bridges Archives - Page 34 of 35 - Ed O'Keeffe Photography

5 February 20072 June 2017

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Last Saturday I took a trip to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in north Wales. It is a navigable aqueduct which carries the Llangollen Canal (and its canal boats) over the valley of the River Dee. It is the longest and highest aqueduct in Britain. It is quite daunting to walk the thousand feet along the path by the side of the water. To one side you have the hand rail and the other side of the water (to the left in the above photo) is over a hundred foot drop. Having done a bit of research on this aqueduct I can tell you it was built by Thomas Telford, opened in November of 1805, took ten years to design and build and cost £47,000 (at the time). I ended up arriving at this location a little late in the day. By the time I had walked across it the sun was setting behind the hills so I could walk down to get a photograph looking up at the aqueduct, not to worry though, because I can always go back (and I will)…enjoy.

22 January 20072 June 2017

Bridge at Salford Quays

This is the second of the two good photos I managed to capture on Saturday afternoon. I wasn’t sure which to publish online but decided to post both in the end. This image was taken from the opposite side of the bridge to the previous, and as a result the sun was behind me. It was however an hour or two earlier so the light is a little more intense. I like this area and have taken it many times before, I find the design in the bridge and buildings pleasant to look at. Although the Lowry Centre, just behind the bridge is very shiny and reflective thus making it difficult to get a correctly exposed photograph of the whole area. So far this is the best image I have managed to capture of Salford Quays but I am still looking for that perfect sunset behind these interesting buildings.

21 January 20072 June 2017

Sunset behind Bridge in Salford Quays

Any professional photographer will tell you that the best landscape and / or outdoor photography is done around sunrise or sunset, and its true to a certain extent. I really wanted to go further away from Manchester today but in the end I choose to explore the Salford Quays area. We have both been here many times and the weather and lighting today were surprisingly good, although the wind coming off the water was extremely strong and bitterly cold. Once I had taken about a hundred photos we had a look around the Lowry Shopping Centre, and for a Saturday afternoon I was very surprised at how empty it was. When we came out from shopping this was the view that I saw and I couldn’t help but get a couple of photos. I love this style of photography and think that sunsets are very beautiful. This is a classic candidate for some HDR (high dynamic range) photographic techniques. I wished to digitally combine this photo with another taken where the bridge structure has light on it rather than being silhouetted like it is in this image. This photo will have to be taken one morning in the future, but from exactly the same view point. Then I will try to combine the two pictures into an even more interesting (if not a little fake) photograph.

7 January 20072 June 2017

London’s Tower Bridge on the River Thames

Second and final photo shot for this past weekend in London took me to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (pictured above). Probably one of the most photographed bridges in the world and definitely a recognisable landmark for London. I must admit there is some Photoshop work on this image. When I photograph something as famous as this I like to study the little details, for example, the two flags on the top of the bridge make a big difference to the overall professional look to the photo, only one of them was real, the other is a copy, but can you spot which is which? (Feel free to comment on this). Waiting for the cruise boat to get into the right position in the water also makes a huge difference without these two little details this photograph wouldn’t be half as good. Again shame about the weather but for a quick look at London I don’t think I did too badly this weekend, more photos will follow soon.