Bailey Metal Products is a large generational company with multiple plants across the country. Their head office is based in Ontario and they contacted me about creating commissioned pieces for one of their locations.
This was a multi shoot project, with shoots inside and outside the facility. The idea was to showcase their product by showing the process from beginning to end. This was a great opportunity for me to tell a story in an industrial setting.
Shooting on different days meant the amount of product, configurations and depth of field changed but it also gave me an opportunity to see how they moved the product through the facility, what the process is and what the different compositions look like.
The outside shoots were very weather dependant but luckily their back lot is ringed by a forest. The juxtaposition of nature and steel was very interesting. Providing a great backdrop for the largest piece, which is a 72″ x 48″ (6 feet by 4 feet, taller than me), featuring stacks of their product ringed by the sky and backed up by the forest.
The interior shoots gave me a chance to learn more about how the product changes from start to finish and having those differences tell a story. The three pieces that hang together in the lobby feature the steel as it arrives, as its processed in the plant and then when it leaves.
The showcase piece in the lobby, a 60″ x 40″ piece gives a feeling of generations – the call back lighting, the depth of field and the way it seems to engulf you as you look directly down that long row.
Borrowing a hammer drill was the most important part of the install, as two of the walls for the largest pieces were concrete! Four pieces hang in the lobby and upstairs in the executive lounge the largest piece hangs on the dark grey concrete wall. That piece is flooded with light by the floor to ceiling windows and it’s tough to get a feeling for just how large it is as it fits comfortably in that space.
This was a really interesting project, fantastic clients and the industrial theme is so intriguing. A great way to stretch my vision beyond land and seascapes.
