GM FYI Blog

By Kim Carpenter
Communications Manager, LDT

Since Lansing Delta Township is GM’s newest assembly plant, our team is used to having their picture taken. We have been featured in both local and national publications, so we know how to say “cheese.” Given all our experience with photographers, we also know what people like to take pictures of:

• In the Body Shop, photographers go for the robots and the weld flash.

• In General Assembly, it’s the glass cell where we install the windshield; the marriage area where the automated guided vehicles support our team members as we marry the engine to the frame with precision; and the light booth on the final line for great glamour shots of our new crossovers under the bright lights.

So when I got the call requesting permission for a group of Lansing Community College (LCC) students to come to the plant for a class project in September, I expected our team to experience the typical “one-two-three-shoot” style of photography. But with the first snap of the shutter, I learned these students had a different idea of what makes a great shot. In fact, these photography students viewed this project as an amazing perspective.

According to the web site, where the photos are now displayed, Adobe is sponsoring this initiative by bringing world-class photographer Colin Finlay and the Lightroom beta (a new application for importing, managing, developing and showcasing large photo collections) to 25 schools across the country this fall.

This is where GM fit in. Proudly, Lansing Delta Township was the first site to receive this exposure and watched as LCC students developed this project into an impressive collection of photographs. LCC was selected as one of only two community colleges to participate. Other stops on the tour include the San Francisco Art Institute, Brigham Young University and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Colin Finlay, along with 12 LCC students, depicted a day in the life of mid-Michigan, through the eyes of our team members and by using creative angles. One student took pictures only of pipes, conveyors and material racks. Some focused on equipment and were predictably impressed with the body shop robots and the sparks. Yet many others focused on the people side of our business; they did portrait shots of our team members during lunch and caught a lot of team members in action on the job. Their web site says it all:

“Despite all the technology and automation you’d expect from a $1.5 billion investment, the images the students found most appealing - and revealing - were the images of the employees who actually build the cars. The employee interaction with modern technology is what captured their interest and intrigued them most, and is reflected in many of the images in their final portfolio.”

So, although our LDT team members have become used to lights, tripods and reporters, this project with the LCC students showed a different side of our plant. I encourage everyone to check out the web site and see how our daily experience was reflected through the lenses of these students.