On Wednesday, Crystal and I were hired by Skanska USA to photograph one of their latest contracts, the Norfolk HRT Light Rail Transit construction site. We were accompanied by the project engineer and the superintendent of the construction site driving in separate utility trucks throughout the seven mile transit route that begins near the Eastern Virginia Medical Center, through Downtown Norfolk, and ends at Newtown Road.

We were given hard hats and reflective vests before heading out to the construction sites.  We were then separated into two pick-up trucks and brought to various sites where we stopped and photographed.

Crystal rode with the superintendent engineer, while I rode with the project engineer.  We started near the downtown side and started working our way towards Newtown Road going along the I-264 highway.

This is definitely ground breaking for Crystal and I since its one of our first experience with construction photography.  We were having a blast while being able to photograph one of Virginia’s first light rail systems.

We were able to access restricted areas to photograph the crew, near enormous heavy ground equipments, as well as being able to photograph from above highway over passes.

Crystal and I actually got split up for a bit, as she went ahead of us, while me and the project engineer drove and stuck around longer on each site allowing me to photograph the crew, equipment, and the work going on each site.

We also drove through I-264 and pit stopped a couple of times on overpasses to take shots over the track that is being laid and constructed.

It almost feels like we were Mike Rowe from TLC’s hit show ‘Dirty Jobs’ since we were all getting in the mud and dirt to take photos, as well as wear the cool hard hats and reflective vests.

It truly made us feel as if we were photo journalists covering this huge project.  There were times I sank in mud, nearly tripped off of metal wire cables, and even able to manage to get scrapped here and there, but we were having a blast!

By far I think this is one of the bigger shoots we’ve done, not only did it expand over seven miles,  over 2 hours of coverage, but also experience construction work in the area.  We’ve always wondered what goes on or even if they are being worked on, and this definitely gave us a huge insight into constructing the Norfolk HRT Light Rail Transit.

To view larger and other photos from the Norfolk HRT Light Rail Transit construction with Skanska USA, please click on this link:  Norfolk HRT Light Rail Transit Construction Photos