As a child, I encountered construction through my father's occupation: not only did I play with toy trucks and bulldozers, I routinely experienced the real thing. During a brief gap in my college career I operated heavy equipment myself, but ultimately followed a much different path. Later I worked a few years as a carpenter. All of which is to say that the construction environment is familiar and comfortable for me.
Now I see structures, machines, and workers as graphic elements. I combine them to make dramatic images by applying the same approach to light and design that I use in photographing landscapes. Now, when shooting on a jobsite, my early experiences help me understand what I see and be more selective with what I shoot. The process is challenging and exciting: studying the view, anticipating the convergence of light, design, and decisive action, and quickly finding a safe location from which to make a shot which may exist for only a split second.
I’ve given up trying to reconcile the absurd contrast between shooting pristine wilderness and gritty construction... it’s just no use! Both excite and satisfy my visual senses, but for very different reasons. Go figure.