This image had been on my mind for nearly three years and would be my most ambitious construction photography project yet. After moving to the East Coast, I started envisioning this bulldozer shot at our Felton Quarry on the West Coast in California. Almost two years ago, I shared my idea with the plant manager, and while we initially laughed about it, I couldn’t shake the vision from my mind. The shot would involve three key elements: light painting, the night sky, and a drone.
The setup was demanding: I needed to be on-site at night, with a drone, tripod, flashlights, off-camera flash, and a remote shutter release.
After moving back to California in June, I brought it up again with the plant manager. By August, I had borrowed his drone and started practicing with it, and in September, I set up my camera’s remote shutter and flash, readying myself for light painting. I checked an app in early October to see if the Milky Way would align, and saw a promising window during the week of October 21st, around 8:30 p.m.
I asked the plant foreman to have the dozer parked in the pit’s center, just in case. On October 22nd, I arrived on-site in the afternoon, set up my tripod and camera an hour before sunset, composing and focusing for what would become a pitch-black shoot. As darkness fell, I started capturing light-painting shots by opening the shutter for five seconds at a time, using a flashlight or flash to illuminate the dozer, pit walls, trees, and boulders. I took 35 exposures this way, ensuring each area was lit.
Then came the sky shot. To my delight, the Milky Way appeared beautifully in frame during my first 13-second exposure, with a bonus surprise: Comet ATLAS (C/2024 S1) just above the quarry’s edge. I took three more 13-second exposures, planning to stack these to emphasize the stars and the Milky Way.
The final stage involved the drone. I’d taped a small flashlight to its front and set it to fly in a circle above the dozer, completing each loop in about 11 seconds. After a few test shots, I captured a nearly perfect halo of light encircling the dozer. It looked incredible!
Three hours after beginning, I packed up, thrilled and anxious to see how it all came together. I could barely sleep that night, imagining what it might look like once I edited it all together. Editing was complex, but since my camera remained in place, I could layer each element: light painting, sky, and drone loop. The final image exceeded my expectations—especially with the surprise appearance of both the Milky Way and the comet.
Now, I’m eager to try these techniques on other construction equipment 988 Pit Loader, an excavator, a bridge, or maybe a paving spread. This was my most challenging shot to date, but I feel like it’s only the beginning.
Camera: Sony A7RIV
Lens: Sigma 14-24mm at 18mm
Total Images: 12 Bracketed and stacked
