Jono's Life in Nanning

Jonathan asked me if I would go down to Nanning with him to photograph and document a factory they will soon close down. This is also my first 'paid assignment', subject to how 'paid' is defined.

The factory makes glass which is later rolled, pressed and made into insulation pipes, and sold around the world. I think it was a somewhat personal project for Jono, given the gruelling negotiations with the government, deceiving nego techniques, then later the financial difficulties the factory went through. I also understood why all these years he hated going there. My perception of China has been vastly distorted by the comfort and attention I get in Beijing and Shanghai. Even as the capital city of Guangxi Province, just 160km away from the Vietnamese border, it is rough on its edges.

We flew to Nanning on a late Friday night and went straight into the factory to start the shoot. Had to wear all the gear; goggles, helmet, shoes, making the shoot rather uncomfortable. The factory operates on 3 shifts, 24x7. It was interesting to see how sand gets transformed into insulation pipes. My favourite was the furnace - seeing liquid glass is mesmerising. The foreman stuck a pole and pulled out the cotton-like glass. Never knew glass comes in this form.

We got up at the crack of dawn to get the saturation of the rising sun, to capture the shift change, to capture the life of the factory, to document the surroundings of the factory.

We barely slept that night, and given my own full-on week in Shanghai, I was in a recovery mode the whole of Sunday. But, how else to catch up with my old running soul mate and a great friend than going down the memory lane with him, and lens-catching a fraction of what is important in his life.

Here is a collage of a few shots.