This is taken from the banks of the East River on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. A group of us from the Arcanum showed up before dawn to capture the sunrise but there were plenty of other subjects at hand as well. These old concrete pilings are probably leftover from some pier or docks in ages past. How cool would it be to travel back in time and see what was here a century ago. Until that time it will just have to be a part of my imagination and the help of a photo or two.
Sunshine Skyway Clouds
It’s warm and humid here in central Florida and this evening the clouds were heavy and thick. So I headed over to the Skyway Bridge to capture this. As I was here some dolphins swam by, ships passed under the bridge, and pelicans looked for scraps from the fishermen. All in all, just another lazy Sunday evening.
Sunrise Under the Interstate
The interstate highway in Florida is long stretches of boring punctuated with brief glimpses of amazing. Interstate 75 is inland, protected from the hurricanes, but when it crosses marshes or rivers you get a quick glimpse of the landscape. This bridge stretches a mile over the Manatee River near my home. There are houses that line the river but I managed to find a vantage to take this without walking through someone’s backyard. Can you imagine waking up to this each morning?
Drawbridge at Sunset
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Getting stuck on a drawbridge is not necessarily a bad thing. I was headed to the beach to watch the sunset and got “stuck” here while the bridge lifted to let a sailboat pass. The first thing you do is kill the engine, roll down the windows and enjoy the scenery. Or, in my case, grab my camera and take a few photos. In fact, truth be told, I secretly hope I get stuck on a drawbridge. Just one of life’s happy little surprises.
Last Stop Brooklyn
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This weekend I was in New York City for a photowalk with some colleagues at the Arcanum. It was a busy weekend with many stops at iconic locations in lower Manhattan, midtown and Brooklyn. On Saturday we estimated walking between fifteen to twenty miles. This was the last stop of the evening after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the afternoon. It was a fitting end to a day that began before sunrise at the opposite end of this same bridge.
Just Before Sunset
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Usually, due to procrastination, I arrive at the beach only a few minutes before sunset. This time is was thirty minutes. For me that’s good. Anyway, a couple of years ago I shot this same scene. My style changes over time and so revisiting the same location provides an opportunity to see it with new eyes. I’ll probably come here again in another year or two and do the same thing all over again. And who knows what it’ll look like then.
Under the Bridge
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There are usually one or two people fishing from this spot. The walkway under the bridge is just long enough to give the sense of a tunnel and in the summer it’s a nice spot to pause in the shade. Just a few feet beyond is a new ice cream shop that serves doggy ice cream (not really sure what that is) so I will just have to stop with my buds and check it out.
Before Rush Hour
This is one of the many bridges in Manatee County here in central Florida. The river is about a half mile wide at this point so the bridge is good size. But growth in our area has this and a nearby bridge filled to capacity during rush hour. So now they are looking at building yet another, or possibly making this one bigger. I took this as early one morning when the only rush was of the water under the bridge.
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Bridges of Manatee County
We have a lot of bridges here in Manatee County; here are two I cross over often. These are drawbridges, manned around the clock for sailboats and the local commercial fishing boats. I took this as the sun was about to rise and managed to capture a quiet moment before the morning rush hour when each bridge full of cars going to a fro.
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Sunshine Skyway Bridge
All ships coming into Tampa Bay pass under this bridge. Knowing that, when they built it about thirty years ago they made it fairly tall at about 130 meters. Now it turns out it’s not tall enough for the new mega ships which has planners scratching their collective heads. One idea would be to take the bridge down and build a tunnel under the bay. I don’t think that will ever happen but that’s just me, you never know. Once I took a cruise out of Tampa and stood on the top deck as we passed with what looked like only a few feet of clearance. And that ship was small as compared to the “mega” ships. Boggles the mind.
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