Hi, everybody. Welcome to Episode 35 of the Photography Explained Podcast. In this episode, what is industrial photography?

I’m your host, Rick, and each week I’ll try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes without the irrelevant details. My aim is to explain things in just enough detail to help you and me with our photography, and no more.

Who am I? I’m a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you on my podcast.

Now, that was all scripted, because I still can’t remember it, Episode 35 and I’m still having to read the intro. I’ll get there eventually.

So what is industrial photography?

Industrial photography is a specialism of photographing industrial plant equipment, processes, facilities, products, services, and also the people who work in this sector. Industrial photography images are used to promote business products and services to customers on websites and in marketing and promotional materials.

You can listen to the episode here

Or keep on reading. Or do both. Entirely up to you!

Okay, so I’ve done architectural photography, I’ve done construction photography, and now I’m on to industrial photography. I love doing industrial photography, I’m not gonna lie to you – I have had some great experiences.

1 What is industrial photography used for?

Well, it’s mainly used by businesses for marketing and record purposes (let’s not forget that). So I listed equipment, processes, plant, and facilities. These can be impressive setups. I’ve been to some large industrial facilities, and yes they can be immense.

Now, this isn’t all factories, there are all sorts of industrial facilities like utilities, nuclear, power generation, wind turbines, rail siding loading facilities (yes, I photographed one of those, and it was brilliant).

And quarries, and all that stuff in the ground.

And there is also lots of industrial plant and equipment out there. So all these things make great subjects. The businesses that own, operate, run, and use them to make things need photographs for their websites, marketing material, brochures, and all that stuff.

It’s a great area of work to get into.

2 Why do I love industrial photography?

Well, I probably just told you why I love It by what I said above.

3 Who do I take photos for?

Well, I am not able to tell you who I take photos for because I don’t like to name clients unless I have got their permission.

I would just like to give an example of one of my all-time favourite shoots. It was three locations, the first location was on a live rail siding. An excavator was taking gravel off the back of, you know those trains that go by with all the carriages with just piles of stuff on them – one of them. This excavator was taking loads and loads of gravel and putting it into concrete bays. That was fantastic, a fantastic experience.

I also had to photograph a quarry where they were digging stuff out of the ground. I had to capture the extent of the quarry, the transport, the machinery that took the stuff out, and just the sheer scale of it. And as importantly, if not, more importantly, the people who work in these facilities in their working environment.

It was brilliant.

4 Can you make a living from industrial photography?

If I could just do industrial photography and construction photography and architectural photography and nothing else. I’d be very, very happy. You can make a living. But it’s tough, especially at the moment, obviously.

But there’s plenty of industry out there. Yes, you can make a living. You’ve got to be good at what you do. And to be good at what you do, you need to do it consistently. And it also helps if you niche down into a specific area.

I’m focusing (no pun intended) on architectural, construction and industrial photography and nothing else.

No weddings, portraits, family christenings, or anything with people, pets or animals. And if you want to make a living doing this, this is the best way but it takes time.

5 Do you need specialist knowledge?

Yes. That’s a qualified yes. Any knowledge of an industrial environment is helpful. You’re not going to get specialist knowledge about everything industrial because if you know everything about all industrial facilities, you wouldn’t be photographing them, you’d be running them!

An appreciation and being comfortable in those environments will definitely help though.

6 Do you need specialist gear?

Yes, as for construction photography, you need cameras, lenses, tripods, all that good stuff that is durable, dust, cold, and wind resistant.

You also need the right kind of gear to protect yourself as well, not only PPE. I was gonna say you need to keep warm, but the problem I had with the rail siding was I had to wear high-vis trousers. Now I had to get different colours from my regular ones because they use different colours on the rail network. It needs to be orange I think – it was a few years ago now. Anyway, I’ve got my high-vis coat on, and I’ve got my high-vis trousers on. And the sun came out and it got to about 28 degrees. And believe me, I was sweating profusely, which made it very, very uncomfortable, but still enjoyable.

7 How do you process industrial photos?

As for architectural and construction photography, realistically, and technically correct. Make sure that what’s in there should be in there. If there’s something that’s not right, as in someone walking past not wearing a hat you need to either recompose or delete that photo. Or be confident that you can remove that person in Photoshop, or put a hat on them!

The easiest way is just not to include them. Check the frame, make sure.

If you get it right in camera you don’t need to remove people.

8 How do I start as an industrial photographer?

I’d find some industrial stuff and photograph it. I’d contact local companies and ask them if they want some photos then and say, I’ll give you the photos if you give me the experience. It’s a good way to start.

9 Do I need to be qualified?

It’s a tough one for industrial photography because it covers a wide range of industries. So no, but I’ll stand by what I said before – familiarity and comfortableness with industrial environments, just like with construction sites, will make the whole thing much, much easier.

If you turn up at some large-scale industrial facility and you haven’t got a clue what’s going on and you’re well, quite frankly, scared, you’re not going to do a good job and you’re not going to enjoy it. So be comfortable with what you’re doing.

10 Check out my website.

Now this is episode three of me plugging my website Rick McEvoy Photography. The only reason being there is stuff on there which is relevant and will help you if you want to do architectural, construction or industrial photography.

There are also examples of the work I’ve done for clients.

Quick recap.

Industrial photography is a specialist area of photography, taking photos of industrial plants, equipment, facilities, and people.

What do I want you to do now? I’ll do well on time here.

1 Go out and take some photos

Of something industrial

2 Let me know how you got on

Message me on Twitter @rickphoto

3 Subscribe to my podcast

If you enjoyed this episode. This helps me and you do not miss an episode

4 Rate and review my podcast

If you enjoyed this episode, of course, this helps me too

5 Tell someone you know about my podcast.

This also helps me, and I need all the help I can get believe me.

Next episode.

Okay, now I’ve done the stuff I know. I’ve now got some work to do. I can’t just keep on talking about what I do. I’ve got to broaden this out a bit. So I’m going to jump straight into the thing I know the least about which is wedding photography! Like I said I need all the help I can get ha!

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. Check out my website Rick McEvoy Photography where you can find out all about me and my architectural and construction photography work, as well as my industrial photography work, of course. And also my blog where you can learn lots more about photography, and lots more about me if you want to, but it’s more about the photography, isn’t it?

And also this finally made it into the notes. Check out my Photography Explained Podcast website where you can find out how to ask me a question, find a list of episodes and also things I’m going to explain in future episodes.

That’s it, we’re done.

This episode is brought to you by the power of it nearly being the weekend. not quite there, but we’re nearly there. I’ve been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again for listening to me and for giving me 10 minutes of your valuable time. I’ll see you in the next episode.

Cheers from me, Rick

OK – that was the podcast episode.

Want to know more?

Head over to the Start page on the Photography Explained Podcast website to find out more.

And here is the list of episodes published to date – you can listen to any episode straight from this page which is nice.

Let me know if there is a photography thing that you want me to explain and I will add it to my list. Just head over to the This is my list of things to explain page of this website to see what is on there already.

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And finally a little bit about me

Finally, yes this paragraph is all about me – check out my Rick McEvoy Photography website to find out more about me and my architectural, construction, real estate and travel photography work. I also write about general photography stuff, all in plain English without the irrelevant detail.

Thank you

Thanks for listening to my podcast (if you did) and reading this blog post (which I assume you have done as you are reading this).

Cheers from me Rick