Tag: Walsh Construction

My Photo is a Winner in the Engineering News Record, Year in Construction 2013, Photo Contest

Posted on by Nick Roberts
On the Ohio River Bridges Project with Sean Ellery Ironworker Local 70, Louisville, KY.
On the Ohio River Bridges Project with Sean Ellery Ironworker Local 70, Louisville, KY.

Click on the image to enlarge it in a separate window.

I just learned that my photo of Ironworker Sean Ellery was chosen as a winner in the Engineering News Record, http://ENR.com, photo contest “Year in Construction 2013” There were over 1400 entries and making the grade is really gratifying.

Thanks go to Walsh Construction for giving me access and support to shoot the Ohio River Bridges Project and especially to Sean Ellery from Ironworker’s Local 70 in Louisville, KY for being part of the photograph.

2013 in review

Posted on by Nick Roberts

Tonight I want to share the annual report for the Speeddemon2.com blog that the WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared for 2013.

Here’s an excerpt from the 2013 annual report on the progress of Speeddemon2.com :

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 43,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 16 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

This report about 2013 was very exciting news for me. I have worked hard the past year to share my knowledge about Construction photography and HDR photography with the world and the results are very gratifying. People from 136 countries have visited Speeddemon2.com to see my photos and explore the HDR techniques that I have been using to create them. My goal in 2014 is to grow from 950 followers to 10,000 followers and to foster even more interest in HDR photography and my approach to construction photography.

In addition to the Speeddemon2 blog I’m also working on a several year project to document the Ohio River Bridges Project that will showcase the men and women who are building this massive construction project which will forever transform Louisville’s waterfront. My project will encompass nearly three years of photos with quarterly books that will reflect the progress of the project from season to season. Currently I am editing the first volume of these books which will feature the Fall of 2013 foundation work and the people who are building the project. In the end, probably in 2016, I will be compiling a larger book that will draw on the quarterly volumes and document the Ohio River Bridges Project for posterity.

None of this would have been possible without my decision in 2012 to start the Speeddemon2 blog and share my photography with the world. I am so grateful for those who started following and commenting on my work early on which further strengthened my resolve to keep publishing. I also need to thank the men and women of the construction industry who allowed me to embed myself with them as I honed my skills both as a photographer and as an advocate for the people who build our civic infrastructure. I look forward to what the future has in store for me and I sincerely hope that I do justice to the support that so many people have shown for my work as Speeddemon2.com has evolved.

Click here to see the complete 2013 report.

Pattern and Texture Closeups

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Closeup of Rusty Retaining Straps
Closeup of Rusty Retaining Straps

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

Whenever I’m on a job site I keep my eye open for interesting patterns and textures to shoot as closeups or macro images. On this particular day I was on the job site to capture a large crane that had been brought in for a pick that night. I was scouting for good vantage points to capture the crane at work that evening when I came upon these retaining wall straps in the material storage area. I was intrigued by the surface texture and the undulating pattern that they revealed so I took a few bracket sets to work with later.

I almost always work in HDR and I decided to merge three frames in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and experiment with them. For this first image I applied the Balanced Preset and then boosted the definition to enhance the texture of the oxidized steel and reinforce the pattern. I included the long shadow in the upper left of the frame and the short shadow in the lower right side to create a sense of depth and movement in the final composition. After returning the merged file to Aperture 3 I adjusted the mid-contrast and boosted the  saturation and luminance in the red and yellow color channels. I then applied sharpening and a small vignette to complete the image.

Retaining Straps Closeup
Retaining Straps Closeup

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

I used a similar workflow for this image of the same straps that had been opened up and stacked for use. In this case I also worked in the blue color channel to contrast the blue and orange colors.

Closeup of Retaining Straps in Black and White
Closeup of Retaining Straps in Black and White

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

The final image is a Black and White version I created using Topaz B&W Effects and a Platinum preset. I also applied a white vignette and a frame from the same software before returning it to Aperture 3 for final contrast and sharpness adjustments.

 

 

Construction Diver Prepares to Enter Water.

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Construction diver prepares to enter the water to check on broken drill head for extraction.
Construction diver prepares to enter the water to prepare on broken drill head for extraction.

Click on the image to enlarge it in a separate window.

A few weeks ago the shaft of drilling head on the BG 40 snapped off while drilling a 12 foot diameter hole inside the pier casing. There were numerous attempts made to secure the broken drill head to remove it from the casing each of which required a diver to go down and assess the situation. In this image the diver and his assistant are checking the diver’s helmet and air supply lines prior to his dive. Once he was properly geared up he entered a wire cage and was lowered into the casing so that he could perform his tasks to secure lifting rigging to extract the drill head from the casing. The lines on the ground are the diver’s air supply as well as his communication link to his assistant and the rest of the dive team. The air tank on the diver’s back is a safety backup in case something were to fail with the air supply lines while he is underwater and provide a supply of air to allow him to safely return to the surface.

This is a three exposure bracket set of +2, 0 and -2 EV exposures that I then merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 with 60% anti-ghosting applied to minimize the ghosting caused by the movement of the two men as they geared up for the dive. I applied a preset that I built for this particular day’s shooting that intensified the colors and compensated for some of the overexposure that the bright morning sun caused. After completing the merger and applying the needed tone adjustments I returned the image to Aperture 3 where I applied adjustments to the separate color channels, contrast and sharpening. One of the primary reasons I like using multiple exposures and HDR techniques is the way I can open up shadow details yet retain the highlights in a scene. HDR allows me to render the image in a way that closely resembles the way the human eye sees but the camera sensor cannot record in a single exposure.

Texture Tuesday

Posted on by Nick Roberts
Footprint #1
Footprint #1

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

Footprint #2
Footprint #2

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

Tread #1
Tread #1

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

Tread #2
Compactor #1

Click on the image to enlarge it in another window.

When walking around a construction site I like to look for interesting textures and patterns. On this particular day I found these tracks from men and machines on the dry dirt under an overpass. I thought they would be interesting for the patterns of the equipment juxtaposed against the boot prints of the people who were walking in the area. These are HDR images that I used NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 and Aperture 3 to process.