea there was such a thing as an "industrial photographer" let alone several.

I work in the manufacturing sector and there are times, despite the grime, frustrations with management/bureaucracy or general environmental concerns that I find what we do quite beautiful, in a way. When you see the choreographed dance of a production line, be it the size of a building or a small automation cell, it's really quite something that we were able to put that all in motion without catastrophic failure. The photo of the Global Foundry is really something, illustrating the intricate complexities I have encountered in so many factories that just look like monolithic beige boxes from the outside, housing virtual cities of activity within.

I saw the Maurice Broomfield exhibition and have the book of the same name (Industrial Sublime), which is still widely available and recommended for anyone interested in this area.

On the same visit to the V&A I also saw some of Bernd and Hilla Becher's work (water towers etc) which has since sent me on a journey of discovery of The Dusseldorf School of Photography. The style of some photographers from this genre (especially the Bechers, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer) may well appeal to anyone interested in industrial photography, while perhaps not strictly of the same genre. I am headed to a small Candida Höfer exhibition in London this weekend. Definitely have been enjoying this particular rabbit hole immensely!

It’s slightly funny that your last link is to the website of a museum at SFO airport. I like SFO a lot for having such installations and an overall calm vibe.

Great links, thank you for this.

My first job was as technician, then, as an EE (well, I lie, my first job was as a dishwasher, at a nursing home, but that was when I was 16).

The nice thing about that job, was that I got to do both the hardware and the software. In my case, I designed the electronics, and things like the chassis, so I was working with the metalshop, and whatnot.

I linked to my first project, in a previous post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42637454

I fell into industrial work right out of undergrad as a EE, not intending to work in the rust belt or manufacturing or anything of the like. I erroneously assumed it was not important, not sexy, not interesting. How wrong that was.

How things are made is so important, not only for our society but also as learning experiences for engineers, planners, logicticians, and more. As a career roboticist, the time I spent in the manufacturing industry seems invaluable to me now.

(note: i wrote the link in the OP)

as it happens, i spent about a decade working on an electronic product that, for complex reasons, wasn't suitable for outsourcing overseas. i wrote a reasonably long and detailed post about this process recently, which you can find here: https://scopeofwork.net/proof/ i also wrote about it a bunch on my personal blog; you can find the relevant posts here: https://pencerw.com/feed?tag=thepublicradio

Are you trying to have a product made? Or are you really just interested in the manufacturing process itself?

It depends on the product, obviously. For many things you have domestic manufacturing options, but people either overlook them or immediately seek out the cheapest alternative (often China). There are small contract manufacturers all over the United States.

Doing your own manufacturing of electronic goods is a common trap for people with just enough experience to know that it’s possible. Nearly everyone who has done it will recommend against it. You have to choose if you want to be in the business of making and selling a product, or in the business of setting up and operating a lot of difficult manufacturing machines and processes. People who try to do both at the same time usually get overwhelmed, delayed, and burned out.