Tag: Bridges and Tunnels

Cranes As Far As I Can See….

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Cranes As Far As I Can See....
Cranes As Far As I Can See….

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

I like this image because it shows how many cranes are being used to build the Ohio River Bridges Project. There are cranes on barges in the river and further back on the horizon there are more cranes building Spaghetti Junction. I was on the Indiana approach looking south into Louisville; I composed the image to take advantage of all the vertical elements in the scene.

I used my standard three frame bracket set and NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to create this HDR image. After merging them I returned it to Aperture 3 for color adjustments and sharpening.

On the Crew Boat with Lee

Posted on by Nick Roberts
On the crew boat with Lee and Jeff
On the crew boat with Lee and Jeff

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

In order to get to the various work sites on the Ohio River Bridges Downtown Span the workers have to ride in the crew boat. Lee Carson is the Operating Engineer assigned to run the boat. Lee works from before sunrise until after dark ferrying people from job to job. With work progressing on all the piers in the river he is constantly traveling from place to place getting engineers, workers and supervisors where they need to be throughout the day. Lee also has the inside scoop on what is happening at each pier and often gives me tips about significant events that are happening each day. Whenever I have question about where the action is taking place on a given day all I have to do is ride with Lee.

This image is from a three frame bracket set using +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I then merged the three exposures in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 using 100% anti-ghosting to get the two figures to render properly. After merging the files and applying a preset I built for this particular day’s shooting I returned the image to Aperture 3 for final color channel adjustments and sharpening.

 

Safety Orientation at Walsh Construction

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Morning Ride
Morning Ride

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

Yesterday morning I went to Safety Orientation at Walsh Construction to learn the protocols for job site safety while shooting on the Ohio River Bridges Project. It was a beautiful morning and since I was early I decided to capture a few shots of my bike while waiting for the class to start. I really liked the cloud patterns and the Colgate-Palmolive clock in  the background and set up my composition around them and the quarter view of the bike.

I shot my standard bracket set 0f +2, 0 and -2 EV to get my frames for an HDR image I was envisioning. Back at my desk I merged the three frames using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I also tone mapped and adjusted the image detail and colors. I then returned the HDR image to Aperture 3 for final adjustments and sharpening.

HDR Ohio River Bridges Project

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span #2
Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span #2

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

 After a couple meetings with Walsh Construction I have been granted access to the construction sites after I complete the required safety training.  This week I will be going through safety training with Walsh Construction to familiarize myself with the safety procedures that I will need to follow while shooting the Ohio River Bridges Project.

I am excited and honored that they are allowing me to shoot onsite and really looking forward to getting started. It is a huge project and has over 50 individual spans that I will be following for the next three years as the project proceeds. I will be able to document the progress and the men and women who are building the bridges from now until the completion of the project.

I hope you will stick around as I record the day to day work that goes into a project of this scale and the men and women who will be doing the work. I intend to show as many facets of the job as possible from the construction workers to the engineering support teams and the folks who run the office side too. I’ll be shooting most of the work in HDR and I’m sure that there will be many discoveries as I try new software and new camera techniques throughout the next three years.