My first shot was taken from Fort Baker in Sausalito (Marin County). Taken in the afternoon from a point north of the bridge facing westward, you don't get the brilliant red colour of the bridge. However, the landmasses on either side give you an inkling of the scale of the structure–it's impressive. Still, without the distinctive colour, you may not even realize it's the Golden Gate Bridge.
I thought an improvement might involve capturing a sense of movement. People move over the bridge in cars and on foot, water moves past the bridge into and out of the bay, and wind moves, often intensely, over the span. In fact, the typical water and wind conditions around bridge make for some of the trickiest and most dangerous sailing in the country.
A few days after the first shot was captured, on an unseasonably warm January day, I had the opportunity to sail out under the bridge on a 36' keelboat. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get a different perspective on the bridge.
This final shot is taken from the western side of the bridge facing almost north-northeast.
In Ken Rockwell's piece "How to Make Great Photographs," he first makes a case for patience. I had been a bit anxious about getting the perfect shot, resulting in mashing the shutter button constantly. I realized that I was focused on the repetition of the action rather than the visual composition. Rockwell writes, "You are out in, and at the whim of, nature..." which was more true than when I was on land. I realized that I had to let the shot come to me, or more accurately, let nature (and the boat) bring me to the shot.
I think the results speak for themselves. I feel that the image conveys motion in many ways: by spanning most of the image from one corner to the other, by the water which is always in motion, and implied by the inevitable traffic topside on the bridge. Compositionally, the bridge is framed mostly by air and water, which is hard to obtain from land. The natural sun lighting brings out the unique red paint of the bridge; if you've ever seen the Golden Gate Bridge before, you are certain what you are looking at now.
I did have some shots that had parts of the boat's rigging in the frame, which would definitely tell you where the shot was taken from and give you a specific perspective. However, I found that the rigging distracted the audience from the magnitude of the subject.
Emotionally, I believe this picture speaks to movement, travel, and ultimately destination. It also speaks to the force of human engineering and our place in nature: the sky is wide open, but cleaved in two by this tremendous structure. While we often consider human engineering to exist at the expense of nature, perhaps this is a case of a fabrication that enhances the beauty of its surroundings.
1 comment:
My first shot was taken from Fort Baker in Sausalito (Marin County). Taken in the afternoon from a point north of the bridge facing westward, you don't get the brilliant red colour of the bridge. However, the landmasses on either side give you an inkling of the scale of the structure–it's impressive. Still, without the distinctive colour, you may not even realize it's the Golden Gate Bridge.
I thought an improvement might involve capturing a sense of movement. People move over the bridge in cars and on foot, water moves past the bridge into and out of the bay, and wind moves, often intensely, over the span. In fact, the typical water and wind conditions around bridge make for some of the trickiest and most dangerous sailing in the country.
A few days after the first shot was captured, on an unseasonably warm January day, I had the opportunity to sail out under the bridge on a 36' keelboat. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get a different perspective on the bridge.
This final shot is taken from the western side of the bridge facing almost north-northeast.
In Ken Rockwell's piece "How to Make Great Photographs," he first makes a case for patience. I had been a bit anxious about getting the perfect shot, resulting in mashing the shutter button constantly. I realized that I was focused on the repetition of the action rather than the visual composition. Rockwell writes, "You are out in, and at the whim of, nature..." which was more true than when I was on land. I realized that I had to let the shot come to me, or more accurately, let nature (and the boat) bring me to the shot.
I think the results speak for themselves. I feel that the image conveys motion in many ways: by spanning most of the image from one corner to the other, by the water which is always in motion, and implied by the inevitable traffic topside on the bridge. Compositionally, the bridge is framed mostly by air and water, which is hard to obtain from land. The natural sun lighting brings out the unique red paint of the bridge; if you've ever seen the Golden Gate Bridge before, you are certain what you are looking at now.
I did have some shots that had parts of the boat's rigging in the frame, which would definitely tell you where the shot was taken from and give you a specific perspective. However, I found that the rigging distracted the audience from the magnitude of the subject.
Emotionally, I believe this picture speaks to movement, travel, and ultimately destination. It also speaks to the force of human engineering and our place in nature: the sky is wide open, but cleaved in two by this tremendous structure. While we often consider human engineering to exist at the expense of nature, perhaps this is a case of a fabrication that enhances the beauty of its surroundings.
Post a Comment