For me the job of photographing people, project sites and machinery is play disguised as work. Construction is intense, tedious and dangerous. But it’s enjoyable to document it and the people who build America. I tip my hardhat to them, but for safeties sake, I’ll keep it on.

I really dig my job.

My respect for these folks is so immense that one of my core missions during a site visit is to photograph them in their environment. Always on the lookout for portrait opportunities (I call them quick hitters) these sessions last anywhere from 30 seconds to 4 minutes. These people are busy, on a schedule and I don’t wish to interrupt their work longer than necessary.

Obstacles Overcome

The first challenge in setting up a quick hit portrait is assessing light, color and contrast. The second is gaining trust. We must develop trust straight away or the session becomes strained. I’m on top of the tech side: lens focused, exposure set and depth of field calculated, so that’s a non-issue. It comes down to authentic enthusiasm for the photograph on both sides. Sometimes we’re good from the jump, our true selves are in the open and I record the moment in hi-res data. (more about this later) Sometimes it doesn’t easily happen so I turn on the after burners: jocularity makes an appearance and they come around. It’s been my experience that these folks are eager to work with a professional photographer when in their PPE and on the job. For many it’s the first time they’ll have a high-quality on-the-job portrait to show to loved ones. I’m glad to oblige.

Iconic images are the goal – a picture worth a thousand words type. In post the magic happens: values adjusted, color harnessed, clarity achieved and a prized photograph is ready to publish. (this is where that hi-res data plays its’ part) Company and employee alike get to share the bounty.

I build photographs, I don’t take pictures

To give you an idea of how rough looking camera files can be, I present the original raw file:
The emotion is good but the rest of this image looks like a mistake. Knowing how my camera spreads highlight and shadow detail across the histogram in all lighting scenarios, and knowing what the ideal mix of highlight and shadow detail should be is my first technical step.

The second technical step: crop, tone and colorize:
This is certainly an acceptable photograph and given where it began, it’s pretty good…but it wasn’t where I wanted it to be technically and artistically.

The last steps involve finessing the tech side while adding to the artistic aspects to produce a completed image in color, tone and authenticity:

Shannon McQueen, a safety officer for Walsh Shea Corridor Contractors at the Crenshaw Line

What’s Next

Once I’m sure I have an authentic image recorded properly, I’m on to the next task of my site visit: progress photos, some time-lapse and maybe if I’m lucky, another quick hitter.

Thanks for reading.

Michael

Quality Week is the time when Walsh employees working on projects across the US gather and get recognized for their hard work, safety regimens and team play. From newbies to seasoned veterans, they gather, socialize, talk shop and if it so happens, (as in the case of the OC Streetcar project I’m on) free coffee, doughnuts, hard hats and t-shirts. (I’m gluten free but I got everything else!)

The ceremony isn’t long as they still had a full workday ahead but the idea of bringing the team together to celebrate, cajole and support each other under the direction of the Project Manager Rick Felkins is a good thing. Engaging their fellow employees is an exercise in friendship and competition. Gift card awards were given the top team for safety, efficiency, cleanliness and organization.

And then it was time for me to do my usual progress photography circuit, documenting the work since my last site visit. And lo and behold who do I come across first, two members of the winning team. These affable two seemed to enjoy their work and each others company. Brothers in arms.

 What I appreciate about doing work like this is I’m part of the team. Their team. Temporarily of course but on the team nonetheless. I have my own uniform. Referred to as PPE, (personal protective equipment) I have hard hats, head lamps, ear protection, eye protection, breathing mask, orange vests, gloves, knee pads and steel-toed boots. In my car I keep my fall protection harness and extra glasses, gloves and masks. All I need now is a number the back of my vest so fans know who I am. LOL!

Hope I never get traded.

Thanks for reading.

Michael

I had occasion to listen to a conversation between Bob Patterson of Street Photography magazine and Julia Dean, the founder of the Los Angeles Center for Photography. I work as adjunct faculty at LACP so I was keenly interested in knowing more about Julia’s background as a street photographer. I wasn’t disappointed. Inspired in fact as I came to realize the commonalities between the genre  Julia and many others work in and what I do: construction progress photography.

