Tyler BlodgettPhotography · Film · Story

Highland Falls, Orange County, New York · Hudson Valley

Highland Falls Preserve

30 photographs

Granite blocks wait on their pallets, stacked and ready to become steps.
A crew member digs in with a shovel below a wall of boulders.
The crew gathers under the blue canopy for the morning briefing.
The operator watches from the cab as the grapple sets a stone down.
Two crew members share a laugh with the man in red suspenders.
Four crew members lean into their bars to shift a granite block.
An older crewman and a younger one lever the same block from either side.
A crew member squints under her white helmet, bar in hand.
Arms around each other's shoulders, two crew members smile for the camera.
The mattock comes down, sneakers planted on either side.
He smiles over his shoulder, glasses dark under the white helmet.
A bearded crewman stands among the new steps, safety glasses on.
The crew leader holds the rotary hammer at the ready.
One man taps with a hammer while his partner guides the stone.
He bends close over the drill, a generator humming beside him.
A tape measure stretches along the stone while a level waits on top.
A sledge taps each wedge in turn along the line.
The hammer comes down again, and the crack opens wide.
Three crew members lean on their tools and smile.
The crew leader grins behind his goggles, beard and suspenders dusty from the day.
A level rests across the step as he presses it down.
Two crew members measure a step that is half set in the dirt.
A green strap wraps a granite step ready to be hauled.
A crew member leans on his tool, grinning under his helmet.
A number chalked on a finished step marks its place in the line.
Two crew members fit the stones together, one kneeling on each side.
A visitor and a crew member share a grin in the shade.
He stands at the top of the finished steps, the excavator behind him.
The crew sits together on the new granite steps at the end of the job.