Native photographer paperwork Ballston development crew throughout months of hard-won progress

A decent-knit development crew’s months of labor and progress in Ballston are the topic of an online photo album by a neighborhood photographer.

Since the spring, David Moss has captured dozens of scenes conveying the teamwork and bodily feats of development staff on the UrbA section II redevelopment website subsequent to Harris Teeter, the place a 197-unit condominium constructing is getting constructed at 600 N. Glebe Road.

Moss first seen the crew from Hyde Park Condominiums’ courtyard in April. The development website’s distinctive figures, textures and lighting all appealed to the longtime photographer. But it was the crew of about 15 staff who captivated him most.

“Being somebody looking from the outside, seeing what, at first, looked like controlled chaos, I then realized that everybody knows where to go … the teamwork is amazing,” Moss mentioned. “Spying on them from afar, there’s a camaraderie, a real teamwork.”

His images seize the arduous work and heavy metallic of a development website as staff haul wooden planks and scaffolding, function the gritty panorama’s heavy equipment, and don matching arduous hats and reflective vests to work as a coordinated crew.

“It’s very skilled, dangerous, hot and sweaty work, but they just do what has to be done,” he mentioned. “These are almost all Latino immigrants, who some people would like locked up and expelled. But apparently we don’t mind them doing our dirty work.”

Especially throughout a time of surging immigration enforcement throughout the nation and in Arlington, Moss hopes his work helps others see the humanity in migrant communities, as he has with the crew.

“We’re all just people trying to get through life, and just because you came from another place doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to exist or to thrive,” Moss mentioned. “We shouldn’t be demonizing people, and we shouldn’t be treating people cruelly.”

Over time, the photographer mentioned his frequent visits fostered an actual “human connection” between him and the crew.

Nowadays when he arrives, the employees meet him with waves, thumbs-ups or poses — a few of that are captured in his portfolio.

“I chatted with one guy and I showed him on the phone, I said, here,” Moss mentioned. “He’s like, ‘Oh, that’s my uncle,’ and ‘oh, that’s my brother,’ so I think they were pleased.”

One day, the photographer plans to take a few of the staff to lunch. Until then, he’ll proceed to point out as much as the location along with his Canon DSLR.

Phase II of the UrbA venture is slated to wrap up in May 2027.