It took Christopher Payne five years to get into the pencil factory.
Payne, an industrial photographer, is obsessed with processes. How things are made, where they come from, the people who make them. And he knew the General Pencil Company factory in Jersey City was a perfect subject for his work.
“I’ve had a lot of success with everyday objects, like pencils and newspapers, that people take for granted,” Payne said. “It’s always fun to find something that is mundane and make it beautiful.”
And over the five years of talking with the owners to get access to General Pencil, he was learning about the factory’s production schedule, when they run specific colors, all with the aim of capturing the essential process.
“I didn’t just show up,” he said, “I knew the factory and I knew what I wanted.”
Payne’s striking photos of how pencils are made can be found in his new book, Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne, along with dozens of other factories he’s visited to document American manufacturing. His photography is strikingly detailed, beautifully lit, and, most importantly, human. Even in his photos of high-tech microchip production, the people stand out as much as the machines.
“Our iPhones are not entirely made by robots, they’re made by people. You might have an automated process but a lot of the assembly is actually made by hand,” Payne said. “I wish people would feel more respect for people that do this work.”
Payne remembers growing up in a time when every town in America was known for making something. But now, with decades of outsourcing and manufacturing moving overseas “most people don’t know where their goods come from or how they’re made.”
“There’s a disconnect that didn’t exist when every town made something,” he said. “I don’t mean to be nostalgic about it because working in a factory is really hard. Manual labor is hard.”
And Payne also has no delusions about the economic struggle of making goods in America. But you can’t help but notice some romanticism in his images. He isn’t offering false promises about a return of American manufacturing. But he is pointing out that we still build great things here and will continue to in the future. And it’s just beautiful to look at.
“I have no delusion that things are going to change,” he said, “but I do hope people will be a little more appreciative of the process. And most of all of manual labor and what it takes to make something.”
In the second half of Payne’s book, we get a glimpse of the new direction of American manufacturing. Electric cars, semiconductors, wind turbines—advanced pieces of technology that take skilled workers to build. Payne has visited dozens of these factories for this project, but he finds these modern factories present a distinct challenge. Often the actual manufacturing is done inside enclosed boxes, or sealed off behind glass. In these spaces, like the GlobalFoundries semiconductor factory in Malta, New York, he finds that a more abstract approach can work.
“It’s funny, the most interesting photo I thought I made at GlobalFoundries was not on the manufacturing floor, it was underneath the chip fab looking up at the underside of the floor.” Payne said. “You see all this different stuff, like spaghetti, and you realize how complex the entire operation is.”
Whether photographing the Ford F-150 Lightning assembly or a hand-built Steinway piano, Payne’s goal is the same. “I’m always looking for that picture that sums up the essence of the space—what is the most essential operation.”
This book isn’t the end of Payne’s obsession with the manufacturing process. In fact, he already has his next industry in mind: fire hydrants.
“A fire hydrant is like a tree,” he said. “What’s underground is much larger than what you can see above ground.”
