Tag: art

2014 Commemorative Print Now Available

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Double Rainbows Over Ohio River Bridges Project, Downtown Span Construction
Double Rainbows Over Ohio River Bridges Project, Downtown Span Construction

Today I am releasing a 2014 Commemorative Print of the Downtown Crossing to mark the progress that was made in 2014. I was lucky enough one morning last month to be at the right place at the right time to capture two rainbows over the tower for the downtown span. I think it is a fitting image for the past year’s progress and I hope my viewers agree.

I am accepting orders for prints in three sizes on .040″ aluminum ready for hanging. The sizes are 11″ X 14″ @ $109.00, 16″ X 20″ @ $239.00 and 32″ X 40″ @ $899.00. Interested parties can reach me through the Contact Form below for further information or to place an order.

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Antonio Villanueva Placing Concrete

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Antonio Villanueva Placing Concrete
Antonio Villanueva Placing Concrete

Click on the image to enlarge it and start a slide show of all images in this post.

This photo of Antonia Villanueva was captured while he was placing concrete this fall in Section 1 of the Ohio River Bridges Project. Antonio is a Carpenter with Walsh Construction and one of his roles is to man the hose from the concrete pump when placing concrete.Placing the concrete with the hose is a very physical job that looks easy to someone who hasn’t tried it. In reality the weight of the material flowing through the hose requires a lot of strength to maneuver it. I processed the image in Adobe Camera Raw from a single frame. I then took it into Photoshop CS5 when I created the border and descriptive title.

I use a local printer, Unique Imaging Concepts. to have these types of images printed on .040″ Aluminum. The process makes a dye-sublimation print that will  last for over 100 years. This makes a very nice way for anyone working on the Ohio River Bridges Project to have a permanent memento of their role in the construction of the Ohio River Bridges Project. I usually try to size the finished print to approximately 11′ X 14″ though that can vary depending upon the way the image is cropped. They come mounted with a hanging system that floats the panel 1/2″ off the wall and sell for $100 each. Any image that I have posted here on the blog can be presented in this fashion.

I have included some examples of these prints that I have made for other people working on the Ohio River Bridges Project in this post too. I strive to create images of these men and women that are more than a simple portrait.My focus with these is to create something that shows the person in the photo in the environment that they work in. The goal is to produce something that will allow them to share with their friends and family a vision of the work they did while building the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Was a Rainbow Over the Downtown Span of the Ohio River Bridges Project a Positive Omen?

Posted on by Nick Roberts

I try to capture something from the Ohio River Bridges Project nearly every workday. The rapid progress that is being made now is transforming the landscape all along the construction site. It isn’t always possible to be in just the right place every day but I really hope to provide a pretty complete view of how the Ohio River Bridges Project is progressing. I like to think that this rainbow is a positive omen for the project and for my own desire to show the world of heavy highway and bridge construction to the world though my images.

The other morning there were scattered showers moving in from the northwest and I was lucky enough to be in just the right place when the morning sunrise illuminated a gorgeous rainbow over the construction at Towers 4 and 5. I was on the Kentucky shore where the bridge will land in Louisville. I adjusted my vantage point in an effort to align the base of the rainbow with the eastern tower on pier 5. In doing so I was also able to include it’s intersection with the eastern tower at pier 4. In the upper right hand corner of the image is another faint rainbow that I discovered during processing.

Rainbow over the bridge towers for the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span being built by Walsh Construction in Louisville, Kentucky, November 2014
Rainbow over the bridge towers for the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span being built by Walsh Construction in Louisville, Kentucky, November 2014

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The images in this post were captured all around the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville Kentucky in the past 30 days. There are photos of individual tradesmen, progress on the Downtown Span and the reconfiguring of Spaghetti Junction. All this activity keeps me hopping as I try to capture the process as well as the progress of this massive Heavy Highway and Bridge Construction project.

In several of these photos I have taken the liberty of sharing different versions of the same scenes. I like to use HDR techniques and HDR software when capturing and processing my images. I often like to take those same HDR images into various Black and White processing apps. I am not married to any one B&W app and use many different plug-ins as well as the B&W conversion tools in Photoshop CS5 and Aperture 3. I like the variety of effects I can get by using Topaz B&W, onOne B&W Effects and NIK Silver Efex Pro 2.

 

Around The Ohio River Bridges Project – Abstracts and Closeups

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface. Black and White Version #1
Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface. Black and White Version #1

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These image are some closeups and abstracts that I shot last month while I was down shooting the Ohio River Bridges Project. Sometimes when I’m shooting construction I need to change my perspective by looking for abstract or closeup subjects. When I saw the concrete saws lying on a trailer I was intrigued by the pattern of the diamond cutting edges and the notches in the blades. The other image is from the tire tracks of a piece of rubber tired heavy equipment in sand.

I shot them in three frame bracket sets of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures for later HDR processing. I processed the HDR images in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3. After completing the color versions I decided to use NIK Silver Efex to convert a couple of them to Black and White.

Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface. Black and White Version #2
Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface. Black and White Version #2

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Abstract of equipment tracks in sand #1
Abstract of equipment tracks in sand #1

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Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface.HDR Version #2
Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface.HDR Version #2

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Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface.HDR Version #1
Closeup of a concrete saw used to cut rain grooves in the new roadway surface.HDR Version #1

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I-65 Southbound Section Was Nearing Completion

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Carpenters form retaining wall on Southbound I-65 near Slugger Field
Carpenters form retaining wall on Southbound I-65 near Slugger Field

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During the last days of construction of Phase One, Section One, of the I-65 Southbound Section, on the Ohio River Bridges Project the activity was fast and furious. There were areas that needed to be paved and concrete forms that needed building in order to stay on schedule and have it open for traffic by Sunday night.

In some of the following photos of the I-65 Southbound Section you will see areas that were almost completed and had the yellow and white traffic lane lines in place. In others the people were hard at work putting the finishing touches on their work.

Everyone was working long hours on the I-65 Southbound Section as the schedule was for 24 hours a day so the crews were constantly moving. In this group of photos you can see the amount of progress that was made in a single day. I was there early in the morning to catch the first light of day and returned in early evening to capture the progress and take advantage of the sunset light in the sky and clouds.

All the images in this post are HDR images from three frame bracket sets of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures that were then merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished with Aperture 3. Using HDR techniques allows me to capture the broad dynamic range that exists at these times of day and to then use the tone mapping tools to reveal details in the shadows while also capturing the vibrance in the clouds and sky.

Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65
Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65

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Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 near Witherspoon Street just before it was opened to traffic.
Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 near Witherspoon Street just before it was opened to traffic.

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Looking south on the new section of southbound I-65 near Witherspoon Street just before it was opened to traffic.
Looking south on the new section of southbound I-65 near Witherspoon Street just before it was opened to traffic.

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Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 #2
Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 #2

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Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 #2
Looking north on the new section of southbound I-65 #2

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