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For modern people who pay attention to ecology, these images have very different effects, but it is undeniable that they are extraordinary works of art

Detail of tapping furnace, Ford, Dagenham, 1953

This is a hot question in Maurice Broomfield's photo. He was a leading photographer in the 1950s and 1960s and was highly sought after for depicting the booming industry in the UK at that time. He produced works for the company himself, produced specifications for newspapers such as "Financial Times", and produced it for himself, and exhibited as works of art. In a much smaller entity, he worked for Shell and Ford. Most of his work has been used to advertise these companies and tell the story of British industrial strength after World War II. A photo in this fascinating exhibition symbolizes the transformation of his image from how it might be accepted at the time and its importance today.

It was commissioned by the Natural Gas Commission in 1967 and has a North Sea oil rig. In the foreground is a gloomy figure standing in front of the vast ocean, only illuminated by the flares on the drilling rig. The drilling rig is looming on the horizon, like the Statue of Liberty holding a torch high. In 1967, it must be regarded as the majestic image of British energy. Now, in Cop26, there is evidence that the destructive activities and policies of fossil fuel companies are the end of the world.

The reason why Broomfield's images are outdated is not so much the clothes of the characters as they are the attitudes and values ​​they often represent. But these are still impressive photos. Broomfield will spare no effort to implement them, closing the production line, repainting the factory and shooting at night so that he can use dramatic artificial lighting.

The guiding light is Joseph Wright of Derby, the noble painter of the early industrial revolution and the modernist Bauhaus of Germany. Wright’s romantic ideas about industrial and scientific enlightenment came from images like tapping furnaces, another shadow figure illuminated by molten metal, manufactured at the Ford factory in Dagenham, and a worker in a tapered roller bearing. Was captured in a huge, immaculate shiny bearing at Timken in England, a car company.

North Sea Drilling Platform, Natural Gas Commission 1967

This is another paradox: Broomfield (the father of the famous documentary film director Nick Broomfield) has great respect for the workers and is obviously in awe of their skills-the people in his photos are so heroic that he Some of his works will not be exposed to occupy a place in Soviet propaganda. But he ignored the appalling conditions under which they were forced to work, as he said, "taking industry as a stage", which undoubtedly made his committee members happy. They can be spectacular-the lights and glass lens of the Philips factory in Eindhoven, the spinning machine in Pontypool British Nylon and a factory of the British Paper Company in Kent are all special highlights-even if there are often thorns in the tail. pain.

The one exhibited with the Bloomfield exhibition is known and strange, this is the gathering of the new V&A photography collection, and it does a good job of illustrating the breadth of recent photography. It ranges from Paul Graham's set of wonderfully beautiful skies and troublesome figures in wheelchairs-like snapshots of moving memories-to recent photography and cameraless photography by Tom Lovelace and Crea McKenna Experiment, and four wonderful portraits of Zannel Muholi.

V&A, until November 6, 2022, vam.ac.uk