A Quick Look,

at something many of us take for granted,

 the humble pencil,

 photographer Christopher Payne, spent several years building a relationship with the owners of General Pencil Company in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of the last remaining pencil factories in the United States,

in the fall 2015 and summer 2017 Payne was granted access to the production floor for photo-documentation more than thirty times,

 so he used the times there making a series of photographs,

 on the production floor,

 taking photographs of the workers,

 and the various stages in pencil production,

 Payne received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture, though he has long focused on photography in his professional life,

 He has published three books and exhibited his work widely, most recently at the Wellcome Collection in London, U.K. and the Museum of the City of New York,

You can see more of his work on Facebook and Instagram, what a different series of pictures, all from the humble pencil, all photographs © Christopher Payne /Esto.