Scott Ramsey Photography & Videography | UK Visual Storyteller

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UK Highways Maintenance Photographer - Dartford Crossing Kent Commercial Photography Shoot

Highways Maintenance Photographer UK - Highways maintenance staff, use a piece of equipment to repair the motorway road surface on the M25 at the Dartford Crossing near Kent, UK.
Photo © Scott Ramsey UK Commercial Photographer www.scottramsey.co.uk

Working as a professional commercial photographer in the UK, I often find myself in unusual locations. It's all part of the job, but the night I spent photographing a Highways Maintenance vehicle on a deserted Dartford Crossing Bridge near Kent, I'll remember for some time.

This particular commercial photography assignment was for one of my Highways And Infrastructure Services clients based here in the UK. They had just received a fabulous new piece of equipment which would soon be contracted out to local authorities and airport authorities via their highway services department, and it needed to be photographed. Fitted to a specialist truck, and operated by a two-person team the machine uses high-pressure water jets to remove rubber deposits from road surfaces and runways. And where else better to put it to the test and for me to photograph it in action, than on one of the busiest road routes in Britain, The Dartford Crossing. Take a look at these Vintage Photographs Showing The Infamous Dartford Crossing Being Built Over The Decades.

So after a lot of planning and several long meetings, finally consent was given to close the crossing for one night only.

It's an odd feeling stood in lane two of a deserted M25 road, high above the River Thames near Kent on a freezing night taking photographs. Over 160,000 vehicles cross the Dartford Crossing every day, but the night of this photoshoot, I had the entire motorway to myself. It was a great photography shoot, and my client was delighted with the final photographs, as was I. The view across the River Thames at night is magnificent. I just wish I'd taken a selfie at the time, as it was definitely one of the more unusual commercial photography assignments I've been hired to cover.