Cleveland Brothers Industrial Photography

This is a series of photographs taken at Cleveland Brothers. Cleveland Brothers is one of the largest Caterpiller dealerships in the country spanning the better part of Pennsylvania. They are putting together new marketing materials emphasizing their truck service capabilities and hired me to photograph these capabilities at their Harrisburg location. Industrial photography is a lot of fun because of how it challenges you to make beautiful pictures out of what are often not so beautiful subjects. Creative lighting and a creative eye are paramount to the success of the images.

This was actually the last shot of the day. We waited for the perfect moment while having mechanics drive trucks in and out of the facility. We went up on a boom truck just high enough to change the perspective yet not so high that you couldn't see the compliment of trucks in the bays. Mother nature also cooperated giving us a spectacular sunset.

This is just a shot taken at the end of the day once all of the planned photographs had been accomplished except the last one and we had a couple hours to spare while waiting for the light to change.

This image shows the technical capabilities of the shop. They hook the engine up to the computer systems and are able to get all sorts of readings. They can have the computer most anywhere and typically would have it outside the truck when doing these diagnostics, but we decided that showing the interior of a truck may speak more to the target customer.

Just a straight photograph of some general maintenance being done on a big rig.

This was a fun shot. For this I crawled up a 15 foot stepladder to get this shot. Believe it or not, this truck is going about 60MPH on the DYNO machine and it was LOUD! The combination of a slow shutter speed with my assistant lighting the rear wheel, the headlights from the truck, and remote flashes on the back of the truck as well as the technician made for a unique and compelling shot.
This planned interior shot was one of the three shots we used the boom truck for. The idea was to show the shop's ability to handle a large load of work. The space in the bottom left was open and allowed us to pose the shop manager with a mock customer shaking hands. Now the image conveys so much more than it would have if shot simply as the shop floor alone.

These two shots of a cooling fan housing being replaced were not in the planned shot list, but are a couple of my favorites. They are real, give a sense of scale, and show the teamwork and tools required to get the job done.

I had gotten all of the planned shots except the outside facility shot at sunset. So now it was time to just make some images with what was available. In case you are looking for a photographer who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, I'm your man. Those are my hands staging the shot. I let my assistant hit the shutter release. Its hard to tell from the way I lit the shot, but this was a oily mess. Oh and to top it off I was wearing a white shirt with khaki pants as seen in the shot below. Down and dirty industrial photography for Pennsylvania and beyond. Give me a call today!

While sometimes with industrial photography adding colored lights is required to make dynamic photographs, other times a straight shot is interesting enough. Here a mechanic is doing some work on an engine. The engine is in the truck. I got several shots of him looking up and looking down at the engine. I liked this one of him looking up the best. The shot below is of me making this image from a boom truck.

This was a tricky shot, especially since it was the first shot of the day. We met at 6:00 AM in order to be on location before sunrise. Due to some logistic problems complicated by the fact that our initially scouted location was suddenly unavailable we had to work quickly to capture the desired image before the morning light gave way to the day's full light. The light changes very quickly at this time of the day. The goal of this photograph was to highlight their service truck while eliminating most of the details of the rig. In the end 4 photographs were used and blended in Photoshop to attain the desired effect.

One of the challenges of industrial photography is making the mundane look interesting. I'm sure you've seen the underside of a car and know what a greasy dirty mess it is. Well as you can imagine the underside of a truck is not much better. Adding accent lighting to bring some interest to the subject makes the final photograph more dynamic. While the main purpose of the shot was to show their ability to lift a 10 ton truck, adding the mechanic completed the shot. Believe it or not, these are 4 individual jacks that work in unison and can be moved to any bay that they are needed. Amazing. And yes... I walked under it quite a few times.