Special delivery [Back Story]

Photographer gregg segal is used to odd assignments. Three years ago, for instance, IEEE Spectrum sent him to Des Moines to document a group of linguistically adept bonobo apes. For the photo-essay in this issue, Segal and his assistant Tom Mishima went to the far northwest corner of Minnesota, to Thief River Falls (population 8661). The assignment was to bring to life the vast warehouse and corporate nerve center of the global electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corp. Segal found no shortage of material. He specializes in what he calls the environmental portrait. "It\´s more than just a picture of a person," he says. "It\´s in a place that says something about the person." For this shoot, he says, "finding people who are idiosyncratic and interesting is part of what makes the assignment fulfilling." Like the engineer whose desk is littered with obscure instruments, spare parts, and personal projects, or the warehouse worker captured in a rare moment of repose, an aura of beatitude illuminating her face. "The pictures are about the personality and character of Digi-Key\´s employees, who seem to represent small-town America," Segal says.