[LargeFormat] 65mm SA

[Les Newcomer]

Pete Caluori wrote:
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> Les, I don't envy you your work.  Nice picture of the sewer!  Do you get
> hazardous pay for your efforts?  I think I'll take my chances photographing
> during lightning storms.:)
> 

Shocking! just shocking!   :-)


Yeah I have to say this was my worst job in terms of the environment.
Luckily I"ve been able to stay on the clean side of the department most
of the time.  My lastest job is photographing meter pits-- effectively
an underground chamber about the size of a typical tract house basement
full of large pipes and a very large water meter. These are on the
borders between cities so the Detroit water department can bill each
city for the water they used. The city is rehabbing the chambers,
installing better meters and automating the data (each of these has a
cell phone so DWSD can call each and download the data)

After the 10th pit, it's boring work, but there are 270 of these pits
they want 10 pre construction photos and 12 post construction of each
pit and from each photo they want 3 prints and a slide.  At $12 a print
and $3 a slide I can't say it's not profitable, particlulary when we get
a good day and shoot 10 pits. With the extra photos I figure this job
will top out at 7000 shots, 21,000 prints. I keep tell them they are
going to have to add the Les Newcomer wing to the water board building
just to hold all the binders.

The rest of the work I do is construction, it's a lot of fun, getting to
run around on a construction site. I've gotten to fly in helicopters,
ride in buckets of back hoes, and once they swung me out on a crane
about 500 feet above Woodward Ave, so I can shoot back onto the building
during the topping out ceremony.