The Dalles Bridge

[Dizzy]

I've been wanting to photograph this local bridge for several years, and last Saturday afternoon the
opportunity presented itself. I had determined weeks back that this would be shot in B&W, and have
had that in mind ech time I cross the bridge on my way to town. On this cool afternoon the skies
were perfectly cloudy and gray.

Although only a 500' span, the Dalles Bridge is critical to accessing civilization for any of us living on
the south side of it, as the only other access to our area is a single-lane bridge about 13 miles to
the east along a rural country road (frequently closed from avalanches and landslides).

These are the results:

This photo was also my first effort at thinking of an image in a 1:1 ratio, and I cropped out
my envisioned 1:1 image during processing. Also made every effort in this image with respect
to the rule-of-thirds.

The steel girder connections made for an excellent subject, although I wonder if they could have
been captured better at different settings.

The last image is also a 1:1, and was shot from the south bank of the river, just east of the
bridge location. Shot in color to show off the beauty of the bridge's setting.

Hope you enjoy them. As always, your thoughts, concerns, criticism's and especially suggestions
for improvement are most welcome.

Mike

[Bobobird]

Very nice pics there Mike. 1 is exceptional.

Tell me, why a few years since you live thereabouts?

[jeeperman]

Good series Mike. I like #1 but I am drawn to #2 and am unsure as yet to exactly why. #3 I think I might like better if the first section of cloud area {top right} was missing and the top most heavy beam leveled and serve as a border. I played with it a little just to see. As for the last.....This is why we live here .

[Dizzy]

Very nice pics there Mike. 1 is exceptional.
Tell me, why a few years since you live thereabouts?

Thank you Bobo! Not sure I understand your question, as I do live about 2 miles east of the
bridge, and cross it almost daily I've been wanting to photograph it for some time, but never
could quite figure out how to best present it, and up until a few weeks ago all I had was
the little Fuji P&S.

Good series Mike. I like #1 but I am drawn to #2 and am unsure as yet to exactly why. #3 I think I might like better if the first section of cloud area {top right} was missing and the top most heavy beam leveled and serve as a border. I played with it a little just to see. As for the last.....This is why we live here .

Thanks Paul..and I agree, the image does look better with that beam adjusted, so I went
ahead and made the change. And yes indeed, that is why we tolerate the 9 months of clouds
and rain a year...it's worth it!

This bridge has got some very interesting history associated with it, as it is the only
"three-hinged steel-through-arch" in the entire state of Washington. There's quite a bit
more info on the history and significance of the design at : http://www.stumpranchonline.com/skag...esBridge1.html

Mike

[jeeperman]

Not to speak for Bobo, but Mike I think I have the same question. You have been there years and cross it daily and......you are just now getting to photgraphing it? Why so long?

[Dizzy]

Not to speak for Bobo, but Mike I think I have the same question.
You have been there years and cross it daily and......you are just now getting to photographing
it? Why so long?

I can see there is no way to escape this.......

Truth is, until I got the D90 and started looking at bridges (and just about everything else) from
a more photographic/artistic perspective, it was just a cool looking bridge that I thought would
make a nice picture. After joining CiC and seeing so many photo's taken by others I began to
look at it as a "subject", and not just as an interesting bridge.

Couldn't see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

Also, being a "local", I got quite few odd looks, plus a couple: "Mike, what in the hell are you
doing in the road?" comments from my neighbors when they crossed the bridge heading
into (or back from) town that afternoon. Apparently I picked the exact time of day when
all 850 Concretians were out-and-about....

We're all used to seeing tourists walking around there taking pictures of the river from
the bridge, but when one of us locals is standing there..right in the middle of the road,
it's usually a safe bet that they spent a little too much time down at the Birdsview
Brewery and got lost on the way home..

Now you know "the rest of the story". Welcome to Concrete..

[jeeperman]

It is funny how.....when the bug bites you....everything becomes a study. Concrete has that many? Where do ya put everyone... there is only 10 houses!

Ok ok, maybe there is a few more. Only ten you can see from the road though.

[Dizzy]

It is funny how.....when the bug bites you....everything becomes a study. Concrete has that many? Where do ya put everyone... there is only 10 houses!

So? We've also got 3 bars (aka: Pubs), 2 chapters of AA, 2 winery's and a brewery.

Just for clarification, health issues limit me, so I rarely drink alcohol, and then maybe just a
beer or two...anything harder and I'll be spinning out, for sure. Also, there are more than
10 houses..we've got a whole bunch of them in town!

[Bobobird]

Now we have the story. Good one btw.

Wonder how the pics would look after you have one too many? Wait - you cannot get drunk! Grrrrr.

[jeeperman]

Well Mike, 10 or 100....I would love to live out there in your neck of the woods. I am envious really. Had to pull yer chain a bit. lol

[Dizzy]

Well Mike, 10 or 100....I would love to live out there in your neck of the woods.
I am envious really. Had to pull yer chain a bit. lol

Not a problem at all Paul, and when you're here on the 8th we'll take a few minutes (very few)
and you can see the whole town. Honestly, there are a couple of the towns old buildings and
churches I've been looking at as subject matter, but just not quite sure how to frame them
properly; it would be interesting to get your perspective on them.

[jeeperman]

Sounds good Mike! Off to bed...have a good night!

[dje]

Great set of shots Mike.

The compostion in #1 is, I think, spot on. You have the alignment and symmetry perfect (so do the road line markers !) and this is important to the shot.

The connections in #2 look like they would have required precision design and fabrication and are very interesting.

#3 doesn't do so much for me but #4 is very nice. I can see why you would like living in an area as beautiful as that. You could say that you are "set in Concrete" (oh dear )

Cheers Dave

[lizzy310]

Those of us who live in the pacific northwest are so fortunate. We have a beautiful place for photography. Nice job on the photos. I am too inexperienced to make any comments about technique, and I think they are wonderful.

[Sunray]

Hi,

as Dave already mentioned it ist the perfect alignment and the symmetry that make picture #1 a very good shot. Exposure looks also very well. Did you try also different format tha 1:1 ?

bye
Robert

[Dizzy]

Hi Robert,

Having a crop frame camera, I can only crop to a 1:1 in processing , so yes, there were images
at greater width. Here is one of them with very good symmetry: