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Archive 2016 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic

  
 
bwhip62
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


http://bwhip.com/galleries/BlogPhotos/Misc/final_final_fs.jpg

Every Christmas season, our commercial construction company tries to come up with a creative card to send to clients and friends in the industry. We get so many of the same tired, cliche cards, that we always want ours to stand out a bit, and have some personality to them.

This year, I had the idea that it might be fun to try to replicate the famous photo of the construction workers high above New York City, having a lunch break while precariously perched on a beam, during construction of the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building back in the 1930’s. Lunch on a Skyscraper

It’s become a truly iconic image, especially within the construction world, and I knew that if we could pull off something similar, it would bring a smile to anyone who knows us. The original image has the city in the background at a particular angle, and shows a bunch of Central Park. I looked online for a similar background photo, but they either weren’t the right view, or the right angle, which I felt was important to evoke memories of the original. Finally I found a photo which could legally be reused (thanks to the original photographer of that image, Jerry Ferguson), and was about the right height and angle. It wasn’t Central Park, but I didn’t feel it was super important for anyone who isn’t completely familiar with Manhattan.

We found a steel beam at one of our jobsites, and set it up so that our feet could dangle appropriately. There would be seven of us on the beam rather than the original 11, and we weren’t going to try to dress in costume or anything like that. We figured we’d just be ourselves, but put ourselves in a very similar scenario to evoke the original. I carefully set up the tripod with my camera to be at about the same height and angle as the original, and we began the short photo session.

We tried a bunch of poses that were true to the original (pretending to light a cigarette, conversing, opening the lunch boxes, holding a liquor bottle, etc., but in most of those you couldn’t really see our faces that well. We finally settled on one where we were all looking toward the camera, and sharing a laugh (surely over something inappropriate that one of us had said). {by the way, that's me on the far right]

I then went to work in Photoshop, and did my best to capture the spirit of the original, while still making it easy to see all of our office staff, and their individual personalities. Everyone we’ve shown it to so far has gotten a big kick out of it – so, mission accomplished! Now, just 12 months to figure out next year’s clever card…



Dec 06, 2016 at 11:58 PM
xtreme749
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Very nice!

I love the idea behind this and the finished product!



Dec 07, 2016 at 12:12 AM
plsand
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


You did a great job -
Paul



Dec 07, 2016 at 07:31 AM
plsand
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


You did a great job -
Paul



Dec 07, 2016 at 07:34 AM
jcw1982
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Excellent image! Neat idea and nice job of pulling it off.


Dec 07, 2016 at 08:37 AM
friscoron
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic



Awesome! You pulled this off quite nicely!



Dec 07, 2016 at 10:24 AM
film_4ever
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Excellent concept and execution. You had me fooled initially. Nice touch with the bottle of JD.

Your Christmas card wins !!!



Dec 07, 2016 at 10:42 AM
JohnBrose
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


looks good, where did you get the city-background image from? one suggestion-put your camera on 2 second delay if possible so we don't see you pressing the release button or hide that hand.


Dec 07, 2016 at 10:53 AM
Ernie Aubert
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Very cool!


Dec 07, 2016 at 11:55 AM
bwhip62
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


JohnBrose wrote:
looks good, where did you get the city-background image from? one suggestion-put your camera on 2 second delay if possible so we don't see you pressing the release button or hide that hand.

Thanks! Found the background photo here: Wikimedia

I normally use the timer, but because we were 80 stories up... (just kidding). My tripod was positioned pretty precariously up on some scaffolding to get the height right, so I wanted to disturb it as little as possible, so decided to use the remote, which didn't seem to work all that well unless it was in line of sight.



Dec 07, 2016 at 12:12 PM
JR Photo
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Brilliant creative, flawless execution! I love it. Truly a classic, redressed.

J. R.



Dec 07, 2016 at 01:00 PM
Fred Amico
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Great concept and execution!


Dec 07, 2016 at 01:47 PM
Lilki
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Wow, definitely unique and appropriate! Well done!!


Dec 07, 2016 at 03:34 PM
ICee
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


I like it, well done.


Dec 07, 2016 at 04:31 PM
gpelpel
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Superb!

Your goal was surely to leave an impact on your customers as well as providing some fun. You succeeded on both.



Dec 07, 2016 at 06:11 PM
Mar73
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Awesome! Well executed. Print it big for the office wall.


Dec 07, 2016 at 06:47 PM
bwhip62
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Thanks very much, all. It was a lot of fun to make, and we're so happy to be getting such a positive response from those who see it.


Dec 08, 2016 at 07:42 PM
closer2par
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


It looks great! You did a very good job with this. It was fortunate that you were able to find a steel beam at your job site that worked great for the photo.

Well done! Merry Christmas!!

Steve



Dec 12, 2016 at 02:41 PM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Great job!


Dec 12, 2016 at 03:08 PM
Bruce_T
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Construction Company Christmas Card - An Homage to a Classic


Very nice! Um, you probably should not share with OSHA inspectors, though.


Dec 12, 2016 at 05:09 PM
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