Nick Deal Photography: 2013

8.20.2013

Rhea County High School

A little over 2 weeks ago, the new Rhea County High School opened in Evensville, TN. This project is one that I have been involved with for over 2 years, as I was the structural engineer of record for the building design. My company (www.michaelbradyinc.com) was awarded the project in early 2011 and were given the task of designing a new 230,000 sf structure that would house 2,000 9-12 grade students.

The project schedule was a short one, as we were tasked with completing our design documents by the end of July 2011 so that construction could commence in the fall of 2011 with the hopes of starting classes in August 2013. Needless to say, I spent countless hours in the office during the summer of 2011 trying to help accommodate this really tight schedule.

To date, this project is the most expensive project I have served as the engineer of record. The construction costs came in just shy of $30 million.

As with many of MBI's projects, I was commissioned to take final photographs of the project for future marketing purposes. The attached link will direct you to the entire gallery of shots I took during the open house weekend of August 3.

3.14.2013

Anna at Four

Unfortunately, after starting the year off with good intentions, life got in the way and I have totally neglected photography the past two plus months. After taking photos for everyday for a year, the couple days I took off turned into months. Hopefully I will be able to muster up some new enthusiasm in the near future.

Anyway, today's post is photos from Anna's 4th birthday party from a couple of weeks back. And yes, you read that right, she's 4 already. I never in a million years would have thought our first 4 years with Anna would have gone by so quickly. There have been many highlights and bumps in the road along the way, but ultimately, I am SO THANKFUL for the blessing she is and will continue to be in my life and I look forward to celebrating many many more with her. Love you Anna!

1.11.2013

Looking Up

After a long week, I finally made it to a point where I could relax and catch my breath. It so happened to occur while waiting for Lisa to check-in at our hotel for the night in Nashville. I found a comfortable chair in the lobby to fall into and after leaning my head back, I looked up to find an open atrium to the roof of the 25-story downtown Sheraton. I couldn't help but seize the moment to capture this shot, which also happens to be the first post from my new iPhone.

1.06.2013

Day 366 - Officially Finished

366/365 - January 5, 2013 - Project 365 Instead of taking a random shot for the official final day of the project, I decided to create a collage of all the shots taken throughout. Thanks to Picasa for making this so easy.

Instead of taking a random shot for the official final day of the project, I decided to create a collage of all the shots taken throughout. Thanks to Picasa for making this so easy.

1.05.2013

Day 365 - Sense of Accomplishment

365/365 - January 4, 2012 - Day 365!!! I made it! Today marked the 365th day since I began this journey last year on January 6. Technically the year mark will be tomorrow due to the leap year, but since this is all about 365, I had to commemorate it in a special way.#3: Shot I took this afternoon of the American Clothing building facade in the Old City.#6: My daily shot from Day 42.#5: Photo of some diagonal bracing within a wall on the Hilton Garden Inn project I visited on December 19th.

Yesterday was the day I have been "shooting" for ever since I had the idea to try Project 365 last January. While today is technically the year mark due to the leap year, I felt yesterday's milestone was worth being excited about. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I never actually thought I would make it to the end. As Lisa can attest, I am really good at starting projects and even getting them 80% complete (i.e. numerous DIY home projects), but actually finishing and seeing them to completion is something I struggle with. Fortunately for Lisa and the kids, my track record is somewhat better when it comes to completing projects that I am actually paid to perform (i.e. my day job).

Day 364 - L&N Station

364/365 - January 3, 2013 - L&N Station This evening on my way home from the office, I took one of my photographic detours downtown. I went with nothing specific in mind, but as I was getting off the interstate on Western Avenue, I spotted the L&N Station and realized I haven't captured any shots of it this year. I parked on the interstate side of Western Avenue, so after risking my life to cross it and its intersection with Henley Street during rush hour, I began shooting. After some close ups, I decided to get a wide view of the facade only to realize my 24-105mm lens wasn't wide enough to capture the full building from the place I chose on the sidewalk. I could have move further to the right, but the landscaping in the foreground obscured the view of the door on the right side of the building. I had my wider 17-40mm lens in the car, but didn't want to add 2 more traverses of Western Avenue to my evening, so I settled for a 3-setup panoramic view, hence the distorted view. To help capture the lighting as the sun was setting, I compiled a 3-shot HDR composite of each setup.

Tonight's post is somewhat of a trial post as I am in the process of wrapping up my 365 project as I discussed last night. I am still posting these last couple of shots as I have all year through Facebook, but wanted to try the blog post method, as this is how I plan to operate moving forward.

New Year, New Ideas

181/365 - July 4, 2012 - Fourth Fireworks For the first time in about 5 years, I stayed out late enough on the 4th to enjoy a fireworks display in my hometown of Lake City. Of course, I took the opportunity to capture some shots of the fireworks.

Almost a year ago, I started out on a very daunting task of taking a photograph a day for an entire year. Today, I just posted my 362nd shot. As that project winds down in just 3 days (actually going for 366 to account for leap year), I have thought for the past few weeks what is next for my photography endeavors. While I do not have it all figured out yet, I have decided my next step is to setup a blog feature on my website. If you are reading this post, you have obviously already discovered this fact.