From Wikipedia: ‘Street’ simply refers to a place where human activity can be seen, a place to observe and capture “social interaction”. The subject can even be absent of any people and can be that of object or environment where an object projects a human character or an environment is decidedly human. Framing and timing are key aspects of the craft, with the aim of creating images at a decisive or poignant moment.

Now what I do doesn’t exactly have a pure “social  interaction” but the camaraderie of fellow workers is relevant and present when I’m on a project site. I’m always trying to capture the “decisive moment” of a particular activity, it’s the essence of what I do and what street shooting is. We are bonded together.

Hope you enjoy our chat: Michael e. Stern on Street Photography Magazine

[vimeo width=”580″ height=”370″]https://vimeo.com/351080676[/vimeo]

The Gig

Loyola Marymount University, an NCAA D1 school in Westchester, CA hired me to provide time-lapse and live-action footage for a marketing video they’ve put together to share with students, alumni and benefactors about the school’s rebranding mission. It’d been a little over a decade since their gymnasium floor was last tended to. As part of the rebranding campaign LMU had a new logo designed and launched a marketing campaign to get the word out. Capturing the contractor resurfacing 14,000 square feet of gym floor was my part. I competed against 2 other providers but was chosen for my motion-control time-lapse expertise. Thank you LMU!

The Set Up

Industrial work is a messy, noisy process, so we work to minimize these aspects and emphasize the beauty of the unfinished. To that end, my team and I installed two static time-lapse camera systems and made 4 site visits on specific days to capture sanding, stencil application, painting, buffing and clear coat application. Using motion control time-lapse tools, gimbals for floating video footage and strategically mounted GoPros, we produced clean compositions while clearly defining the narrative.

The Sound

Ambient sound is an important part of film work and for my work no less so. My motto: keep ambient work sounds low unless there’s a point to hearing it above the music. This minimizes competing sounds, but you’ll still hear something if the music volume dips to low. I employ this technique to keep the visual and audio connections tight.

Lately I’ve been using jazz music for my work as I’m a big fan of the genre. For time-lapse and video combo films, this can be a huge ask. The usual time-lapse music leaves me wanting, but it takes awhile to get the music right. I sample many, many tracks before landing on the right piece. And after the right music is cut into the timeline, then it’s time to rework many of the edits so they cut to the beat of the music. It’s a wonderfully engaging process and one that I enjoy as a project nears completion!

I strive to get my films under 3 minutes but sometimes as in this case, they clock in longer. But at 4:02, the film flows and before you know it, it’s done. That’s the ultimate goal, to watch a film, enjoy the narrative and not be aware of the time because it just flows.

Thanks for reading.

Michael

Opportunity

18 hours of continuous pouring. 1350 concrete trucks. 8 pumping trucks. Middle of the night through sun rise. A target rich environment.

AWESOMENESS!

I had the job. It was mine. We agreed on the price. The scope of work. The deadline. I had sent in the insurance certificate, the W-9 and deposit request. Just had to wait for final approval from upstairs. Then like a fart in the wind, it was gone. Poof. Disappointed? Most certainly. But when big business decisions like this don’t go my way, I don’t get crushed, I get motivated. And as a self-employed creative professional, I play the long game and endeavor get out something of every situation that nourishes my business, my life or my soul. After 40 years, I’m good at it.

You see, I’d been given a diagram of the construction site as part of the cost estimating process. And that triggered my visual game plan for how I was going to document this amazing, landscape altering concrete pour. And I still wanted to execute it. It’s what I do, paid for or not. Of course it’s always better to get paid, but us creative souls have to create. It’s especially cathartic for me. There was no way I was going to sleep in!

In this instance I was limited in accessing the site from the public spaces along the perimeter. But art thrives on limitations. And I’m always up for that challenge.

Without promise or obligation from the client, I drove to the location and captured the process that played out before me. When the sun was about 15% above the horizon, it was time to leave with my photographic treasures.

See more of my progress photographs here.

Thanks for reading.

Michael