Corsair Distillery Tour...for C&C

[IzzieK]

One of the members of my "touring group" two weeks ago said:
"Distillery makes spirits, Winery makes wines, and Brewery makes beer." I wouldn't have a clue about the difference. So here we are in a strange place and all I want to do is take pictures. I couldn't care less what the guy was saying before the tour. He sounds good...know his stuff as it is only a small distillery -- office/display/sales and distillery next door where everything is almost hand produced. Anyway...

1. I have no idea how to describe this one...but in real life, this is not how they do it...



2. This is self explanatory I think...



3. The big drum where it all comes from...I can hardly move around the place because of the "tourists" in front of me, behind me, all over where I want to take my shoot so I shot the top of the container inside...



4. Filling 'er up...



5 The tubes from that container goes here to the larger bottle at the back then on 4 other smaller bottles to fill them up. I asked the tour operator how they keep up with demands if everything is almost hand produced like this...this is it! And then these bottles goes aside at the other end of table for labelling. He just simply said "We don't."



6. Some of the labels on top of a barrel at the back...



7. These barrels are located about 5 feet away from the wine filling zone...



8. This shot from the other side of the office/sales/display area...Big room but dark in most places. Must be a needed thing to keep the barrels of wine. I have no idea...I just like the textures of the barrels..



Thank you all for indulging me. I am not a wine/spirits/alcohol person but it is nice to be able to be allowed to see the process these bottles are subjected to before reaching the bottle shop/store. Compare this to the car operations where you are almost undressed so they can be sure you are not carrying any contraption at all to photograph their "secret". Oh well...c'est la vie!

Thank you for looking and bearing with my shots. Will appreciate any comments and critiques. Please do be aware that I was playing around with Nik's Software suite, particularly Color Efex and I enjoyed it very much, hence the different looks in each and every one of these depending on how much I wanted to show of the textures and how little I missed. It has been fun moving those sliders and creating recipes.

[FeatherMonkey]

I can only see one, but I like. Get a real feeling of the coopers at work.

[Shadowman]

Nice narrative and captures.

[FeatherMonkey]

Must of been to quick, nice story telling.

[FootLoose]

Good set, Izzie. The processing is your personal choice, but what I like here is that you have gotten in close and captured the essence of each scene. I especially like the first shot with the hands.

[gregj1763]

#1, #2, #4 and #8 Izzie, they tell a story of traditional time honored methods producing a quality product.
Good enough images to be featured on a web site or brochure.
Did you grab me a bottle
Cheers, Greg

[Manfred M]

An interesting series, Izzie and thanks for sharing. These are tough to do shots with a crowd about.

It must be a very small operation; that is the smallest bottling line I've ever seen; really quite manual and slow.

Breweries, wineries and distilleries all start of with a similar process; fermenting a fruit or grain to produce alcohol. These processes all result in fairly low concentrations of alcohol (3 - 13%). In a distillery, instead of filtering out the solids and bottling the stuff (some wines will be aged in wood first)), the resulting liquid is heated, causing the ethyl alcohol (which has a lower boiling point than water) and other aromatic compounds to evapourate. The vapours are cooled, which turns them liquid and the result is a distillate that has a much higher concentration of alcohol (typically 40% or greater). Put the stuff in hardwood barrels (like you see in your pictures) and let it age for several years, and you get the stuff you see being filled into bottles.

This is how I got into using ultra-wide angle lenses; as long as you are right at the barrier and in front of the crowd you can get a decent shot, regardless of how crowded the place is.

One thought of the look and feel of the images; you've processed each shot differently; if you are doing a series; using the same processing throughout the set gives you a more homogeneous result and the series looks more like a set than a group of individual shots. Same comment for sizing an orientation; all images the same height to width ratio and all images either in landscape or portrait orientation works too. I find that I can sometimes get away with the first and /or last image being a different orientation works as well (sort of like bookends for the series).

[TrishBJ]

It must have been an interesting visit even if you don't indulge in spirits. Always good to see how things are made. I enjoyed the series, even if they don't all match in style. My very favourite was number 4 - the colour, depth, crinkly glass......

cheers,
Trish

[Digital]

Izzie, nice series. Was this place in Kentucky?


Bruce

[deetheturk]

Very nice Izzie, looks like a great day out, think I would have had to sample it though

[Ziggy]

Very nice series Izzie. Looks like a fun place to spend some time.

All nice but my pick is #4. Just wish it had a little more room at the bottom.

[IzzieK]

Thank you Stef...I was still uploading the rest of the shots I wanted to share but pressed the wrong button so you saw only one. I am glad you stayed long enough to see the rest of them...Thank you for the feedback.

Thank you, John (Shadowman) for your comments...

