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Today I am releasing the Summer 2013 Commemorative Print in my ongoing Ohio River Bridges Project series. I began photographing the Ohio River Bridges Project nearly one year ago beginning in August 2013. I chose this image of Sean Ellery an Ironworker and member of the Ironworkers Union Local 70 because it was awarded the honor of being named one of the winners of ENR’s The Year in Construction Photo Contest 2013. ENR is the Engineering News Record, published by McGraw-Hill, and is the leading publication of the construction industry worldwide. I am honored to be among the few photographers to earn an award in this prestigious international competition which is comprised of work by construction photographers from around the world.
The other reason I chose to use this photo for the Summer 2013 Commemorative Print is in part because I happened to be in the right place at the right time as a fog bank rolled in on the Kentucky approach to the bridge. I was intrigued by the cylindrical structure, known as a caisson, that the Ironworkers were building and had been shooting them at work for several minutes. Just as I was about to move on to another subject a small bank of fog rolled in and gave me the perfect atmosphere for this image.
Even though the work on the Ohio River Bridge Project had begun several months earlier it took a lot of phone calls and questions before I was able to gain access to the project. I was shooting what I could from outside the construction site but what I really wanted was to be embedded with the construction crews so that I could share with the world their day to day activities as they went about plying their trades
Finally after many dead ends I secured a meeting with a Walsh Project Manager, Joel Halterman, and was referred to Max Rowland and Celeste Blomberg in the Walsh Construction Public Information Office. They listened to my pitch and took my request to the Primary Project Manager. I was granted access to the entire project as long as I attended all relevant safety training and adhered to all safety rules when on the site. I was issued approved Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and started the following day. The Marine Superintendent, Billy Baughman, introduced me to the crew at the morning meeting and instructed everyone to assist me in any way they could. Since that morning I have been a part of the day to day job site activity and have developed a friendship with many of the men and women on the job.
I shot a three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures which I then merged into an HDR image using NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. Once the image was merged I applied the Balanced Preset and boosted the Detail and Drama sliders to Accentuated and Deep settings respectively. I then returned the HDR file to Aperture 3 where I adjusted Contrast, Exposure, Recovery, Shadow, Saturation and Mid Contrast sliders. I applied Sharpening in Aperture 3 and then moved the completed image into Photoshop CS5 where I built the final print.
The prints arrive ready to hang. They are printed on .040 thick aluminum and have an appropriate mounting system attached to the back. There are three sizes, 11″x14″, 16”x 20″ and 22″ x 28″ available. The price for the 11″x14″ size is ($109.99) with two additional sizes of 16”x 20″ ($229.99) and 22″ x 28″ ($399.99) also available. All prints are hand engraved with my signature and the print number in the aluminum on the reverse side.
I am limiting the number of 11″ x 14″ prints to 150 prints. Each print size will be numbered in sequence. The 16″x 20″ prints are limited to 50 prints and 22″ X 28″ prints are limited to 10 Prints. In addition to the numbered series prints I am offering one and only one, 44″ x 54″ First Edition print for ($1799.99). After these quantities are filled the print will be retired and no further prints will be made.
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