Smith Island Aggregate Facility – Granite

I had the opportunity to work with Granite Construction to film and photograph their Smith Island Facility in Everett, Washington. Located on the Snohomish River, this facility serves the greater Everett market, leveraging its strategic location to barge in aggregate materials. It’s a hub of industrial activity and innovation, and I was excited to bring its story to life through photography.

Granite’s Smith Island Facility isn’t just another materials plant – it’s a cornerstone for regional infrastructure projects. For example, it supplied over 1,500 tons of hot mix asphalt for the Edgewater Creek Bridge replacement project in Everett. It’s also producing almost 200,000 tons of asphalt and recycling 50,000 tons of reclaimed asphalt pavement for the I-405 to SR 527 Corridor Project in Bothell. These numbers highlight the facility’s capacity to support large-scale, impactful projects.

My assignment wasn’t just to document the facility itself but also to capture the human side of the operation. Granite wanted a mix of candid and posed shots, showing employees in action. These moments reflect the culture and teamwork that power the facility’s success.

Another key element was the barge unloading process. It’s not every day you get to film something as logistically intricate as transporting aggregate by river. The scale of the equipment and the coordination required were incredible to witness.