Volvo Mechanical Shovel.

There’s no doubt that an image like this will never be considered ‘beauutiful.’ It’s the inside of the cab of a huge mechanical shovel, the end used in quarries to lift tons of stone and gravel and load it into lorries.

I made the image, along with others, interior and exterior, as part of a commission for a commercial client, so it won’t ever be hanging on anyone’s wall!

Yet beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and photography, unlike some other disciplines is entirely subjective. What one person thinks is attractive and beautiful, will be repulsive to another. When I’d finished the commission, and sent off the completed images, this one still stuck out as interesting, if not exactly pretty. I like the almost ‘three dimensional’ aspect of the image, created by the juxtaposition of the levers and the screen, leading the eye in a convergence toward the starter key. The depth of field that blurs the image of other vehicles outside helps to keep the eye from straying outside the cab.

Fujifilm X-T4, F=55mm, f/5 @ 1/60th on ISO1600.