Warhol Museum; Andy's Lion

Spent a fabulous weekend with my husband who allowed me to do some editing work. In the photographic phases of my life,  subject matter may change like the weather but one thing remains constant; I am shooting or I am editing.  To be editing provides the brain (right or left?) with much needed solace.  Not unlike the creative part of shooting, you are creating an entire new body or project.  Whether it’s a portfolio, a book, a marketing campaign…they all benefit from tight photo editing.

My mind wanders through the myriad of images we have taken at Aerial Innovations or through my own archives.  Once I have seen them several time, I can almost review them from memory. The strong ones remain, the weak ones fall away.  Once back with the thumbnails/contact sheets cut apart, it turns into a big memory game…which ones go together, making secret little matches.  More weak images fall away, several new surprises happen, until it is cohesive and tells a story.

I keep in mind from the beginning the skeleton of this story.  What are the images trying to say, who are they saying it to, can they complete the thought or do they need more help?  All of these componants go into the story.  If you understand, I have been successful.

A photographic retrospective on the construction and design of Nashville’s newest landmark.  The photographers of Aerial Innovations of Tennessee spent close to two years documenting and creating images of construction, trades, design and events surrounding the 22 Story Icon.  Now these images are available in a large format professionally published book.

Visit our bookstore to preview and purchase.

I have worked many hours (mostly while watching football), doing the layout.  And the editing recently has been c-u-t-t-i-n-g….if it doesn’t work….it goes.  The shooting we approximated at probably over 200 hours not including the 5-10 minutes per month of circling the building doing the aerials.  At this point, it’s a matter of layout, pacing, information and the all important safety review.  Then comes the pre-press excitement.

My reason for detailing progress on this project has been guiltless self-promotion, no doubt. But this has been a contagious condition.  The excitement around the Icon was equatable to a Who concert…sold out in 48 hours! the papers said~ Construction began and promotion was fierce.  Move ins began within moments of CO’s being delivered (Certificate of Occupancy for the laypeople).  I am caught up in the hype and hope this final project can be the culmination of the excitement…a retrospective of the building….a building of AN Icon.

What the book will entail in the end is a complete visual documentary on the entire building project as seen from every viewpoint.  How much would it mean to you to see how your home was built?  Some place that so many invested their time, money, labor, sweat, emotion…countless hours, meetings, decisions….all for a broad vision of contemporary living?

Enjoying the Amenities

One special surprise has been the shots of workers at their trades that wind up looking posed or staged.  The workers move in a carefully choreographed series of steps around a symphony of trades, plans and skills. No one person holds the center stage for long but at times steps up to lead an action. In some of these transitions  a moment was captured showing the tension and symmetry that is almost every trade in construction.

The image below is an example, where the task of setting forms for the next concrete pour moves your eye around the frame and the 3 pairs of men interacting with each other.  No dramatic movement, it is a task to do carefully, yet in this moment you can see the stages from planning to execution to finishing.  You leave the framing knowing the next step of these men and can understand the mark they will leave on every inch of this project.

Placing Column Forms