Night Shift: people who keep a port city running after dark

The problem

The Weekend Paper commissioned a long read about the people who work through the night in Rotterdam, and wanted photographs that felt observed rather than posed. The writer had spent a month with eight workers. My job was to follow the same people across five nights and come back with a series that could run as a ten-page photo essay.

Night work brings its own limits. Flash was banned in the container terminal for safety reasons, and I needed an escort and a hi-vis vest at all times. Light ranged from sodium lamps to near darkness, the tram depot allowed one hour, and the paper needed pictures that would survive newsprint, which is unkind to dark, noisy images.

Process

1. 01

   Learning the shifts first

   I spent the first night without a camera, riding along with the writer and learning each person's routine: when the crane operator takes a break, which hour the bakery is busiest, where the pharmacist stands when the shutter goes up. By the second night I knew where to wait, which mattered more than any lens choice.

2. 02

   Fast glass, no flash

   Everything was shot on a full-frame body with a 35mm f/1.4 and a 50mm f/1.2, at ISO 3200 to 12,800. I exposed for the brightest skin tone and let shadows fall away. In the terminal I worked from the escort's van and a crane platform, and used the cranes' own floodlights as key lights.

3. 03

   Toning for newsprint

   I edited the series to twenty-two frames and toned them warm against the cold sodium light. For newsprint I lifted the shadows by about a stop, reduced noise only in flat areas, and sent the paper test pages before the final files. The repro team ran a press proof, and we adjusted two frames that blocked up.

Selected images

Outcome