The Mine Mechanic
An image I created for Rachel, a diesel mechanic at Vales Creighton Mine here in Sudbury Ontario.
An image I created for Rachel, a diesel mechanic at Vales Creighton Mine here in Sudbury Ontario.
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.
A few images I created of a Jumbo for Dumas Mining at the Goldcorp Hoyle Pond Mine located in Timmins Ontario. My intention was to use the leading lines of the long boom arms to bring your eyes directly to the operator where as in the last image your gaze goes directly to the rock face.
Shooting the jumbo straight on can be a tricky shot. The lights from the cab need to be exposed properly and when doing so the rest of the image will go almost completely black. In order to light up the 2 booms additional lighting is required but these too must be controlled or the light will spill everywhere and change the “mood” of the image. Additionally lighting up the cab to show the operator also takes some finesse to acquire the correct exposure. This one image may look like a quick shot and it actually is at an exposure faster than a half a second but the setup time takes just a little bit longer.
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.
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.
Miners grab rods from their supply and ready them for the boom lift as it makes its way into the area. Yesterday I spent some time underground at the Olympias site here in Greece where I quickly photographed miners, Jumbo’s, haul trucks and boom lifts.
There is always something going on when you are on site. The hustle and bustle of a mine is everywhere around you and it’s sort of like a small town city that is always moving. Everyone has their job to do and every job is an integral part of the operation no matter how big or small. I enjoy walking around the site capturing the daily activities as they unfold and I am constantly scanning the area for an interesting image capture like this image where miners are using the the rails to bring equipment and supplies in and out of the mine.
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