Photographer/Submitter: Robert Umenhofer
Consigli Construction Co., Milford, Mass.

Shooting at Parcel H at the Boston-area Cambridge Crossing project for Consigli, Umenhofer noticed this welder “joining two remarkably thick steel columns,” the photographer says. “He first heated the two sections with a torch to remove any moisture content from the night before. Then he slowly began applying layers of weld.” Umenhofer says it’s “tricky” to shoot welders because looking directly at the weld could damage vision. “You have to focus before he welds, compose and then close your eyes and wait for the flash and shoot blind,” he says. “It usually takes many shots to get it right.”

The 14-story, 180-ft-tall building, which is scheduled for completion in October, will house Sanofi, Massachusetts’ largest life-science employer. Consigli says early sitework was critical to the overall project, requiring deep foundations and support of excavation 35 ft below the existing grade.

Parcel H is part of a larger 43-acre mixed-use urban development straddling Cambridge and Boston.