My Five-year Anniversary Photographing the Loma Linda University Campus Transformation Project (LLUCTP)

The featured images of the anniversary post illustrate the progress made during the five-year construction period, which consists of 1827 days. The photo to the left is the first photo I took on my first day on the site. The second image shows the completed towers in the background. In the foreground, a concrete finisher smooths the concrete that had been poured earlier in the day.

Dressed in the required Personal Protection Equipment (construction hat, safety glasses, and an orange vest), I entered the east gate (paralleling Anderson Street) on June 7, 2016. Like a kid sitting foot on the school campus for the first day of school, my heart was pounding with excitement. I had been photographing the make-ready preliminary work on campus for approximately nine months without restriction. Once the site had been fenced off by McCarthy, the contractor of the project, public access was restricted. I was able to enter the restricted site by PO (Permission Only), which had been granted by Loma Linda University Health and McCarthy. I was allowed on the site for the purpose of documenting the construction of the new hospital complex. Upon entering the site, I gained access to a different world. After a two-hour orientation meeting, I was taken aside by the safety officer who gave me total access to the site with the understanding that I was to be always aware of my surroundings, don’t get in the way of the heavy equipment, and don’t get in the way of the workers. I left the construction trailer with a spring in my step and quickly became part of the construction team.