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    Phil Weller
    Seattle Local 77

    Looking up at his symmetrical crewmates on an X-bracing 50 feet in the air last spring, journeyman lineman Phil Weller knew he had to capture the moment. For the Chelan County PUD crew, represented by Seattle-based Local 77, it was a routine day of maintenance on transmission lines in north-central Washington state. Weller said he doesn’t take a lot of pictures but was inspired that morning to pull out his iPhone 14. “It’s so awesome to be up there,” he said. “But when you do this every day, sometimes you forget how cool it is.”

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    Robert Burroughs
    Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245

    Tree-trimming foreman Robert Burroughs used a Samsung Galaxy S22 to capture his friend and climber Chris Watson on a spectacular winter morning in Northern California in early 2022. Members of Vacaville, Calif., Local 1245 working for a PG&E contractor, both men made a hobby of taking pictures on the job, images that became priceless to Burroughs when Watson was killed in a car accident that August. “We worked 10-hour days together for a year and a half and really got to know each other,” he said. “We liked taking photos of particular moments. This was just another day — it was early and cold, and we were still having a really good time.”  

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    Vance Voegeli
    Sioux Falls, S.D., Local 426

    Journeyman lineman Vance Voegeli enjoys taking pictures of his co-workers at Brookings Municipal Utilities in eastern South Dakota, members of Sioux Falls Local 426. Last April 11, their maintenance work on power lines against a stunning blue sky made for the perfect backdrop. Using his iPhone 13, Vance captured fellow journeyman Lance Dickey in the bucket, energizing the underground line after checking and tightening nuts and other hardware that had been vulnerable to storm damage. Between the opportunities presented by his bird’s-eye-view work and especially by his young family, Voegeli takes lots of photos, saying, “I just like the memories.”

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    Michael Thomas
    Hamilton, Ohio, Local 648

    Michael Thomas is an electrician in Hamilton, Ohio, where he helps maintain the city’s fiber optic network. He also loves photography, and every morning, before the sun rises, he sets out to take pictures of the cityscapes around town. Kyle Haight is also a member of Local 648, where he works in the electrical production group. “Taking pictures of welding is hard because the light drowns out everything else,” he said. “Normally I leave my camera on my desk so it isn’t in the car, and I'm usually too busy to pick it up.” But on this day, he saw Haight welding the concrete reinforcing cage for a duct bank that would be part of a road crossing for a new substation, picked up his camera and shot. 

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    Carla Stricklin
    Terre Haute, Ind., Local 725

    Carla Stricklin used a Google Pixel 7 to take this picture of Local 725 apprentice Myles Woodard while the two were working at the Fairbanks Solar Project in Sullivan County, Ind. Woodard is spooling up rope after a wire pull. “A lot of kids interested in electrical work don’t picture themselves standing in the mud and getting dirty,” said Stricklin, a journeyman wirewoman since 2013. “This is what they need to see. We spent six months in the trenches putting the [medium-voltage wire] underground for the solar farm, and I loved it.” Stricklin said she wanted to recognize Woodard, a stellar apprentice, and the other workers in her group of eight, which also consisted of union brothers from the Operating Engineers. “We were in a world of our own out there,” she said. “Just a bunch of really good guys and it seemed like we were having more fun than working. But at the same time, we finished it in six months. We were nine months ahead of schedule.” 

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    Ryan Caulfield
    Ventura, Calif., Local 952

    Ryan Caulfield and fellow Local 952 member David Soo Hoo – who is working in the bucket – are employed by Taft Electric, where they specialize in repairing and replacing street lights and street cameras. Most of their work is at night, when it is less disruptive to traffic. Caulfield shot this picture at daybreak at an intersection just off a busy freeway in Ventura, Calif. He used an iPhone that he keeps in his safety vest. “The sun started coming up, and I thought it would be a great picture,” he said. “It just happened to come out this way.” 

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    Kendel Castner
    Kennewick, Wash., Local 112

    Kendel Castner has spent much of his apprenticeship working at the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Lexington, Ore., which opened in September 2023 and is the first facility in the United States to combine solar and wind energy along with battery storage. He took this photo with an iPhone 11. The blue sky and seemingly endless solar panels capture the vast size of the facility, which is approximately 1,600 acres. “It was just one of the most beautiful sights you could see,” Castner said. “You felt like you could see forever. It was awesome.” 

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    Kevin Coughlin
    Patchogue, N.Y., Local 2230

    Patchogue, N.Y., Local 2230 represents about 300 workers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. It’s the home of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, used by scientists to repeatedly recreate a miniature version – fully controlled – of what they believe the universe was like in the moments following the Big Bang. Kevin Coughlin had been working for the New York governor’s office when he heard about a Local 2230-represented photographer job opening at Brookhaven after the previous one retired. “It’s always been an IBEW position,” he said. In this photo, taken last October with a Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera through a 70mm lens, one of Coughlin’s fellow Local 2230 members, Patrick O'Shea, is working in a tunnel that houses the collider, carefully sanding one of its many magnets. 

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    Chris Colson
    Washington, D.C., Local 26

    It was a misty night in November 2019, and Washington, D.C., Local 26 member Chris Colson, working for IBEW signatory contractor Dynalectric, was on a routine tool run during construction of a data center in Ashburn, Va. A yellow-vested safety worker silhouetted against the monochromatic background of the building’s rooftop was all the motivation Colson needed to snap a quick picture. “I’m a dedicated amateur photographer,” Colson said, adding that he takes lots of photos on the go using his work and personal smartphones. “I’m always driving my wife crazy looking for picture opportunities. I look at things as pictures.”

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    Paul Salgado
    Diamond Bar, Calif., Local 47

    Last March, Diamond Bar, Calif., Local 47 member Paul Salgado was in the Sacramento area with several of his fellow members who were “tasked with changing out equipment and restoring power” to nearby customers following a storm, he said. Something about this Local 47 apprentice at work caught Salgado’s attention: the full-body personal protective equipment, the bright yellow standing out against the relative darkness of the trees in the background. He pulled out his work-supplied Sony A6400 and captured the moment. “I’m a journeyman lineman by trade,” said Salgado, a Navy veteran who has been a Local 47 member since 2013. “About two years ago, I moved into business development and marketing” for IBEW signatory contractor Sturgeon Electric, serving as a field media adviser and podcast producer. Besides natural talent, what helps him take such effective photos? “I picked up a lot watching YouTube,” he said with a laugh.

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    Jennifer Emery
    Los Angeles Local 11

    Jennifer Emery, a photographer for the Los Angeles Police Department and member of Local 11, is normally called on to photograph crime scenes, but in this case she captured Hollywood Local 45 member and Police Surveillance Specialist Andrew Yokum hard at work as part of a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the LAPD crime lab. Yokum is breaking down and analyzing a cellphone, demonstrating just a small portion of the array of technical skills in the LAPD Electronics Unit, which is made up entirely of civilian personnel. “The photo shows how diverse and advanced the jobs and skill sets are of IBEW members,” Emery said. 

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