I recently completed my second day photographing the ground crews at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, in the cold and the snow. It was almost like watching a ballet and a swarm of insects at the same time. Before the plane lands the concourse on the ground is vacant, not a person in sight but the minute the wheels touch the ground it's another story. "Tugs" pulling baggage carts, pulling the equipment to fuel the planes from the underground fuel storage, trucks with the food for the correct number of passengers, the cleaning crew and the truck to empty the toilets. The external heating and air conditioning is hooked up. Even the pilot exits the plane to visually examine the craft for damage before the next flight.
The plane is cleaned, fueled, the baggage that has to come off the plane at this stop comes off. The baggage going on the plane is x-rayed by the TSA, any suspicious content and the bag is opened and examined and then it is loaded for the next destinations. The baggage that came off is on the carrousel for the passengers to pick up within minutes. It takes 3 people signaling each other and the pilot to guide the plane away from the concourse and another "tug" to push it into the area where the jet engines are started and the plane heads for deicing and then for the runway. All usually in less than 30 minutes. All of this in the snow, the wind and today a wind chill of 6. A minute later the ground around the concourse is vacant again until the next plane arrives.
It all has the look of a group of insects scurrying when a piece of food hits the ground but if you really see, as I did, it's really a ballet. With the grace of dancers everyone has a job and they all move as if synchronized.
One of the things I love about what I do as a commercial photographer is that I have the opportunities to see and work with people like the ground crew at CLE. In the cold, the wind and the snow these were a great bunch of people to work with. One big thing I learned. Like many I've watched my checked luggage on the belt behind the ticket counter vanish through the rubber strips and wondered if I'd ever see it again. Now I've seen behind those rubber strips and I've seen people that really care, that work to make sure your bag gets where it's supposed to go. I've seen the work and the coordination that goes into making sure it does.
I learned that the men and women, and there are many women on these ground crews, they are all like one big family. They're a team that makes it all work and if it wasn't a team it wouldn't.
And for the airline security people, I had to be cleared through the FBI days before the photo shoot. I had a constant authorized airline official that escorted me at all times. I was not permitted out of his sight. My escort had documents that authorized my being there for the security people and I had to show ID every time I entered or re-entered the airport grounds.
Despite my being in the cold, the wind and the snow this was a great experience. I love being a commercial photographer and I thank God for giving me the talent to do it.
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