The Making of ‘The Daily Miracle’

I was a printers devil at the age of16, Printing was number 2 industry in new york. Loved the trade. walter d.

How can we purchase prints of these photos please?

The photos convey the immense size and complexity of this daily miracle. Kudos to the hardworking people who play a key, but usually unheralded, role in this epic production.

Well done, ALL! Great read, wonderful photos.

It's, of course, all well and good to publish this paean to the Times printing plant (and while the print edition is still being published). But why has not the Times, in its advertising, advocated that people purchase the "real thing" - the classic, iconic paper? I see no evidence of this, only promotion of the Times digital edition. It's also ironic that the Times runs articles from time to time - including this weekend about the venerable Books & Books book chain in south Florida with its emphasis on paper books and not digital - yet does nothing to promote its own paper product. Further, virtually no one knows you can read the Times "replica" print edition online - showing the paper as it truly is, as if you are holding it in your hands - as a halfway measure between the full digital edition and paper. Obviously you have to have the paper product to read the "replica" edition.

I loved this Sunday section so much that I don’t want to throw it out. I’m laughing at the irony of wanting a keepsake of the miraculous printing process of The New York Times. I’ve been reading the paper since I was in high school and I’m now in my fifties. I still get it delivered 7 days a week, because the feel of the newsprint in my hands is part of the enjoyment. I’d be curious to know how many of the workers read the paper. Recently someone said to me, “ I don’t know how you do it,” in reference to my (futile) attempt to read it from “cover to cover.” Unread sections pile up, all begging me for attention. The digital edition is great, but for this native New Yorker, there’s nothing like the tactile touch of my hometown paper. Thank you!

Great job with the photos. As a former industrial photographer, I was reminded of the search for interesting angles and compositions to be found in heavy industry.

This was wonderful. Printing presses always make me think of freedom of the press. I worked on the student newspaper at the University of Michigan and it still used linotype. The linotypist was still there from when my father had worked on the paper. Hanging around to proofread is one of my best memories. I hope you make the pictures available as prints. Jean

I don't think people understand what it takes to produce a daily metro paper. Today's section was beautiful, in showing just a small part of the massive printing process. While the Times runs 2 editions, my beloved evening Los Angeles Herald-Examiner would go through up to 9-editions over less than 8 hours each day! And with massive replates for each edition, 25-pound press plates per page, and updates for race results and final stocks....indeed a Daily Miracle! Thanks for the great photos....and I hope the paper prints well beyond my final days.

The article and photographs remind me of Myron Goldsmith's (SOM Chicago office) 1971 design for The Republic newspaper building in Columbus, IN, now a National Historic Landmark. It featured gorgeous yellow presses in the front window, a work of art for all to watch as the daily newspaper went to print.

We need this miracle more than ever. My thanks to Christopher Payne, and to the printers he so gloriously photographed. (Not surprising that this handsome section was perfectly printed!)

I worked in a union printing plant in Berkeley CA many years ago in the art department... In those days.. we were beyond hot lead type And used type set via input on to paper tape which was processed via a photographic paper process.. the unit being the size of a huge refrigerator. Photos were processed in a camera the size of a room... And the operator was inside the room with it! The art department got the pieces.... halftone photos, the Type paper and we paste up artists glued the elements together as shown on a hand drawn layout . The "flats" were proof read and corrected....the given to the plate .where the pages were photographed as negs. Additional elements such as colored rules required its own page. These negs were vacuumed against a photo graphic metal printing plate...a d this was what was mounted on the rolls of these giant presses. Now it is possible for a single graphic artist to do almost all the steps on the computer and email a complete PDF file to the printer to right before the plate making stage. Fun to run into old type setters and reporters and recall how it was back then.

What a great supplement. The physical newspaper truly is a "singular phenomenon which happens every day." I don't have too many rituals but the print Times is one that I cling to. The new addition to my bucket list is a tour of the plant. Anyone know how I can cross this one off my list?

Wonderful supplement! It's always interesting and instructive to see the process of producing the Times and a deserving homage to so many anonymous workers. You should do the same with the morgue.

What a stunning portfolio that captures the inner workings of The Gray Lady. For those NYT and photography devotees, this was a double dose of splendid. What cameras did you use?

The Daily Miracle is lovely. The stunning photographs led my friend and I to imagine the great collection of 1000 piece puzzles that could be offered up in the NYT store........Hope to see them soon.

Wonderful section! I have Mr. Payne's book on the subway substations and would love to see this section expanded into a similar book with additional photos and perhaps an expanded essay by Luc Sante, one of my favorite writers. Great work by them -- and by the pressmen, male and female.

Inspiring, beautiful photographs from Christopher Payne. We have admired his work for a long time. He opens our eyes and minds and hearts to the beauties of places that are so important to us, but mostly hidden from view. Thank you, New York Times, for printing this photo essay.

A visual artist renders the artistry of the printing plant. Beautiful and informative - thank you.

Thank you for this brilliantly conceived, well-executed section on the daily challenge of printing our favorite newspaper ("The Daily Miracle"). The brilliant introduction by Luc Sante set a perfect tone, and the marvelous photos by Christopher Payne and excellent layout of the section complete a very insightful project. As convenient as it is to access the NYT digitally at all times, there is no substitute for the written product when it comes to stumbling across gems one would otherwise never see. That is what I miss the most on the six days there is no blue plastic bag outside my door. And yet, time, expense and unwanted paper to recycle have dictated a different option for me, and for millions of others who get their news primarily on smart devices. Trade-offs! The section showed that it takes a confluence of brilliant engineers, skilled line workers and others to achieve the technological marvel of being able to produce 80,000 copies per hour. I hope this isn’t seen as a profile of the last great buggy whip factory at the height of its capabilities before Ford redefined transportation. Dante's hopeful opinion is that print matters too much to too large and vocal a minority to disappear. I hope the economics continue to justify print editions. Unlike many others, the NYT is still a paper with a website, not the other way around. Since Sunday is the only day we get the printed version, I'm glad I was able to hold this particular section. No "immaterial" NYT!

Darn. Wanted to share The Daily Miracle online, but I guess it only exists in paper. Favorite section of the paper today.