Oil rig boxing.

25 years of rust, in the North sea.

Here, are two images 25 years apart. 

The images are of the "pig launchers", on the cellar deck of the BP Miller platform,

one while the platform was being commissioned, and put together,

and the second, while decommissioning.

Thanks

Lee

Offshore, oil and gas rig catering crew.

Today we meet, the small team involved in feeding and looking after all 80 workers, on a North Sea oil and gas platform. 

These guys do a fantastic job, with such a small team in cleaning, preparing meals and trying to keep moral high for a large crew of guys. Who are working hard in all weathers, away from home for long periods, missing their families.

It is un-measurable their involvement, but any rig worker will tell you, that a clean accommodation and a good hearty meal, makes for a happy crew. 

Roast beef, and Yorkshire puddings... must be Sunday! 

Thanks

Lee

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BP Miller decommissioning core crew.

This fine body of men.... 

Are one half of the Petrofac core crew involved with the mammoth task of decommissioning and removing a north sea oil rig. While this crew is offshore, our opposite numbers are at home on leave. 

This group is made up of the management, technical authorities, and lead technicians, that are required on board to keep a rig running safely.

Petrofac O.I.M.

Petrofac Project Manager.

Petrofac Project Manager.

The above, were the Petrofac offshore management for the project, all with different attributes and experiences, but all shared one key value - people skills.

You can be the most knowledgeable leader, but if your team are not supporting you, then you might as well give up.

These gents led by example, with integrity, and support. When the chips were down, could pick the whole team back up. Inspirational. 

Now we called in back to backs and so all the core crew now on board, for the task of shutting down the platform. A mammoth task, completed with safety at the forefront and ahead of the schedule.  

Offshore - O.I.M

The Petrofac O.I.M for the BP Miller decommissioning project.  

The Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) is the most senior manager of an offshore platform operating on the UKCS.

Many offshore operators have adopted this UK offshore management model and title and applied it to their operations in all global regions irrespective of the local regulations in force.

In the UK the individual must be officially registered as an OIM with the Offshore Safety Division of the Health and Safety Executive and the OIM is responsible for the health, welfare and safety of the personnel on board the installation, whether a drilling rig, production platform or a support vessel (e.g. a flotel).

Thanks

Lee

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Rig removal. North sea.

North sea oil and gas rig.

Hello, long time no see...

Well... Hello, its been a while. 

Lets catch up, 

Most will know, that my day job is working in the oil and gas industry.

Since January i have been involved with the decommissioning of a north sea oil and gas rig, called the BP Miller. 

The picture taking had to take a back seat. The next post will explain in more detail what the project entails. 

But stick around, i have uploaded lots of content which will be coming out on a weekly basis, a new post every Sunday. 

So please subscribe, and follow the story and images of life offshore in the oil and gas industry on a decommissioning project. 

Thanks

Lee

Manchester Airport.

Good Morning, 

As most are aware with my day job, i spend half my life at airports traveling. And so this time i brought my little Fuji X-T1 along for a ride, and took some shots while i was awaiting to board the plane. 

Thanks

Lee

Electronic shutter vs Mechanical shutter.

Hi,

just a quick one as i am sure a lot of you are more experienced with this than myself. 

Whilst traveling to work i was taking some pictures on the flight. To avoid the cabin crew scowl i turned the Fuji X-T1's shutter from Mechanical to electronic. 

It is permanently set on the Mechanic mode, as in the past, i accidentally put it onto electronic and it would not fire the off camera flashes. To prevent that happening again, it is a setting i do not change. 

This occasion due to the silence of the electronic shutter, it would be a perfect solution.

Just for a demonstration and comparison, as i didn't want to take pictures of the planes propellers.

Have a look at the two images. The top image is the conventional mechanical shutter. And the lower is the electronic. I found it really interesting how the shutters create different images. 

Thanks

View from Blackpool Tower.

Blackpool football club Bloomfield road.

Hi following on from my last post. I thought i would share some images taken from the top of Blackpool tower. 

Pleasure beach. 

Winter Gardens Theatre.

Funny Girls burlesque cabaret showbar.

Roof tops.

Lancashire Ambulance service.

A towns taxi cab.

Offices.

Lytham road B5262.

Top of Blackpool Tower.

Have you ever wondered,  - how do they maintain the iconic lights on Blackpool Tower?

Lets meet the lighting engineer responsible for keeping the famous Blackpool Tower illuminated. His job involves regularly abseiling 518 ft down one of Lancashire's most iconic structures to maintain its computer-operated system of 225,000 LED bulbs.

Even at home, the tower is never far away. It is visible from his back window, and calls from colleagues asking him to check on the lights are not uncommon. "Everyone round here knows what I do," he says. "They love to criticise and tell me if they see a light out."

