A person wearing glasses, a mask and protective clothing peeks around a computer monitor amid optical equipment at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Industrial photography at Optimax

Flynn brought me to Optimax to create a library of photographs as the company began its rebranding process. Based in Ontario, New York, near Rochester, Optimax makes specialty optics for companies, science and government.

Over two days in the factory, I worked with agency representatives to explore how that new identity might look. Alongside the industrial work, we looked for more interesting, quirky and playful ways to photograph what Optimax does and the people who do it.

A person operates a machine in a wide factory interior filled with pipes, cables and trays at Optimax in Ontario, New York. — An operator at the controls on the Optimax factory floor.

Optimax began in a barn in Webster, New York, in 1991, using computer-controlled machining to speed up custom optics production. Rochester’s optical history reaches back much further: Bausch & Lomb opened there in 1853 and made its first photographic lens in 1883. George Eastman introduced the Kodak camera in 1888, and the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics began teaching in 1929.

A person in protective clothing seen through a soft circular field of green, cyan and amber color at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Pale curved cylinders sit in blue foam under cyan light at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Transparent containers and small clear pieces glow blue against a dark background at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

A row of mounted optical elements catches red light at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Blue-gloved hands hold a large amber-colored circular object beneath a lamp at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

A person in a bright yellow hooded coat faces a very large circular machine surface at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Meeting the people making these lenses was a highlight of the shoot. So many of the pieces were made in small, custom batches, and I enjoyed watching people refine their processes and troubleshoot as they worked.

We contracted for 40 images. By the end, we had found more than 300 that could work for them.

A very small round reflective object rests alone on an open white-gloved palm at Optimax in Ontario, New York.

Two people in protective clothing look through separate door windows; one raises a gloved hand at Optimax in Ontario, New York.