Magazine Overkill LOL!! - DPChallenge Forums

06/29/2007 06:06:56 AM · #26

Hey Ristyz....that is awesome. Getting a mag spread of that size is mind boggling that when it happens you just laugh out loud. It doesn't matter that no one can hear you...you can't do anything else...cause it just doesn't feel real. You can't cry...you don't know whether you should scream...even though you knew it was going to happen, but when it does...it is surreal.

Anyways, the water underground is like sludge...disgusting. When I take my studio lights down the guide has to carry another contraption called an 'Odalog'. This is used to detect the methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitriousoxide and oxygen around my equipment. Because the lights use a portable battery it is essential that the gaseous substances are monitored at all times. I do take the tripods down there but the sludge has enough suction in it that we lost one of the tripod feet in there...and sometimes the men have to rescue me as I cannot lift my legs out of the sludge.

I am used to wearing steel cap boots...but the mines I go down are the steel cap gum boots...which I haven't worn since I lived on the farm. And these ones are designed for men...so they are dirty and heavy.

The inductions are boring and incorrect in their questions/answers but an essential part of the whole setup. So I usually get my equipment checked on one day (this lasts for 3 months) and then the day I go down...it takes about 2 hours of prep work before we actually get on the dolly car or lift, depending on the mine. It usually takes another half hour to get to the destination and then about 2 to 4 hours shooting and then another 2 hours before you are back in the car. Keep in mind that you have a minimum of an hours drive each way from the mine on top of that. The communal showers are lots of fun (NOT), cold and very impersonal...but another part of the setup you have to endure.

Now, please keep in mind...I am not complaining...I am just trying to explain what these men go through on a daily basis. And some women out there whinge if they break a nail...sheez...lol!!

BHP is a huge Australian Company...actually my father-in-law retired from over 30 years with them this week.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

06/29/2007 05:41:35 PM · #27

A bump for whoever wants to read about the miners.

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

06/29/2007 05:55:30 PM · #28

Is this the mine that wouldn't let you bring your lights down or something for fear of the metal poles causing a spark?

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

06/29/2007 05:57:06 PM · #29

Originally posted by routerguy666:

Is this the mine that wouldn't let you bring your lights down or something for fear of the metal poles causing a spark?

No...that was another mine that I have photographed previously.

Ristyz

Apple iPhone 12 Pro

06/29/2007 06:02:43 PM · #30

Sounds like the mine you were in is a deep one..... ours was a surface strip mine until not that long ago. It's claim to fame was that it had the LARGEST shovels and haulers on earth. There is another mine across the valley that is still a strip mine. I didn't have to go into it in a lift. There is a small one for emergency use with the main ventilation shaft. We drove down into the mine in a deisel truck via a tunnel that was once the coal seam. From there is just dives deeper & deeper.