2009_02_26_mining preview

2009_02_26_mining preview

As you know I headed down into the Hutchinson Salt Mine this past Tuesday. I spent the entire day shift down in the mine with the workers. The Ad Astra photo page isn't inked until this Sunday so I can't share any of the actual photos. But here are just a few behind the scenes shots.


I had to tag up before heading down into the mine like every other miner. You leave one tag at the surface and keep one tag on you. This is in case of emergencies they know who is down in the mine. As I was going through the safety training the manager joked... 'for some reason they make them out of brass, so when you're stuck in the mine and burn up it's easy to identify you by the melted drop of metal seeing as brass melts at 200 degrees.' Haha, not very funny.


The self rescuer that turns poisonous CO into CO2. Granted it doesn't add any oxygen so if you're using this thing you better be moving quickly to the exit.


Sparkly salt ceiling.


I was shooting the powder man who's in charge of setting the explosives in each and just as we finished up the first wall it was time to move on to the next wall a few hundred yards away. The truck he uses the get around only has one seat in the front so I saddled up with my legs hanging over the side of the flatbed. Just as he was getting in the front he called back, 'you can sit on the explosives if you want'. Why not. Riding around with the powder man on top of around 1000 lbs of ammonium nitrate explosives, it was ironically comfortable.


ESCAPE WAY!


I turned a 5 dollar camera rain jacket into pretty much a completely sealed jacket to keep the abundant salt particles off my gear.


Since the camera was completely sealed with the bag and close to a full roll of electrical tape this made controlling the camera difficult. I do know how to control everything in the dark by touch, but the bag made the controls much more sluggish and slippery. It was tough when adjusting from a iso3200 @ 1/15th shot to an iso 640 shot @ 1/50th.

Best,
Brad Vest

Listening to: Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, Vampire Weekend

2009_02_24_Working in a sodium chloride mine going down down down

2009_02_24_Working in a sodium chloride mine going down down down

Right about now I'll be stepping onto an elevator and descending about seventy stories below the surface of the earth into a strange, dark, and dusty place, the Hutchinson Salt Mine. I'll be spending the day with the workers documenting their underground lives. I'm not quite sure what to expect except for really challenging lighting and a nice dry 65 degree day without the sun.



I lightened everything out of my bag except for the essentials and a lunch consisting of a couple pb and j sandwiches, a banana, a granny smith apple, and a bottle of water. That way it will be much easier to get around all day.


Lightened load, only the essentials.


Fully charged batteries for a full day of shooting. I marked them a while back so that I know which are spent and which still have a charge when I am sifting through my bag.

Other than that all I have to carry, among other things, is a certified breather that's about the size of mango, but in rectangle form. The breather only weighs about 3 pounds and in case of emergency it turns poisonous carbon monoxide into harmless carbon dioxide to allow for greater time to run out of the mine. Knock on wood, don't worry though, salt mining is actually very safe, especially when compared to coal mining.


Waiver and releases let you know what you'll be doing is exciting.

I also sorta enhanced the seals on my camera with some electrical tape and rubber bands to keep the salt dust from getting in where it shouldn't. If the mine is worse than I am anticipating as far as particles in the air and getting all over my camera I'm also bringing down two weather bags that fit around my cameras and lenses. I really don't want to use those though, they are a real pain in the butt.


Super seal, patent pending.

Other than that I guess there isn't much. I'm really excited to get down there and start making pictures. I'm leaving my apartment at 5am or so to get to the mine before the workers start to arrive to capture the whole process of one of their full work days.

So, if you need to get in touch with me tomorrow, good luck, my phone won't have much signal due to the interference of 700 feet of rock, sand, dirt, and salt.

See you topside,
Brad Vest

Listening to: Your rocky spine, Great Lake Swimmers