Rob Birrell’s Photography Blog

Valve Assembly in makeshift studio

Finished Image of Valve Assembly

I recently completed a commision for a German Engineering company who asked me to shoot some images of a valve assembly before it shipped out to their customer. Problem was that the assemblage was about the size of a mini and could only be shifted about with a fork lift truck. Well the sub-contractor, VA Kirkdale of Wallsend, was most accomodating and agreed to paint the floor for me. The backdrop is my studio white muslin backdrop turned on its side and stretched as taught as possible between the uprights. Even then it wasn’t quite high enough so I ended up shooting from about 5 foot off the ground on a scaffolding tower.

Thankfully the job had been postponed from the original intended day as a couple of days previously I was largely immobilised by a nasty stomach bug which meant that I didn’t dare venture more that a few feet from a toilet. As it was I did the shoot drugged up to the eyeballs fueled by little more than 3 litres of water. I lost 7lbs that week!

Click through on the above images to see the finished images.