Press Releases

Bridges - Quick Tour

by Don Bain

Of course there are the world famous bridges: Lee Nelson shot the Golden Gate by day and Landis Bennett by night, Jook Leung did the Brooklyn Bridge, Andrew Nemeth the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and Dean Weaver the two historic bridges over the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, Scotland. Jacques Joffre shot the new highest bridge in the world (still under construction), the Millau Viaduct near Aveyron, France, higher than the Eiffel tower is tall.

The Bridge of Sighs is represented, but not the original one in Venice - Karl Harrison shows us its replica over a street in Oxford, UK. But Luca Vascon shows us the real Venice "in front of my window". Benoit Pepermans produced a beautiful night shot of the Pont Neuf ("new bridge" completed in 1604) over the Seine in Paris.

There are historic bridges. Edward Fink captured the bridge in Concord, Massachusetts, where the American Revolution began with the "shot heard 'round the world". Gerard Kuster shows us not only the "bridge too far" at Arnhem on the Rhine, but British soldiers commemorating the 60th anniversary of the battle.

Some bridges were especially popular. John Blake shot the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado from the viewpoint, while Shawn Steigner shot from the middle of the bridge itself (you can look straight down). Both Alex Makienko and Robert Agnel chose the five-span Pakenham Stone Bridge in Ontario, Canada. No less than three photographers documented the Richmond Bridge in Tasmania, Australia's oldest (1823).

Waleed Nassar found that, for security reasons, photographing bridges is illegal in Egypt, so he documented his taxi ride across the 6th October Bridge in Cairo. Kat Kalamaras filmed photographer Landis Bennett at work, setting up and shooting a panorama.

Tito Dupret shows us an amazing tangle of modern bridges in Shangahi, China, but Barthelemy Izoard matches it with industrial revolution bridges over the canals in Manchester, UK. Peter Braatz gives us a vertiginous view of a bridge at a giant coal-fired power plant in Wesphalia, Germany. The old conveyor-belt bridges on Cannery Row in Monterey, California were depicted by Brooks Leffler.

Romauld Vareuse on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean shows a bridge where the road loops over itself - including the same car nine times. Katufumi Nagmine gives us a very scary looking pedestrian suspension bridge in Nara, Japan. Scott Rowed may have been risking his life to get the railroad bridge over the Kicking Horse River in the Canadian Rockies. Ray Brousssard shows a bridge in New Orleans sandbagged in preparation for a hurricane.

Railroad bridges were popular. David Spencer captured the high stone viaduct at Knaresborough, Yorkshire, UK. Guillaume Fulchiron shot a viaduct in Ardèche, France, with a steam train crossing over it. Gabi Haindl made a striking image of the Himbächel Viaduct, Odenwald, Germany. Terry Kelly shows a timber railway trestle in Ballarat, Australia. Charles Carstensen found a fragment of an historic railroad bridge at Curecanti in Colorado with an historic train still on it.

Dramatic modern bridges abound, such as the Toyota Bridge in Toyota City, Japan, photographed by Ian Orgias, and the cable-stay arch bridge in Putrajaya, Malaysia, shown by Jenhor Siow. George Kountouris made a striking image of the Rio-Antirio bridge in Peloponnese, Greece. In Jan van der Woning's panorama the Zeeland Bridge seems to go on forever in the flat terrain of the Netherlands.

Some bridges are for pedestrians only. Grant Hermanson depicts the Minneapolis skyway system of bridges between buildings that keeps pedestrians safe from the Minnesota winter cold. Nick Crossland documented the "cobweb bridge" in Sheffield, UK, a modern pedestrian bridge suspended under a viaduct. Birger Borgwardt shows an old railway bridge in Jutland, Denmark, converted for bikes and pedestrians and William B. Chase shows the bridge of Flowers at Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, converted from railroad to public gardens.

Two photographers chose ship's bridges: Ken Stuart shot the Queen Mary's bridge in Long Beach, California, and Walker Young shot the bridge of a ship in Taichung, Taiwan. Peter McCready went a step further with a simulated ship's bridge used for training - "virtual reality within virtual reality".

Some of the bridges depicted here are very modest. Tudor Jenkins gives us a view of a simple wooden plank bridge in a quiet garden in Gloucestershire, UK. Bernhard Vogl found a charming old stone bridge in the mountains of Austria. Most minimal of all is the mysterious little bridge with "no name, no history, no use and no future" that Markus Altendorff passes every day on his way to work in Bavaria, Germany.

There are also natural bridges. Bostjan Burger shows an awesome limestone bridge in Slovenia, Giorgio Marchetto found one near Verona, Italy, and Pat Rooney shares one found in Hawai'i.

Tom Striewisch shows us an unfortunate soul sleeping under a bridge in Essen, Germany. Mickael Therer chose a bridge in Luxembourg famous for suicide jumpers (be sure to look up in his panorama).

Peter Nyfeler presents the spare and graceful Salginatobel Bridge in Switzerland. Hans Hagen chose a superb old stone bridge in Telemark, Norway. Matthias Taugwalder captured a beautiful scene of sunset on the Matterhorn from the Kirchbrücke in Zermatt, Switzerland.

And finally, Bruce Hemming tracked down the very bridge where Winnie the Pooh and Christoper Robin invented the game "Pooh Sticks", in Sussex, UK.