Portfolio Update 2010

Another year has soared right by - which is only fitting I guess for an Aerial Photographer with the Oregon Department of Transportation - and I'm still amazed at the quality and quantity, not to mention the difficulty and diversity of work ODOT tackles every construction season. I say this because I document most of these projects, from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, enabling me to become intimately familiar with them. So as I do annually, here's a collection of my favorite images from the assignments I covered during the past 12 months:

A lone firefighter appears to be losing the battle with this flame-engulfed house when in reality his only task is to keep the fire from spreading to neighboring structures - it's meant to be burned to the ground - as part of a training and investigative exercise for the Forest Grove Fire and Rescue Unit.

Workers replacing the rail on Coos Bay's McCullough Bridge need not possess super-human strength, it only looks that way as the rail sections are "flown" in using a giant crane located beneath the bridge.

A massive circular re-bar cage waiting to be poured with concrete to become a column support, frames this worker as he passes through it at the Willamette River Bridge job site on Interstate 5 in Eugene.

To illustrate the hazards of working in confined spaces for the ODOT Safety Calendar, this attendant emerges from a shallow pit that's occasionally used to conduct truck inspections at a weigh station near Woodburn.

And finally, my best story of the year: while photographing the state's drawbridges for a poster to recognize them, I was disappointed to find a large brown blob ruining the left corner foreground of my shot of the South Slough Bridge in Charleston. But while pausing to consider my options, the blob suddenly moved and lifted its head -- it was a sealion! And after about a half hour wait with some gentle coaxing (I tossed seashells near it!), the creature crawled to shore and beached itself in the perfect position for my picture . . . and the drawbridge lifted at the same time too!

As Newsphotography:Exposed begins its 5th year of publication, I'll strive to offer images and information relevant to the photography courses I teach at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, OR, plus provide topics of interest to other newsphotographers as well. Thanks for visiting, I appreciate your continued interest and support!