Shooting Bridges With the 10.5

˙A few weeks ago I talked my daughter, Natalie, and her boyfriend, Josh, into to driving me around Long Beach so that I could take pictures of the undersides of bridges. Always game, she said yes, and off we went on a very hot but clear So. Cal day. I purchased a D200 and two lenses, including the 10.5mm fisheye at WPPI, but I haven’t had much time to shoot.

 

This day was fun. They took me to every bridge they knew and, although Josh drives with a lead foot, he slowed down a little on and under the bridges. On the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which connects Long Beach and San Pedro, I thought I had to shoot at between 1/2000 and 1/4000 second as the the spans were pretty low and we were flying. Turns out the bridge was higher in the center and I could back off to a more reasonable shutter speed and film speed.

This is the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which is really bright green, but looked better yellow after I played with it in Lightroom. Shooting bridges is a lot like shooting football. You don’t know what you’ll get because things are moving too fast. Fun anyway!

 

 

Here is another snap from another bridge (can’t remember the name). The structure was much lower than the Vincent Thomas Bridge and even with the 10.5mm lens, it felt like it was right on top of you.

Here’s a shot of my chauffers. There’s nothing like a convertible on a hot day in Southern California!