THUNDER BAY – MINING – When is a photo studio one half mile under the ground? There are times when Thunder Bay should likely consider changing its name to “Talent Bay”. There is a huge abundance of very skilled videographers, photographers, musicians, and artist in Northwestern Ontario.
The Answer to the Photo Studio question?
Thunder Bay, Ontario based photographer Kevin Palmer.
Palmer was photographing a Cubex Orion ITH Drill at the Barrick Gold, Hemlo site in Northern Ontario. Confronted with the challenge of creating an impactful image of this complicated piece of mining machinery, Kevin relied on the skills he’s developed as both a studio and adventure photographer, his unflagging energy and his determination to solve any problem.
In order to create this photo, Kevin, with the assistance of machine operator Joe Bothello and Mine Supervisor Kerry O’Halloran, set up a virtual photo studio in the mine, utilizing an assortment of lights on high and medium power, a fill light plus two softboxes.
Palmer stated, “It took hours to get to and then into the mine, another five hours to set up and experiment and two and a half minutes to shoot. Only a perfectionist thinks in those terms.”
What was Kevin’s biggest problem?
“Power. The high demand for electricity by our power packs kept kicking off the circuit breakers,” said Palmer. “We solved the problem by running extension cords to a nearby compressor, splitting the power requirement from each in half. I couldn’t position the lights exactly where I wanted to because of the tight quarters but we made do”.
Kevin’s photo has already earned WOW status, a top rating assessed to photographs on the Photographer’s Direct website, a rating earned by less than .025% of the 2.5 million images submitted by more than 100,000 photographers worldwide.
Kevin Palmer continues to solidify his reputation as America’s top mining and outdoor/recreation photographer. He can be reached at 807-473-3648. Visit the website at www.kevinpalmerphotography.com
