Subject matter:

I was born at two o'clock in the morning on a cold December night. This fact seems to have set the stage for the rest of my life. From high school onward I've been a night owl. Most of my job's since then have been the graveyard shift. There's just something about the peace and tranquility of how things are when the world sleeps that is hard to beat. When I first started to take photography seriously, I found myself driving around the city, simply exploring. It was on these late night drives that I discovered something else that did not sleep at night: Duluth and Superior's industries. I noticed many things that caught my eye. I was inspired to capture these images with photography. Thus the birth of my style - nighttime industrial photography.

A surprising number of businesses are in operation 24/7. To accomplish this they require lots of lighting. This lighting creates a unique opportunity to photograph buildings, vehicles and equipment, as well as the various tools used to do these jobs. I soon found I enjoyed the results much more than I could have ever imagined.

The biggest obstacle to taking industrial photos at these hours is probably security. Many of the 'prime' areas are on private property. Countless occasions I would have to stand on public property and shoot over a fence, under a freeway, or just plain far enough away in order to avoid trespassing. Sometimes I found even that wasn't enough.

On one occasion I was photographing a building in Superior, WI. Not long after I began shooting several police cars showed up. One officer asked what I was doing, after a quick explanation, they were satisfied with my answer and let me go on my way. Apparently some people inside a nearby office building were nervous as to what exactly I was doing. In this post 9/11 era, you can't exactly blame them. The next morning the officer came to my home, to get a much more detailed explanation. Only then did I find out Homeland Security had to be called!

Medium of choice:

I shoot entirely digital. When I decided on a camera, I chose digital as a way to reduce costs. I knew I wouldn't always have enough money to get roll after roll of film developed. I quickly found using digital allowed me to print only the photos I wanted to keep. Being able to edit, proof and fine-tune on the computer before printing allows me to only print the best of the best. Less than 1% of my photos will ever see the light of day as a  hardcopy.

Conclusion:

I've found Duluth has many unique and relatively unknown industrial gems I plan on seeking out and capturing for many years to come. While industrial photography isn't my only subject, it is by far my favorite.

Jadin Hanson
Duluth, MN
February 2005

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