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Documentation for Dreams of a Tree |
This was a very "iffy" project from the beginning. I
had watched the progress at the northeast block at
Ninth and Trinity Streets in downtown Austin, Texas,
for weeks as crews removed the old house, then dug,
bulldozed, and flattened the earth around the live oak
tree. The tree movers wrapped the root ball in plastic
wrap and drove steel pipes underneath to provide a
lifting platform. Finally the hydraulic jacks were
put in place, only the steel I-beams bent from the
weight when they attempted to lift the tree. (Notice
the smaller beams in the third image in the video
and the much larges ones thereon; also seen in the
photos.) Without confidence about a moving date, I made a "Plan B" in case this one would be pushed to my second project. On Friday, February 9, 2007, I spent the afternoon photographing progress and mostly waiting. The trailer had arrived, and crews had dug a hole in the backyard at the First Baptist Church across the street. At dawn Saturday, the City of Austin electric crews removed the power lines on Neches Street. Things got exciting when they could not get enough traction to move the rig up the slight grade, not even |
with a large forklift and loader in series. Finally,
a large wrecker was called. (See the video.) By dusk
Saturday, the tree had been moved less than 50 feet.
The talk was that continuance was a week away. The
onlookers and media were disappointed. The electric company
reinstalled the power lines. I felt that my "Plan B" was almost
assured. But Sunday morning they lifted the tree from the trailer enough to reposition the trailer to balance the weight of the load. And Sunday afternoon saw great progress as church members watched. Except for a brick sign (which needed to be bulldozed anyway), the move was successful. The 350,000-pound new member of the church had arrived by dusk and drizzle. I was pleased that my pictures turned out as well as they did, especially without a tripod. I returned Monday to document the finishing stages and again Tuesday morning to find the workers cleaning up the site. My video includes 38 still images and 4 video segments from the 233 stills and 33 videos I shot. Ten years ago I recorded a mockingbird singing; this video is the public debut of that recording. |