Photographing the Forestry Industry

My dad knew I loved hard work.  He used to joke that I could sit and watch it all day long. It's kind of true, I find a nobility and beauty in industry that matches high level sport any day, so when I get an industrial assignment, as I reach for my hi-vis vest and steel caps I'm already wearing a grin.

Yesterday was a double-header.  The first job was in the morning for Gough-Cat.  Their 555D is new to New Zealand and there just happened to be one operating up on Long Spur road near Trotters Gorge. I'd been asked for some hero shots. This one didn't make my cut for the client so I can share a small version:

The day was fairly dull, which helped me give the Cat a little more smack with a pop of on-camera flash.  It was just enough and no more.  I'd actually brought a studio light and power pack in case I needed more punch, but it was a pretty busy operation and there wasn't really the need to overpower the ambient light... not that it wouldn't have been fun!





What really struck me about the operation on site was the absence of men on the ground. Extracting these logs was a fully mechanised operation. One monster stalked the hills, cutting the trees; the Scorpion-like 555D dragged them in bunches to be processed, while two other monsters hefted every tree, stripped them of branches and bark, sawed them to length, dumped the unwanted ends, and neatly stacked the finished logs.  It was terrifyingly efficient. And all very safe, inside those reinforced cabs.




The mission task accomplished, it was time to head to the next gig, but not before a brief pause on the road back out.  There was a little coastal cloud creating some beautiful atmosphere in the lit patches, and I couldn't help thinking it was a beautiful location for a fashion or beauty shoot.  But industry has its own special beauty and I love to capture it.  This was one of the logging trucks coming in:







Portrait of the artist as a working man there. I love the subtle blue haze coming in through the green pines.

Time for some fun detail shots before departing.





I think it's always important - where there's time - to exercise your aesthetic muscles whenever you can, just stop and smell the pine needles. It keeps you open to what's in front of you when you're on the job.

Naseby was to be a video shoot and a different proposition altogether.  Many of the trees had already been felled, and I was mainly there to shoot some aerials of the operation.  That didn't stop me shooting some stills though.



The Naseby operation differed in that it had some bushmen on the ground. On a hot, still day like this, these boys earn every dollar they're paid.

                   




And tomorrow?  Back to Naseby.  Got to complete the video sequence.

These have been some big tiring days, not without some physical effort and skull sweat of my own but by the time I'm done I'll have captured the whole process of log exports, from harvest, through transportation to vessels loading at the export ports.  It's been a great assignment.  I love the opportunity to tell the whole story.

My Dad was right. Whatever it is you want to call what I do, it sure beats working.