Blog – McLernon Photography – Portland Oregon Photographer Brian McLernon

We see pictures like this one all the time in trade & industry magazines but I’ve recently learned what a logistical nightmare they can be to pull off. When I received the call in late December from my client, Martin Marietta, I had no idea how much time would be spent trying to get this one photograph. MM manufactures and installs the composite material used in the roadbed of the newly renovated Broadway Bridge, crossing the Willamette River, connecting east & west Portland. Vying for an industry mag cover, their idea was to highlight their material with a shot of the bridge opened up, showing their product on the underside of the opened span, with the city of Portland in the background. And, they reasoned, if the bridge was open, they wanted a huge mother sailing through on her way in or out to sea for added drama. Huge, but not so full of cargo that it obscured the bridge. The only dock east of the Broadway that can handle ships this size is “O” Dock, a grain loading platform. No problem I thought, I’ll just call up the bridge commission, get a schedule and find out when a big honker is leaving, get out there, set up, and get the shot. Well the first opportunity to do it landed on Christmas Eve and, as committed as I am to my craft, I was hoping beyond all get-out that I wouldn’t have to peel away from family & friends to do it and that’s exactly what happened. They never got the ship loaded in time, night fell and it didn’t leave the dock until two nights later, ruining any chance of a daylight shot. With no ships coming or going for a few weeks, our cover possibility disappeared, although I did submit some cool nighttime shots they didn’t use because, well, it was nighttime. At least fifty phone calls later and six times where I got the call, got out there and then waited in the rain for a few hours only to find out loading was slow and the ships wouldn’t leave till dark, one cloudy Monday, my ship came in, as it were. Only problem was, that was my daycare day with my little four-year old daughter and she would have to tag along, trooper that she is. With a forty-minute lead time, I threw all my photo gear (two cameras, digital AND film, tripods, filters, etc.) a blanket, and as many My Little Ponys as I could rustle up, into the van and raced across town to the location. When I got all the gear set up and saw the red control lights stop traffic from crossing the bridge, I knew it was finally gonna happen and my hands were shaking as the span started to lift. I did a final focus on the cameras, held a cable release in each hand and was yelling to Miss B “here she comes!” like we were watching Mt. St. Helens getting ready to blow. When the Liberty Glory came into view, five months of prep came to fruition, and my chest nearly burst as I fired away. I only wish I had gotten a picture of Miss B, happily playing with her Ponys on a blanket in the foreground, while the silent, massive ship cruised by in the background, one for the scrapbook. Although they rejected it, this one with the yellow dump truck and the bus in the lower left was my favorite, showing many forms of transportation all at once. My heartfelt thanks go out to Beth, Tony, Abby and especially Nancy who went out of their way to help me do my job and get the shot.