The top of the tower is a magnet for tourists, many of whom visit specifically to experience the SkyWalk, the glass floor observation deck that sits 380 ft above the Promenade. What most visitors do not realise is that the man keeping those lights burning may well be hanging beneath their feet.

This was a rare opportunity to photograph a working at height environment at serious elevation. Rope access work at this scale requires meticulous planning, the right competencies, and absolute confidence in equipment and technique. The images here give a sense of just how exposed that worksite is.

You could call this the tallest light fitting in Lancashire.

To illustrate just how high todays worksite was. 

If you would like further information on working at height safely, please get in touch via the contacts page. If you are considering a career in rope access or are looking for a recommended training provider based in Blackpool, feel free to reach out.

Lytham St Annes Wedding.

Good morning, A few images from a recent wedding. 

Congratulations Maia and Martin. 

Photography tool - image stitching.

Good morning, i hope that you are well. 

Today i'd like to share a quick thought on how you can use image stitching to over come problems.

I appreciate that this is nothing new, but with some fore-thought it can become a powerful tool in your arsenal. 

I was commissioned to shoot an office building. The front had no access due to very limited space and parked cars in my way. Even with the lens at 24mm it was simply impossible to fit the building into frame. So stitching is the only way forward. 

The above image was created with around 25 images. 

View fullsize

Here you can see the images used, 

the camera was mounted on a tripod and i systematically panned left to right making sure to over lap alot. The building took 3 passes.

Always best to have more frames than needed, than have pieces missing down the line. 

With each up date of Photoshop CC i have noticed that it is becoming much better at stitching. 

In the past it would have not been able to do this, and for these cases i use Autopano Giga 3.0 stitching software, but photoshop managed ok with this. 

Now by using a tilt shift lens, and/or a parallax tripod head, your job in post will be so much easier, but as i do not own either of these i had to make do. The majority of my time was spent straightening the stitched image. 

As with all panos, shoot in manual, turn white balance off auto so all the images remain consistent. 

I hope that this helps, and when you are trying to shoot a subject larger than your frame, that you remember this technique. 

Thanks

Lee

Scene lighting technique.

View fullsize

Nikon D800 f7.1 1/8th ISO100

Good morning, 

Id like to share with you a lighting technique that you can use to light a scene, even when working on your own. 

The above image consists of 21 images, all shot and lit by myself, and i am even in the image, to add some interest. 

I will show you, how i take multiple images, all lit with off camera flash, and then the process i take in photoshop.

Here you can see me using an off camera flash head on a pole, with the trigger in my right hand firing off the flash and camera shutter remotely. 

View fullsize

Click on image to enlarge.

The final image is composed of 21 frames. 

The camera was mounted on a tripod. White balance taken off auto, manual settings, and with me using back button focusing on the camera, i know when i press the remote, the camera will not try and focus, making all the images consistent. 

Quick tip, 

Like when making panos, my first image is a large image of me, so i can find the set easily in bridge. 

Also this is a great way to make sure that the flash and camera shutter both fire correctly. 

As when using pocket wizards as the remote, the flash PW has to be set to a channel higher and some times i forget this, and so it is always a good idea to test everything before getting started and walking far into the scene. 

Using bridge i select all the images that i want to use, and from here you can easily load them into photoshop as a single document with 21 layers. 

Now turn off all layers, and starting from the bottom layer i work my way up through the stack, turning on, one layer at a time, changing the blend mode to Lighten. 

With the blend mode on lighten, the flash light will show. 

Also you will see indicated in this image the hot spot of the flash is in the image. This is easy to mask out. Also i remain in the image by some strange artefacts, just simply mask these out. 

After some cleaning and tweaking here is the before and after image.

The before being unlit. 

It is a subtle difference, but one i find takes your images to that next level. 

If you have any questions, feel free to comment and i hope to help. 

Thanks

Lee

Day shift on the ropes.

Fuji X-T1 F4 1/125 ISO1600

A few images taken from a recent trip offshore on the Talisman Auk platform in the North sea. 

Fuji X-T1 F7.1 1/125 ISO1600

Fuji XT-1 F5.0 1/125 ISO1600

Fuji X-T1  F1.8 1/125 ISO1600

Fuji X-T1 F1.8 ISO1600

Fuji X-T1  F1.4 1/125 ISO1600

Talisman Auk north sea oil rig - part 2.

Fuji film X-T1 f4 1/180 ISO400

Morning, 

Following last weeks post, i thought id share a couple more images from my time on the Talisman AUK oil and gas rig in the north sea. 

Fuji film X-T1 f8 1/180 ISO200

Drilling rig in the distance.

Fuji film X-T1 f10 1/80 ISO1000

Fuji film X-T1 f2 1/80 ISO1000

Electrical inspection of the fire and gas system.

