How we photographed the new Nutella Peanut flavor being made
This week’s top photo comes from Visual Journalist Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere. Follow him on X, Bluesky and Instagram.
What makes this photo important?
This image depicts the industrial nature of popular foods while showing that some forms of industry are still alive and well in the Chicago area. It is a rare glimpse into how things are made.
This photo is part of a series from a factory tour of Ferrero's Franklin Park confectionery factory, which expanded to accommodate production for Nutella Peanut, the new peanut butter-flavored Nutella. It is the first permanent new Nutella flavor in 60 years. This image shows a pallet of Nutella Peanut spread as it travels along the assembly line after it's been packaged and labeled before being wrapped in plastic and sent off.
How did you get the photo?
Factory tours are some of the most involved photo assignments possible due to all the safety precautions. I had to email the communications and safety advisors to give my shoe size so they could provide me with non-slip and steel-toe shoes for the tour. When I arrived at the facility, I had to put on a hard hat, a smock, eye protection, a hair net and a beard net, and then go through two rounds of hand washing and sanitizing. I also had to wash and sanitize my shoes. While on the tour, I had to take special care not to photograph screens and non-Ferrero company logos on industrial equipment as they held proprietary information for Ferrero. Otherwise, I was given free reign to get the photos I needed during the tour.
What really drew me to the photo was the dynamism of the curved lines. Just about everything on the assembly line was moving in a nice straight line except when the jars were getting ready to be put on pallets and wrapped in plastic. Those sections corkscrewed up and down. With how fast these machines were running I really had to drop the aperture, increase the shutter speed and up the ISO to get something that wasn't blurred.
Technical details:
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