Earlier this week I was thinking about last years trip to Greece with www.pendaproductions.com and Eldorado Gold to photograph the different mining sites of the area and then today I am again reminded of my time there while reading EG’s recent Sustainability Report that features some of my images like the one below that I captured while visiting the Skouris site in the Halkidiki Peninsula of Northern Greece.
While I did spend a week in Greece photographing Eldorado Gold’s Kassandra Mines for www.pendaproductions.com the Penda team were simultaneously recording all aspects of the project as well. Check out the Penda video Eldorado Gold just published to their youtube channel highlighting the sites and operations. Its a trip down memory lane for me as I photographed each of the scenes within the video capturing stills to coincide with their marketing materials. Check out the images below then look for the locations within the video while you watch. It was one of my favorite trips and to be able to work with Penda Productions again in another Country has been a highlight in my career.
Eldorado Gold Kassandra Mines Video
Sometimes while I am setting up my equipment for my next shot my subjects will continue working by discussing tasks at hand. When this happens, I will quickly adjust my equipment to accommodate the scenario and click away. Most of the time they don’t even know I am a capturing the scene.
Every once in awhile I will have the opportunity to pair two clients into one image. While I was in Val-d’Or Quebec creating images for MacLean Engineering we visited Eldorado Gold’s Lamaque site to capture some underground images with the equipment. I was recently with Eldorado Gold in Greece (with Penda Productions) this past June and had a wonderful experience at their sites just as I knew I would here at the Lamaque Site as the Eldorado Crew is fantastic to work with. We managed to create some excellent images showcasing both companies in their environment and I am thankful to both companies for allowing me to create images of their sites, people and equipment.
It was Sumit’s first time underground here at the Eldorado Lamaque Site and I was glad to be able to join my MacLean’s Rep on his first journey to the underworld. After our day photographing some of the MacLean fleet I had to take a few moments and create his first underground portrait.
Well I am on the road to Quebec to go underground with MacLean Engineering again to visit the Eldorado Gold Lamaque site. The last time I visited Val’dor Quebec we were at the Bracemac-Mcleod mine where I photographed this LR3 Boom Lift.
A Sandvik LH514 loader rounds the corner far below the surface at the Hellas Gold Olympias Mine Site in the Halkidiki Peninsula.
Where the underground world is a dark place with next to no lighting your cap lamps bring some minor brightness to the people that work and interact with each other in this environment. The Hellas Gold people I met in Greece were amazing and even though with a few we had the language barrier it was easy to connect with them as they take pride in their jobs, the company and the people they work with. Its a challenge to capture images with such minimal light but when you do you get a true feeling of the darkness that is always present in the underground.
The Olympias concentrate plant lights up the area with an array of painted colors. Sites like this take on a very different look when the sun sets and the lighting illuminates the buildings and area.
Το εργοστάσιο Olympias φωτίζει την περιοχή με μια σειρά ζωγραφισμένων χρωμάτων. Τοποθεσίες όπως αυτό έχουν μια πολύ διαφορετική εμφάνιση όταν ο ήλιος δύει και ο φωτισμός φωτίζει τα κτίρια και την περιοχή.
A quick capture I created before the team headed out to the next underground location. My brief visit to the underside of the Olympias mine left me impressed with the people, environment and production of the site. I look forward to a return visit not only to Greece but to this specific site as well.
