Tag: crew boat operator

On the Crew Boat with Lee

On the crew boat with Lee and Jeff
On the crew boat with Lee and Jeff

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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.

 

The Day Begins When The Crew Boat Arrives

Crew Boat Picking Up Workers At the Start of The Workday.
Crew Boat Picking Up Workers At the Start of The Workday.

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Each morning after the crew meets to go over the day’s activities and assignments many of them are transported to their worksites by Lee the crew boat operator. I have learned that Lee has a good handle on what is taking place at all the pier locations on the river, he know when something significant is going to happen and often directs me to interesting activities throughout the day.

I chose this image to show Lee’s boat arriving to carry the workers to their jobs for the day. I liked the way the boat’s wake smoothly rippled across the river and the contrast of the safety vests on the workers with the deep shades of blue and green in the sky and river. Seeing the scale of the project is always difficult but whenever there are people in the scene it becomes clear what a monumental undertaking this is.

I shot this in HDR and processed it using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3.