Fuji film X-T1 f2 1/80 ISO1000

Fuji film X-T1 f2.8 1/125 ISO1250

Fuji film X-T1 f3.2 1/30 ISO1250

Fuji film X-T1 f2.8 1/125 ISO1250

If you have enjoyed these oil and gas industry images,

Please feel free to share these posts on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden @ www.leeramsden.com

Many Thanks

Talisman 40 year old north sea oil rig - Auk

Talisman Auk Platform – Inside a 40-Year-Old North Sea Oil Rig

The Auk Oilfield sits 249 kilometres east-southeast of Aberdeen in the UK sector of the North Sea, in 182 metres of water. Originally operated by Shell UK in partnership with ESSO, the field was acquired by Talisman Energy in 2006. Production first started in December 1975 from the Auk 'A' platform — a steel eight-legged jacket designed by Shell and constructed at Methil in Fife, Scotland. The jacket weighs 3,414 tonnes and supports a topside weight of around 8,000 tonnes.

Drawing courtesy of google images

By the time these photographs were taken, the platform was approaching its 40th year of operation. That history shows in the structure — worn surfaces, layered pipework, and accommodation that belongs to a different era of North Sea development.

Getting There

Access was by helicopter from Aberdeen, departing from the Bristow terminal. The flight out gives you the first sense of scale — a small steel structure surrounded by open water, then suddenly filling the window as you come in to land.

Our transport to the platform, ready for action. 

Working Offshore — Permit to Work

Photography offshore is tightly controlled for good reason. Every task requires a permit to work, and any work near potential ignition sources requires gas testing with a calibrated detector. That process keeps everyone safe and keeps the operation running — it also means any images taken are genuinely earned rather than snapped casually.

Rope Access Operations

Several of the images show IRATA-trained rope access technicians working at height — climbing to work fronts, carrying out electrical inspections, and accessing areas of the platform that would otherwise require scaffolding. The SKN Electrical team on this rotation were using rope access throughout, keeping the work efficient and the footprint small.

Platform Life

The accommodation on a 40-year-old platform reflects its age — functional, compact, and lived-in. Between shifts, the crew room and bunks are the reset point before another 12-hour day. There's a particular kind of quiet offshore that doesn't exist anywhere else.

One final note on the name: the Auk field is named after the auk family of seabirds. There's a long-standing story that the field was originally going to be called A UK — as the first British oilfield — until someone pointed out that the sixth field in the sequence would be called F UK. Shell rapidly moved to a seabird naming policy. Their sixth UK oilfield is called Fulmar.

For more photography from offshore oil and gas projects, visit the Oil & Gas portfolio.

Off shift movie time. 

40 year old ensuite rooms. 

Bunks fit for a king.

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

Thanks, Lee

Working in the oil and gas industry - Travel.

Fuji film X-T1  f8 1/80 ISO200

Morning, 

I thought that it has been awhile since i have brought this blog offshore with me, and so today i am posting some pictures of the largest part of working away... The travel. 

Next week's post is from the North sea oil platform. 

I hope that you enjoy.

Fuji film X-T1  f4.5 1/80 ISO200

Train one of four.

Fuji film X-T1  f3.2 1/125 ISO400

My largest company expense is travel.

Each year the prices go up, and the service goes down....

Fuji film X-T1  f8 1/60 ISO200

Train two pulling into the station. 

Fuji film X-T1  f9 1/30 ISO200

Train number three

Fuji film X-T1  f18 1/15 ISO200

Unknown back packers. All aboard train four. 

Fuji film X-T1  f9 1/30 ISO200

Crossing the forth rail bridge. 

Fuji film X-T1  f7.1 1/125 ISO200

Trying to use my time productively and edit some wedding images. 

Fuji film X-T1  f4 1/125 ISO320

Arrived Aberdeen station. 

Fuji film X-T1  f4.5 1/125 ISO320

Aberdeen has the most expensive taxis in all of Europe. Where you can use the Jet bus, it is cheaper. 

Fuji film X-T1  f3.2 1/125 ISO800

They said that the hotel is close to the airport.... they are not wrong. 

Fuji film X-T1  f3.2 1/60 ISO500

Finally - 8 hours later, 4 trains and a bus i can get some sleep. 

And to be honest this is an easy journey. I spent 4 years where i had a train, 5 hours international flight, taxi and then a boat to get to the platform. 

Image courtesy google images

Please check next weeks post where i will display some images taken from the above platform.

Please feel free to share this post on your social media, giving credit to the photographer Lee Ramsden www.leeramsden.com

Thanks  

Grey squirrel

An image of a grey squirrel.

Fuji film X-T1  F1.4 1/1000 ISO200

The squirrels at Oakmere park in Potters bars are remarkably tame. This was taken on my fuji using a 35mm lens. The squirrel was only a few feet away from me.  

Thanks