Foothills Trail Bridge
Been trying to get 'the' shot of this bridge for a year, I think this one does what I want.
The Foothills trail is a converted railroad bed, so it has iron bridges like this one that cross all the rivers and streams. It’s a great conversion, first rate condition.
I’ve been trying to get a good shot of the bridge for the last year, in all kinds of conditions, and this finally makes me happy. It’s a new lens, the Sony 20mm f/1.8, and it’s really sharp and has just the right angle of view to capture the bridge like this. I shot it at f/11 so that the foreground plants and the bridge are in focus.
What I like here is that brooding sky, the fine texture and great colors on the bridge itself (and the way they are isolated by all that green around it). I think having foreground vegetation plus the unique lighting on this day made this work the way I wanted it to.
Looking the opposite direction, there is a flood plain with very few dwellings on it. But it’s pretty, very Pacific Northwest scrubbery. That is to say, plenty of black raspberry bushes, and some early foxglove stalks.
Given that the second image has the same great qualities as the bridge photo, I think that although a number of things came together to finally get the photo I wanted, it was the right lens for the right situation, and it’s going to be a fun addition to my landscape tools.