Sunday slide 51

bridge to unnamed island on Haw River
So some years back, Jim Kramer (the Official Other Blog Image Contributor) drove us out to a small island in the middle of the Haw River outside of Burlington. At one point well in the past, the island had been occupied, with the remains of a house thereon, and at the time of this image access was still available on foot, though the road up to this bridge was closed to any vehicles. It was a neat little area, even though we visited on a pretty crisp day, and I would certainly like to return, but sometime in the intervening years access has been closed off by the property owner, so it’s not an option unless they happen to be reading this and realize what kind of fantastic images I can provide them. Yeah, anyway…

Now, my attempts to mess with the reader notwithstanding, I’m wondering if this image conveys the same thing to others as it does to me, so feel free to pause for a moment and suss out the ambience or whatever.

Because I like to think that the condition of the bridge gives a good idea of its age, and the feeling that this is not in regular use anymore – it’d be nice if the graffiti wasn’t there, but there are people everywhere whose minds are as small as their penises, it seems. Is there a hint of abandon and loneliness in the image? Does it seem to imply something long forgotten? I’m not sure how successful the image is in these regards, but at least I like the dramatic lines and angle. Looking at it now, I wish I’d done some more images with the dark shadows at the far end, making them more prominent and foreboding – a little contrast with the bright light and colors here where we stand, and the gloom that you will enter if you dare to cross the bridge. I constantly advise working with interesting subjects in as many ways as possible, to see how many different moods or perspectives can be portrayed, so I’m always a little irked when I think of something afterward, especially when I can’t return.

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