Tag: Walsh Construction

View from the North Tower of the Downtown Span of the Ohio River Bridges Project

Posted on by Nick Roberts
View from the north tower of the downtown span
Looking out on the job site from the north tower of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

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Howdy everyone. It’s been weeks since I last posted about my ongoing project to chronicle the progress of the Ohio River Bridges Project here in Louisville. I’ve been quite busy with several other aspects of my personal project of photographing the bridge building process and the men and women who are building it. When I began this project I had no idea how truly monumental and time consuming it would be.

The last bridge/construction project I worked on was much smaller and didn’t fully prepare me for the scope of a major civil engineering project such as the Ohio River Bridges Project. When I photographed the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge and the men who did it I was working with a crew that numbered less than thirty people. In contrast the Ohio River Bridges Project involves not only the main span across the Ohio River but also a complete realignment and reconstruction of the area known as Spaghetti Junction. A project of this magnitude requires hundreds of people to accomplish and really expands my personal involvement. In Spaghetti Junction there are over fifty bridges and overpasses that will be needed to connect the new bridge to the Interstates that converge in Louisville. While the downtown span will carry northbound I-65 it must also join I-64 and I-71in Spaghetti Junction.

I have had to learn how to pace myself and how to best record the progress being made. In addition to the photography challenges I face there is the need to catalog, process and organize the thousands of photographs that I have already taken. Over this past winter I discovered that I needed to greatly expand my storage equipment to accommodate the massive amount of images I am recording. I had to upgrade several hard drives and take control of the photos or face utter chaos as the project grew. I thrive on challenges and this project has been the largest challenge I have faced as a professional photographer.

I lost the first two months of 2014 to personal health issues that prevented me from getting out to the job site as much as I wanted. I also had to contend with the extreme weather that gripped Louisville and slowed the construction. That is all past me now and I’m back to shooting regularly. I have upgraded my storage media and improved my workflow to allow me to capture the images I need to tell the story.

This week I was able to get out on the river and survey the progress that has been made getting the piers drilled and in place. The northern tower is progressing well and the tower crane is being assembled on it. The two towers that make up the northern tower are already taking shape and it was possible for me to climb up the western one and get the image that begins this post. In the weeks to come I will be climbing higher on these towers to shoot the Ironworkers and Carpenters as they build them.

 

HDR Images of the Current Progress on the Downtown Bridge Project Site

Posted on by Nick Roberts

Three HDR images of the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Crossing progress as of March 22, 2014

Setting the First Concrete Form for the North Tower of the Downtown Span, Monotone Version

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Setting the First Concrete Form on the North Tower of the Downtown Span
Setting the First Concrete Form on the North Tower of the Downtown Span

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While sorting through my images from last fall I came across this version of the setting of the first concrete form for the north tower of the downtown span. I liked the composition and decided to try it as a monotone image. I used NIK Silver Efex Pro to convert it to monotone and applied a preset for an antique feeling. I then sent it back into Aperture 3 for final processing.

Bridge Piling ala Cadillac Ranch in HDR

Posted on by Nick Roberts
HDR image of Two Rows of Piling on the eastern end Spaghetti Junction
Bridge Foundation Piling in Spaghetti Junction

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These large bridge pilings stand almost ten feet into the air. When I first saw them I thought of the art installation Cadillac Ranch located alongside Interstate 40 in Amarillo Texas. I have stopped at Cadillac Ranch each time I have ridden through Amarillo and they have that same feeling of a larger than life presence and iconic mystery. What if the world ended today and a future archeologist were to come upon them? Would they be seen as something akin to Stonehenge or other religious structures? Would anyone even surmise that they were simply a part of the foundation for a super highway?

As I photographed them I enjoyed the way they towered above me. I was also drawn to enter the space they occupied and felt as if I were in a temple or sacred structure. I shot around and inside them for several minutes and then forgot about them until I downloaded that day’s shoot. As I reviewed the shots I was immediately drawn to this image and made it my first choice to process that day.

