INDUSTRY NEWS

One of the things I once loved most about my work was traveling, The farther away an assignment took me – China, Taiwan, Japan, Italy, Switzerland – the better. But I thoroughly enjoyed seeing as much of North America as I could, as well. A couple of days in Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, or Chicago was always a welcome addition to my itinerary. No matter where I was headed, I enjoyed the preparation, and then the sheer anonymity of travel. Nobody knows who you are – you simply parachute in to the company you’re there to visit, get things done, and head back home.

In my line of work, these visits would involve scheduling a site visit with a manufacturer for an interview and photography, conducting plenty of research in advance, and then showing up on time with a backpack full of all the gear I’d need. Then it was a matter of being curious and allowing my hosts to walk me through their world. I truly miss those encounters. I’d spend time with everyone from top executives to general managers, maintenance supervisors, machine tool operators… anybody who had a couple of minutes to tell me about themselves and their role within the company. What I learned is that everybody has a story: everybody. And I picked up a few handy insights along the way, too.

For instance, I always record interviews, noise levels allowing, but you still need to take down notes. One reason is because it seems to be expected of you – you don’t seem like you’re doing the heavy lifting if you just sit there letting your digital recorder do all the work. Plus you can scribble down points you’d like to return to for clarification later without interrupting the flow of the conversation at that moment. And when it comes to photography, I always had a calisthenic approach, crouching down, reaching up, climbing ladders and being lifted on cherry pickers; anything to find that original angle for your shot. And I had a saying, too, about trying to get “skin in the picture” as often as possible. Shooting for trade publications can get awfully “metallic” at times, if you know what I mean,” so I'd work to get people in the background, or get someone to hold samples of the parts they make in the palm of their hands. Try to bring the image to life, in other words.

These days I wonder if we’ll ever return to a time when we could travel so freely. It was such a rich experience to meet so many smart, entertaining, creative people. Same thing with tradeshows. As exhausting as they could be, you also felt an energy coming off an expo that simply can’t be matched, and you’d make friends you’d keep for your whole career. So without rushing our recovery, here’s to better days, when we can come back together as an industry again.

Russ Willcutt Editorial Director, Industrial Machinery Digest

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