Ted DeCagna was selected by a major New York Metropolitan
bridge builder, Kiewit Infrastructure, to shoot their major
renovation work on the 55 year old, Verrazano Bridge, linking
Brooklyn, New York with Staten Island. The Verrazano is the longest
suspension bridge in the US.
Ted has been shooting several existing
deteriorating conditions of the old 1964 bridge including elevator shafts,
pedestals, aging granite, metal beams, rusted elevator doors elevator engine
rooms, to name just a few areas being working on for the next two years.
Ted’s job is to assist indocumenting all existing conditions prior to work
starting and then to take progress photos of all items under renovation, including
new 20 story, safety scaffolding, safety railings, nets, safety walkways,
refinished elevator cabs and doors, engine rooms, new electrical fixtures, new
granite pavers and new security fencing.
“The major challenge, as a photographer
here, other than the very physical climbing to various parts of the high
bridge up 20 stories of scaffolding stairs and climbing many ladders is
shooting in extremely dark conditions. I have had to shoot in pitch-black
elevator shafts to document the existing conditions”. While this presents
a few technical challenges with the camera settings, Ted has been able to make
the proper adjustments from daylight to extreme dark conditions, illuminate the
very dark areas and deliver hundreds of perfectly exposed photos.
Capturing all the dozens of architectural
components of the bridges requires three different lenses, regular or
50mm, wide angle for extremely tight spaces, such as elevator cabs and
300mm zoom lens to capture granite pedestal conditions on the Brooklyn side
shot from the Staten Island pedestal which is several hundred yards
away.
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