To create this HDR image I first took the bracket set into NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and then completed it in Aperture 3. By using HDR and a three frame bracket set I was able to capture the texture and tones inside the pilings and the lettering and colors on their surface while still maintaining the faint white clouds in the mottled blue sky. After that I decided to experiment with Topaz Adjust which added texture and tonality to the final result, seen above, when I applied the Spicify preset and made some minor adjustments to it’s settings. Even though there is some slight haloing along the top edges of the pilings I really like the results.

HDR Photos of Progress on the Ohio River Bridge North Tower

Posted on by Nick Roberts

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North tower, R-5, base with Ironworkers climbing and tying rebar. Sunny, cloudless, day with 3 people visible on scaffolding.
Going Up

The Ironworkers and Carpenters have been very busy over the winter and the North Tower of the Downtown Span is progressing well. In this first image you can see the tower base as it stands today. The Ironworkers are tying the rebar for the next section and as soon as that is done the Carpenters will form that section for the next concrete pour.

I regret that I was under the weather for the first two months of this year and unable to get out to the Ohio River Bridges project very often. In looking back at the images from the end of 2013 I can see that there has been a great deal of progress. I’m back on the job now and will be posting on a regular basis as I did throughout the end of summer and into fall.

All of these images today are HDR images processed in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3. As is my standard practice I shot everything handheld in three frame bracket sets of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures. I applied 60% anti-ghosting during the merging of these three exposures and used the Balanced Preset as my starting point. After merging them and applying the preset I went back into the tone mapping settings and changed the Detail slider to Accentuated and the Drama slider to Deep. That is all I did in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 before returning the merged file to Aperture 3 where I adjusted the color channels, sharpening, contrast and applied a small vignette.

HDR photo of Four Ironworkers on North Tower landing supplies
Four Ironworkers on North Tower landing supplies. HDR image

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In this image the Ironworkers are working with the crane Operator to lift more materials onto the tower scaffolding. They have to communicate with the Crane Operator using hand signals and radios to safely manage material transfers. I am always amazed at the skill of these crane operators to place everything from a small bundle of steel reinforcing to massive concrete forms on the job with pinpoint accuracy.

HDR Photo of Carpenters Removing the concrete form from the eastern base of the North Tower #2
HDR Photo of Carpenters Removing the concrete form from the eastern base of the North Tower #2

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In this HDR image the concrete form is being removed from the angled surface of the eastern side of the eastern pier of the North Tower. The carpenters have unbolted it and rigged it for the crane Operator to lift it and transfer it to a waiting barge until it is needed again. Seeing the Carpenters alongside these forms gives scale to their size. Once again the Crane Operator and the Carpenters are working through radio and hand signals to safely move this massive piece of concrete form.

HDR Photo of Carpenters Removing the concrete form from the eastern base of the North Tower #1
HDR Photo of Carpenters Removing the concrete form from the eastern base of the North Tower #1

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For this HDR image I chose to shoot the removal of the concrete form in a vertical format to better capture the cranes and the upward momentum that the project exudes as it progresses.

HDR photo of the North Tower Bases and Cranes
HDR photo of the North Tower Bases and Cranes

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This HDR image shows both bases for the North Towers of the Ohio River Bridges Project Downtown Span. The progress that is being made really comes out in this HDR photo. The concrete forms have been removed from the base of the western side of the towers and scaffolding is surrounding the transition point as the base morphs into it final cylindrical shape which will be approximately 150 feet in the air when it is completed.

HDR Photo of The North Tower Base Cooling Manifold Lift
HDR Photo of The North Tower Base Cooling Manifold Being Lifted Into Place

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This HDR image shows a cooling manifold being lifted into place. It is used to distribute cooling water through the concrete as it cures. When concrete cures there is a lot of heat inside it; this is due to the catalytic reaction of the materials that are used to make concrete. Without cooling this reaction would cause the concrete to overheat and lose it’s strength. The cooling process goes on until sensors built into the structure provide the information to show that it is safe to stop cooling the concrete and allow it to finish curing.

I’m really glad to get back to shooting the Ohio River Bridges Project and posting my work again. I hope that small hiccup at the beginning of the year won’t be repeated and I can complete my project of documenting the Ohio River Bridges Project and the men and women who are doing it.