This Gallery of images shows the men and materials that went into constructing the tower crane on pier five of the downtown span of the Ohio River Bridges Project.
Tag: International Association of Bridge Structural Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers
Night Time Concrete Pour of the Tower Base at Pier Four of the Downtown Span
This article describes the process I used to create HDR photographs of a night time concrete pour for the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span Tower base.
Ohio River Bridges Project Summer 2013 Commemorative Print Released
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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.
I will ship at reasonable rates anywhere in the US via reliable carriers such as UPS, USPS or Fed-Ex. If you require shipping cost please feel free to contact me using the form below. [contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]
Work On Southbound I-65 Bridges and Roadway Progresses
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The southbound I-65 work is progressing well as the Walsh Construction crews build the new bridges and roadway that will replace the old I-65 infrastructure. In this photo you can see the steel bridge decking being installed in the center of the image while an Ironworker welds the supporting angle iron in place. I chose this image because I like the way the figures are arranged from the foreground through the frame. I also like the way the welding arc is sparking and the way the welder is positioned in the image.
As in most of my work this too is a HDR image created from a three frame bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I had to use an anti-ghosting setting of 100% in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 to address the many different poses the figures were in between frames. The ability to shoot handheld images of people movin
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This second image also shows the Ironworkers welding and placing the steel bridge decking. The decking will support the concrete during the pouring of the roadway after the Ironworkers place reinforcing rebar across the completed bridge deck prior to pouring of the concrete. Once again you can see the power of the NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 anti-ghosting feature, especially in the way it has rendered the woman’s leg as she kicks the steel decking into place. As in the previous image I had to use a setting of 100% anti-ghosting in order to freeze the action and avoid ghosting artifacts.
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I really liked the way the pre-stressed concrete bridge beams cast their shadows on the ground below them and the strong movement their placement gave to this image. This is also near Slugger Field where the new roadway is taking shape overhead. Once these bridges and roadways are completed traffic will be moved over onto this new roadway and demolition will begin on the old southbound I-65 infrastructure which will be replaced with new bridges and roadway. Once again I followed my normal HDR workflow of NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 processing.
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This final image in today’s post is once again from beneath the concrete bridge beams for the new southbound I-65. I shot this using my 12-24 mm Nikkor lens and decided to take it into Photoshop CS5 after merging the bracket set in order to correct the lens distortion inherent in such a wide angle shot. This too is a HDR image created from a three handheld frame bracket set merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and finished in Aperture 3.
HDR Image of 127 Feet Tall Caisson
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Last Wednesday the Ironworkers placed a 12 foot diameter, 127 foot tall caisson in the pier near the Kentucky shore. It weighed over 170,000 pounds and was going in one of the deepest piers of the project. Watching them lift it from a horizontal position into a vertical position was amazing. It took two cranes to do it and the coordination required was incredible.
This HDR image is from a three frame handheld bracket set consisting of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I took the three frames into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 where I merged them and applied the Balanced preset. While there I set the Detail slider to accentuated and the Drama slider to deep. In order to suppress some serious halos that were showing up along the vertical elements in the sky I reduced the Method strength slider until the halos were gone. I then took the merged file back into Aperture 3 for final adjustments to colors, sharpening and contrast.
