I can’t think of another way I would have wanted to spend my lunch hour last week than getting a tour of Lethbridge’s “Haul All Equipment” factory on the North Side. Vice President Kelly Philipp welcomed my team openly and gave us a fascinating tour of what I think is one of Lethbridge’s best-kept business success secrets. When I first researched the company, I expected a small operation of assembly-line workers grumpily making trash containers – boy was I mistaken! Haul All’s facility is massive, and the amount of energy in the place is addicitve.
This was an assignment for the University of Lethbridge’s Management Matters magazine, which I’ve been a fortunate contributor to this season. Kelly’s strong support of the University and the Management Faculty’s “Co-op” program is reason alone for showcasing him and his facility.
My assistant Trevor and I donned hard hats and protective gear to tour an expansive facility of welders, painters, and assemblers working on anything from construction fans to refitting industrial truck bodies and trailers. Kelly tells me that the distinctive shape of their wildlife-proof trash containers are a trademark of the company, and only manufactured in the Lethbridge facility for distribution and sale nation wide.
I wanted to capture the energy of a busy production plant, so I setup a series of shots to composite in post production. Kelly was a great host and was willing to try any of our crazy ideas – he put is trust in us and knew we were there to capture atypical commerical photography, which I think we did with great success!
All frames were shot with a Canon 7D, using manual-focus lenses (primarily the SAMYANG 85mm 1.4, and 7mm 3.5 fisheye). I had originally bought the primes for video work – they have very nice focus-rings, but have been loving the challenge of getting a sharp shot out of manual focus (which in turn will help my future video work).
I created a behind-the-scenes video around the post production required for the composited shot you see in the feature photograph:
