Last month I spent a few days in New York City visiting family. One afternoon we walked over a bridge. You may have even heard of it. Apparently it’s called “Brooklyn Bridge”.
You have heard of it? Huh. Surprising.
So, yeah, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. And I had my camera with me. You know what’s coming.
The Brooklyn Bridge seems like one of those places like Half Dome: it’s been photographed by every photographer who’s come close to it since silver was capturing photons. I figure that by now every angle from every position in every lighting condition at every time of the day has been photographed (at least from the pedestrian walkway). So, when we decided to walk over the bridge I wasn’t super excited about getting lots of pictures. I figured I might take a few “I was there” shots, but that’s it. After all, we were on our way to Murrays’ to get cheese.
We got on the bridge, and I was blown away. It’s full of contrasts: stone and steel, cables and ties, pedestrians and cars, water and sky, clouds and sun. And I’ve never seen so many leading lines in a single location. My heart went aflutter.

Let’s just say that I took a “few” pictures, and leave it at that.
It was a blustery winter day, and as I walked the bridge I was awed by its age and grandeur that was mixed with city grit and grime. I tried to capture that feel with some high-contrast black and white processing in this image (which looks better viewed larger on my gallery website’s page for it):

The flags on top of the towers were blowing beautifully in the wind for most of the walk, making me have to play with the cables as leading lines on a cloudy, gray background.

But as with the bridge, the day was full of contrasts. As we continued walking the setting sun broke through the clouds for a precious few moments to cast a brilliant orange glow on the cables and brickwork, as the Financial District and the new 1 World Trade Center rose in the background:

I’m happy I was one of dozens of folks with DSLR’s on its pedestrian walkway that day. Oh yeah, and we did get to Murrays’ in time to pick up some good cheese.
More pictures
To see more pictures from my trip to New York, head to my New York City gallery.