Why I Enjoy Photographing Heavy Equipment

Nathan Medcalf
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

I took an interest in photography as a young adult and since then, photography has been a part of my employment (usually in media and marketing roles). In 2006, I began taking pictures of heavy equipment for a trade publication.

Heavy equipment have the same shine, colour, and contour appeal as cars, which are often seen as much sexier than heavy equipment, but heavy equipment have several advantages over cars.

Heavy equipment look great dirty. Dirt is the natural environment to many heavy equipment. Being dirty just adds to the gritty, visceral, and performance of the machines.

Heavy equipment can be large and powerful. I’ve stood next to a 300-ton truck where the tires are taller than me and inside the bucket of an excavator that can scoop people up like a spoon scooping Cheerios.

Heavy equipment are diverse. There forms vast and their functions are varied. For example, a loader looks very different from an excavator, and they both look very different from a skidder or a paver. A car, on the other hand, has only one function — to transport people from one place to another (under very controlled and perhaps even optimal travelling conditions).

Lastly, heavy equipment are impressive, because each machine is the embodiment of a series of engineering solutions and technologies designed to improve work. I have spoken to dozens of product engineers and end-users; from each, I have come to appreciate the importance that these machines play in helping overcome obstacles for the people who form our built world.

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Nathan Medcalf

Written by

Communications professional with strong interests in #heavyequipment #construction #infra #mining #foresty #trades #trucking #technology

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