On June 12, I was on assignment for Agence France-Presse inside Skydio’s drone manufacturing facility in Hayward, California, as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer toured the line with Skydio CEO Adam Bry.
Skydio is the largest drone maker in the United States. And these are not hobby drones; they are built for the American military, and Skydio has supplied them to Ukraine’s forces. Getting photo access inside a place like this is rare, for obvious reasons, so when the wire assignment came through, I knew it was a special one.
Photographing a VIP visit on a working factory floor
Covering a visit like this is a balancing act. There is a tight schedule and a security detail, you cannot stage a thing, and the moments that matter (a handshake, a laugh, an official leaning in to study a circuit board) happen fast and exactly once. You stay invisible, anticipate, and stay ready.
American war drones, built by hand
The reason everyone was there was right out on the floor: rows of technicians assembling Skydio’s X10 and R10 drones by hand. There is a strange weight to photographing it: sleek machines coming together on a spotless production line, while knowing the same drones are flying over real battlefields right now. It is the kind of high-stakes industrial storytelling I love.
The machines themselves
Up close, the drones are beautiful pieces of engineering, and they are the reason I felt right at home on this one. I spend a lot of my own work up in the air behind a drone; this time I was on the ground, photographing the place where the ones that go to war are built.
Editorial and industrial photography in the Bay Area
High-stakes access, a real story, and the range to go from a wire dignitary visit to a corporate facility shoot, exactly the work I love as a Bay Area industrial photographer. If you have a manufacturing facility, a corporate event, or an executive visit to document in the Bay Area, take a look at my work or get in touch.