Digging

by Hintlian Michael, Frederick Salvucci (Foreword)

Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Project, The Big Dig, began as a brilliant feat of engineering outlined on the back of an envelope by Frederick Salvucci, Governor Dukakis's secretary of transportation. Today, all but complete, it has transformed the face of Boston. Often lost in the drama of engineering, politics, and finance that gave birth to the project are the millions of hours of labor that it took to perform what amounted to open-heart surgery on a living, breathing city.Digging is a celebration of the men and women who dug the Dig -- not the politicians or businesspeople, but the sandhogs, laborers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, ironworkers, piledrivers, surveyors, and operating engineers who sweated and bled together underground for over ten years. In 1997 documentary photographer Michael Hintlian had an instinct to begin visiting job sites and recording the work. Time and again, he was thrown off a site, only to move two blocks down the street and start shooting again. Eventually, workers and contractors alike developed a grudging respect for his perseverance and sense of purpose. Seven years in the making, Digging is an eloquent tribute not only to Boston's working men and women but to laborers everywhere. Hintlian's images, shot exclusively in black-and-white, are graphic, dramatic, and ultimately inspiring.The foreword is by Frederick Salvucci, the son of a union bricklayer, who fathered the project and remains its most eloquent spokesman.

Genres: Photography

128 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Alix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful documentary photography book. The pictures tell the story of a great transformation in Boston's urban landscape. It's a city I love, and these photographs offered me a glimpse into its past, a face of Boston I hadn't seen. A relatively brief time in its history (if seven years is a short time), as the construction works are now long done, leaving Boston unrecognizable and so much more beautiful.
I was very lucky to attend Michael Hintlian's workshop at the New England School of Photography and hear the stories behind this book first-hand. It gave me a whole new perspective on photography and how to approach my own work. For that I am forever thankful. Anyone interested in documentary work and Boston's history will surely love this book.