Greg (Footloose) I was in a tight place there most of the time because I tried to stay away from the mobsters around me. That #2 and #3 shots I was able to sneaked in to go the other side where the bottle was slide to after it got filled up. So that was quite a feat squeezing myself between the boxes and the table where the bottles are being filled. My shots of the huge machine where the produce are distilled, were all discards because I was facing outside and can't get to the right position to my shot. I amsure it is hot because I was warned not to touch that big thing when I nearly lose my balance. I have other machine shots but they are all Greek to me, not knowing what it does and why... thanks for your comments and input.

Thank you Greg from Tassie...that was a flattering remark/comment! If you send me a PM I will order one for you and send it to your place when I go for a visit to Oz in the coming months...still have to schedule my trip. It has to be in your summer time.

Thank you for the explanation on the process and the tips, Manfred. I truly appreciate your comments as always coming from you. I will try to do better next time and try to make time editing my image first as to uniformity of sizes and orientation and processing. Shooting under the condition I was in and the heat of the place, I have to vary my shooting from landscape to portrait orientation and wishing I was on the other side where it is air conditioned and cooler. And yes, it is just a small operation. That filling station is just it -- four bottles at a time that was why I asked the operator how they keep up with the demands and he said, "We don't!" Maybe he should have said, "We can't" instead. Missouri is not even on his list until next month (July) and most of their profits from whatever seems to be eaten up by advertisement and taxes. He said there are only 4 of them in the filling station who works the filling and labelling the bottles and packing them in boxes. Very small indeed. But it was a good tour...as hubby said, any bigger operation would have tired him easily because of the heat that day...with impending thunderstorms on the way that creates havoc on the condition inside the factory...I do not know if I should call this a factory...or not. When I was researching the tours around the Kentucky area I did not know I will see what I saw there as the website is more of the bigger facility in the Tennessee area. So that will be a project for next year when hubby's flying club go back to their Tennessee headquarters.

Thank you Trish...that was my favourite shot too...it was a pity I missed the bottom because I was too close to the bottles...if that guy filling up the bottle suddenly waves his hand, I would have been hit in the face or my camera as easily...

Bruce, yes...it was in Kentucky. I did not want to go to the Corvette operation there so I invited a few ladies and of course our driver, my husband for the shoot. I forgot our SUV can sit 7 comfortably but it was blessing as there are also other tourists like us who were around...Thank you for your comment.

Thanks David (the turk). Yes, the only day out I really enjoyed that week really. The rest of the week was work, work, work...do you know that getting up a fireman's ladder is scary? I was more scared of dropping my camera than getting slosh with alcohol...

Thanks, Jim...me too...if I went any closer, the guy filling up the bottles would have hit me with his elbow...

Thank you all for commenting and the feedback and the tip for next time I go out shooting. I really do appreciate them very much...As with my other uploads, I had learned so much...

[flashback]

Izzie, hands down (pun intended) is #1, looks like a marketing photo. After that #2 and 4. I like very much that you're shooting a variety of things rather than just one genre.
Question, in the last (#8) image, is the brick a type of wallpaper? I ask because I see drywall corner bead and the brick appears to be coming off in pieces.

[John 2]

That is a really interesting series and narrative Izzie. How were the free samples?

[IzzieK]

Izzie, hands down (pun intended) is #1, looks like a marketing photo. After that #2 and 4. I like very much that you're shooting a variety of things rather than just one genre.
Question, in the last (#8) image, is the brick a type of wallpaper? I ask because I see drywall corner bead and the brick appears to be coming off in pieces.

I am still in limbo as to what I really want to photograph most of the time, Jack...at this stage I landscaped out having done that in films for many years. Going from one genre to another and making sure I shoot it right first before moving on to the next one seems to be more interesting for me and a good way not only to use my camera but learn more about its operation.

As to the answer to your question...it is a real brick wall...there are more of that drywall corner bead and peeling paint sorta kind of thing from the shot but I cropped it off as it does not add to my main subject which is the barrels. I think that just a bit of backdrop will do for this kind of shot.

Thank you for commenting and expressing your preference. I really do appreciate your input.

[IzzieK]

That is a really interesting series and narrative Izzie. How were the free samples?

Thank you John (2). Unfortunately, I do not drink alcohol, wine or beer, so I just took pictures. The thing was despite the weather condition (hot/cold, cold/hot/muggy) I enjoyed the tour just taking pictures. The rest of my companions took two sips each of their choice from the selection. Hubby loves his whisky so that was what he had. The rest of our companions loved the Vanilla Bean Vodka so that was what I bought for my neighbour whom Roxie bit that Friday night...

Thank you for your comments, mate...'appreciate it.

[DanK]

A very nice series, and interesting processing.

[IzzieK]

A very nice series, and interesting processing.

Thanks for the feedback, Dan...I appreciate it very much...