Factory worker in Johnson City, Tennessee, elderly, golden years, stock photography, stock image, man, worker, work, factory, portrait, Nashville, editorial photographer, advertising photographer
Factory worker in Johnson City, Tennessee. Client: Inc. Magazine
I photographed Greg (wearing Tom's lab coat, incidentally), while shooting a feature about the company’s CEO, who implemented nicotine testing as a way to screen his employees and avoid high insurance costs. But the real story was about the employees...
We had set up, and I heard laughing and chatter as several folks clocked in to start their second shift work making sunscreen. I asked to take their portraits and discovered some of them had been working in the same building longer than the current company had occupied the space. In Johnson City, Tennessee, which lies just west of the Blue Ridge Mountains this local workforce has spent 25 years getting hired and laid off, then rehired again to work at the same facility as companies came and left.. And to stay on with this particular manufacturer and current building lease-holder, the smokers quit.