As many of you know, I have been shooting the San Francisco Bay Bridge reconstruction project for 3 years now. My most recent shoot got me onto the new bridge sections and access to the new SAS (Self-Anchored Suspension) Tower, that soars over 500 feet above the Bay.
This assignment, shot as a fine art project, is being shot in 4×5 because of its monumentality and architecture-like subject matter. I can’t imagine switching to digital capture at this point, as it would have a totally different look. Large format photography also makes one study carefully what to shoot and finding the right perspective. Time of day is critical, too. Typically, I shoot only 10-12 views per afternoon/evening.
In this first image at twilight, I shot from temporary scaffolding between the two roadways looking east. With a very wide lens, I was able to capture both the base and top of the tower. It is difficult to see, but there are workers about to board the boat in the lower right giving a sense of scale. This view also shows the new catwalks that will guide the stringing of the cables.
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Moving to the left on this same platform, I shot this oblique view using a different film, too. The green of the mercury vapor lamps really made the water seem to glow.
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This unusual angle shows the temporary equipment that will help guide the cables around the saddle on the southwest corner of the bridge. The existing bridge is in the background. This is a 10 minute exposure, as it was quite dark.
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In this night view, I shot from the main concrete anchorage on Yerba Buena Island. On the right is the westbound roadway under construction and on the left the concrete pillars that will support the eastbound lanes. This is a very contrasty lighting situation and finding the right position to block as many of the construction lights as possible made me shoot from a difficult position in the middle of a construction scaffolding with only 4 feet of headroom. It is a 15 minute exposure. I especially like the red taillights of a vehicle left of center.
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On the second evening, I was able to get access to the top of the tower. Here is a twilight view looking east showing the span, the cable catwalks and the existing structure on the right. All the dark red steel structure is for construction and will not be part of the finished bridge.
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In this sweeping twilight view, we can see almost all of Yerba Buena Island and the skyline of San Francisco beyond. Traffic was heavy inbound into SF that evening. The blue structure which seems to be floating is to help with the guiding of the cables.
To get an idea of how much detail is in a 4×5 transparency, here is an enlargement of a small section of this image. The freeway signs are readable and individual windows in the skyscrapers across the bay are visible.
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I did one final shot that evening on the tower as the light was fading to show how precarious it is out in the open over 500 feet in the night air. As you can see, there is not much protection on the catwalks and scaffolding and I always walk very carefully and never hurry, especially when carrying a large format camera/tripod climbing or decending stairs. There is almost always the issue of wind out on the bay, too. The endless walking, climbing stairs while carrying equipment really gives me a workout, too! In the end, I find just being in this environment exhilarating and I feel privileged to be part of this important project.