Madison Energy Infrastructure
INDUSTRIAL CINEMATOGRAPHY, VINTAGE GLASS & CHASING THE LIGHT
This project for Madison Energy Infrastructure was a little different from the commercial productions Director Allen Colombo and I normally work on together.
Instead of a crew of 10, 20 or 30, it was just the two of us, an ARRI Alexa Mini LF, a DJI Mavic 3 drone, and a backpack of my vintage Canomatic Primes.
We travelled to Madison Energy facilities in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and Virginia, capturing the scale, architecture, machinery, and details of each location.
I've always loved industrial cinematography. There's something about huge structures, repeating lines, machinery, and raw functionality that gives you endless opportunities to find interesting frames.
Many years ago in high school, a friend and I used to drive around Pennsylvania and Ohio at night photographing industrial facilities, smokestacks, and bulldozers.
Back then, there may have been some trespassing involved.
These days, thankfully, they invite me.
A Two-Person Commercial Production
Working with such a small footprint completely changed the pace of the shoot.
There was no huge lighting package or large camera department. We relied heavily on available light, location, composition, lens choice, and timing.
And honestly, I love working that way when the project allows for it.
Industrial facilities are active environments. You can't always control what's happening around you, so being able to move quickly is incredibly valuable.
See a frame? Shoot it.
Light changes? Move.
Something unexpected happens? Follow it.
Allen and I have worked together enough (for HBO Promos for Euphoria S3 and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Promo) that there was very little discussion needed. We could move quickly through these massive locations and concentrate on finding the strongest images rather than building everything from scratch.
Vintage Canomatic Primes on the Alexa Mini LF
For the main camera, I paired the ARRI Alexa Mini LF with my vintage Canomatic Primes. This lens set is genuinely one of a kind. The glass dates back to the 1950s and '60s and was custom rehoused by Zero Optik for modern cinema production.
The Canomatics are essentially the grandfather of the famous Canon K35s and the father of the Canon FDs. They have exactly the kind of texture and character I wanted against these modern industrial environments. I kept the package small: 19mm, 35mm, 58mm, and 135mm, plus a 1.7x extender that effectively gave me another 99mm and 230mm.
Plenty of focal length options.
DRONE CINEMATOGRAPHY...
AND A 150-FOOT PLAN B
The Mavic 3 gave us another important perspective.
Industrial facilities really come alive from the air. Suddenly you see patterns, scale, infrastructure, roads, buildings, and relationships that simply aren't visible from the ground.
But at one of our Virginia locations, we were close enough to Washington, DC that flying the drone wasn't an option. So we found another solution.
A 150-foot lift.
One morning I found myself 150 feet in the air, coffee in hand, Alexa ready, waiting for sunrise. Those are still some of my favorite moments as a Director of Photography. Everything is ready. The composition is there. The camera is set.
And there's absolutely nothing left to do except wait for the light. Then the sun arrives and you've got your shot.
Sacred Geometry & Finding the Frame
A huge part of the visual approach for Madison Energy was built around Sacred Geometry, particularly the Rooted Square.
Industrial cinematography is perfect for this because these environments are already filled with geometry: repeating structures, pipes, grids, circles, lines, intersections, and enormous architectural shapes.
Rather than simply documenting the facilities, I wanted to find compositions within them.
Where does your eye naturally travel?
How do the structures balance within the frame?
Where does the foreground lead you?
How can something completely functional become visually interesting?
People watching the final piece don't need to know why a composition feels balanced.
They just need to feel that it does.
And yes, I can talk about geometry for an unnecessarily long time.
You've been warned.
The Result
PROJECT DETAILS
Client: Madison Energy Infrastructure
by Effie Studios
Director: Allen Colombo
Director of Photography: Drew Lauer
Camera: ARRI Alexa Mini LF
Lenses: Vintage Canomatic Primes, custom rehoused by Zero Optik
Drone: DJI Mavic 3
Locations: Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Francisco & Virginia
Focus: Industrial Cinematography, Commercial Cinematography, Drone Cinematography & Corporate Video Production
What I loved about the Madison Energy Infrastructure project was how stripped back it was.
Two people. One cinema camera.
A handful of vintage lenses. A drone.
And one very large lift.
Yet we were able to create cinematic imagery across facilities throughout California and Virginia by concentrating on the fundamentals: composition, lenses, perspective, natural light, and timing.
It also felt strangely full circle.
Twenty-five years ago, I was driving around with a friend and a camera looking for industrial facilities because I thought they were visually fascinating.
Now I've somehow made a career out of doing essentially the same thing.
Better cameras. Better lenses.
Less trespassing. I'd call that progress.
Other Case Studies
BIKER + COLOSSUS
LARCENY BOURBON
PEI WEI ASIAN KITCHEN