2003 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF EXPLOSIVES
ENGINEERS PHOTO AWARDS

Photographic winners were recently announced at the 2003 International Society of Explosive Engineers Convention in Nashville, Tennessee USA, and Protec Documentation Services has been recognized with first-place honors in two categories (Protec is a sponsor of implosionworld.com).

The firm's entry Ohio Turnpike Bridge, which features the demolition of an 1,800-foot long span in Ohio USA, garnered top prize in the Individual Blast Photo category. Protec was also awarded first-place in the Field Blasters, Series of Photos category for the entry A Long Day in Florida, which featured explosives experts performing the emergency demolition of a partially-collapsed bridge in Clearwater, Florida USA.

In other categories: Marylin King was awarded first prize in Blasting, Series of Photos for her entry Blasting in the West, featuring a blast from Antelope Coal in Powder River Basin, Wyoming USA. Daryl Fieber won the Blast, Construction & Mining category with Highway 16, featuring rock trimming along a dangerous curve of highway in Terrance, British Columbia, Canada. And Rick Alfano won Best of Show with Vet's Explosives Inc., which featured a quarry blast in Connecticut USA.

Photographic winners have been announced at the 2002 International Society of Explosive Engineers Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada USA, and Protec Documentation Services has been recognized with first-place honors in two categories (Protec is a sponsor of implosionworld.com).

The firm's entry Segmented Span, which features an 800-foot section of bridge in Hennepin, Illinois being scuttled over a navigable waterway, garnered top prize in the Individual Blast Photo category. Protec was also awarded first-place in the Individual Blaster Photo category for the entry Packin' Stacks, which featured Eric and Lisa Kelly of Advanced Explosive Demolition loading dynamite on a multiple-smokestack project in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

In other award categories, photographers Corry Goumans and Peter Palm took first-place in the Blasters: Series of Photos category for their entry The Boys of Summer II / Siwash Rock, Tom Sullivan was recognized in the Blasting: Series of Photos category for Keyspan Gas Holders, and Mike Shields won in the Blasting Art category with an intricate line drawing titled Abandoned Explosives- the Friction Test.

Protec Documentation Services was recently awarded first-place in three major photographic categories, including the prestigious Best of Show, at the 2001 International Society of Explosive Engineers Convention in Orlando, Florida USA. This marks the second consecutive year that Protec has received the Best of Show distinction.

The Mt. Laurel, New Jersey-based firm received the Society's top honor for their photograph titled Let Us Pray, which featured two 26-story public housing towers collapsing towards an historic 1800's-era church. Protec was also awarded first-place in the Blasting: Series of Photos category with the entry Impressively Stacked, a four-frame series that captured the unique collapse of a 715-foot concrete smokestack in Wales, UK (click here for more on the project).

A third first-place award, this in the Best Blasting Art category, was presented to Protec's team of Earl Gardner and Brent Blanchard for their entry Here's To The Rack-Bar. The interactive display allowed convention delegates to 'push the plunger' on an old rack-bar blasting machine, which then illuminated flash points on a photograph of a bridge demolition.

In other award categories, Zach Green of Southeast Missouri Stone Company was awarded first place in the Blasting-Individual Photo category for the entry Blasting at Primary Crusher, which showcased a large quarry shot located less than 80 feet from the plant's crusher. And Corry Goumans of Pacific Blasting took first place in the Best Driller- Series of Photos category with his entry Boys of Summer, featuring several drillers performing scaling operations on an open face above the Alaska Military Highway.