James Hetfield of Metallica Performing in Turin, Italy, 1991

James Hetfield, singer and guitarist of the American heavy metal band Metallica, performing live in Turin, Italy, 1991. The photograph were taken by Ross Halfin.

“I first shot Metallica in 1984. Their drummer, Lars Ulrich, would call me me up, and I kept avoiding him. I’d seen pictures of him, and I thought he was just this Danish guy who looked like a complete idiot. But then Metallica’s manager, Peter Mensch, called me and said: ‘Listen, stop being such an asshole. Go to San Francisco and shoot my new band.’ So I did, and that was the start of my relationship with them. In fact, the only reason I ended up shooting Metallica was because they wanted Iron Maiden’s photographer – I was working for them at the time. To Metallica, Led Zeppelin (who I also worked with) meant nothing. But Iron Maiden meant something and Metallica wanted their photographer. I’ve worked with them ever since. I’ll give the group their due: they are very conscious of who they are, what they do and how they want to be photographed. But they are also very open to doing different things.

“I am a rock photographer, not just hard rock or metal. I am particularly known for metal because I worked for Kerrang! magazine in the 1980s, but that was more because instead of going to Leeds to shoot the Pet Shop Boys, I could go to Hawaii to do Aerosmith. Where would you rather go? And at the time the National Union of Journalists made sure that if you shot color you were paid twice as much as for black and white, and Kerrang! was full color.”

In the 1920s, Fiat Factory Workers Race on the Rooftop for the Test Track in Turin

The Lingotto building in Turin, Italy, once housed a Fiat factory. Construction started in 1916 and the building opened in 1923. The design (by young architect Matté Trucco) was unusual in that it had five floors, with raw materials going in at the ground floor, and cars built on a line that went up through the building.

Torino Fiat-factory building with cars crossing the test track on the roof, 1928.

Finished cars emerged at rooftop level to go onto the test track. It was the largest car factory in the world at that time. For its time, the Lingotto building was avant-garde, influential and impressive—Le Corbusier called it “one of the most impressive sights in industry”, and “a guideline for town planning”. 80 different models of car were produced there in its lifetime, including the Fiat Topolino of 1936.

Le Corbusier at Lingotto.

Le Corbusier inside a car on top of Lingotto, 1926.

The factory became outmoded in the 1970s and the decision was made to finally close it in 1982. The closure of the plant led to much public debate about its future, and how to recover from industrial decline in general. An architectural competition was held, which was eventually awarded to Renzo Piano, who envisioned an exciting public space for the city.

The old factory was rebuilt into a modern complex, with concert halls, theatre, a convention centre, shopping arcades and a hotel. The eastern portion of the building is the headquarters of the Automotive Engineering faculty of the Polytechnic University of Turin. The work was completed in 1989. The track was retained, and can still be visited today on the top floor of the shopping mall and hotel.

See more»