Just for Fun No C&C will be given: Construction - Photo Project #1 - #10, the project so far.

This photographic project started on the 23rd of October '09, and is only from a public viewpoint, and so as well as on a documentary level I also try to look for proper context and a little analogy sometimes.
Analogy, is somethin' that I absolutely love in photographs.

The year '09, is close to an end now, but this is the project so far. It will continue though, until everythin' has been built! :lol:

Paul,

This is becoming an excellent series. I hope you have also managed to photograph the denizens working on these projects too. Still, these cranes are starting to become anthropomorphic figures to me and so maybe we don't need men at all!

The building in #5 really seems alive and perhaps having some active relationship with that crane! Is that dome St Paul's Cathedral? Looks like someone is about to nick it!

Standing as a group, it does seem that you like to present the buildings and cranes in a sort of heroic pose.

Asher

Thanks, Asher.

I think these cranes are just as amazing as the buildings themselves. I've yet to get any images of them actually being assembled. It must take at least a day to get them up and running I would've thought. I sure would like to be there at the time of them constructing one. It really is a mystery to me how they get these things together. Also, they're moved around the worksite with alacrity and speed too it seems.
The cranes in #1 is the exact same site in #5, both shot from approximately the same area, give or take a few paces. Of course #1 was taken in April this year and did have another title as a standalone photograph, but I have since incorporated it into this project.
The rest have all been taken from late October onwards.

There is a documentary show on the TV tonight (08/12/09), called The Solitary Life of Cranes. Its about the cranes and they're operators. It will also show the amazing views that these guys have everytime they work 'em.

Soon after I started my homeless project they showed a TV documentary about homelessness, and now the same thing has happened with this construction project. Such coincidence!

Asher, here is a shot of some crew working on the new 'Shard' building in Southwark, near the London Bridge Tube and rail station. This shot was taken from a public space, as are all my shots. I doubt if I will be able to back this shot up with any other similar shots like this 'cos I will need a private access pass, hardhat, steel-toed boots and of course time given on site.

On this site 'Mace' have been given the contract to build this building. Try to imagine what kind of response 'little me' would get in requesting to document in photographs the construction work taking place here? I think it would be a firm "no", if one at all.
Also, I can imagine Health and Safety throwing their 'dummy' out the pram contemplating someone as inexperienced as me, being on a site like this.

Here is a link: http://www.shardlondonbridge.com/

How open are construction sites in the US? Here in the UK they're all fenced and boarded round so no-one can see.

Hi Paul,

These last 2 images (Shard Building) are a bit too busy for my taste. Too much going on, without large/strong shapes to create a visual help. Information overflow will make our brain disconnect from the scene, IMHO.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart, I thought that for a brief moment about the first shot in #11, but the photograph does have slight divisions/ sections that break up the image.

Are you familiar with Andreas Gursky's work? Here: http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/andreas-gursky/selected-works/