The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn
--David RussellHistory is filled with bridge building. Over two thousand years ago, the Romans created beautiful and strong arch bridges made of stone. More recently we invented suspension bridges and lift bridges. Whether grand scale or small, bridges are a uniquely human feat of engineering.
Abandoned Bridge, Tempe, Arizona
(click on image for a larger, clearer view)But bridges are not forever. This beautiful bridge that spanned the Salt River bed in Tempe, Arizona, was abandoned when a new, later bridge was constructed for automobile traffic. When I was a student at Arizona State University, I'd take photo walks in the normally dry river bed around and under this graceful old relic.
In many ways this bridge was responsible for my passion for photography. The image was on the first roll of film I developed myself in 1968 -- a roll of Kodak Panatomic-X (ISO 32) developed in D76 1:1. When I printed the image at 8x10" I was hooked. The camera I used was a Minolta Hi-Matic rangefinder. I hadn't yet moved up to the world of 35mm SLR.
Photography played havoc with my graduate studies. I took my MA degree in English but my heart was lost to the darkroom and image making.
This bridge no longer exists. It was washed out in a spring flood and its remains removed. Panatomic-X no longer exists. Kodak doesn't make any B&W emulsion even remotely like this old warrior of a film. The Minolta Hi-Matic no longer exists, at least not for me. I sold it to my friend Drayton decades ago. And that degree I took -- I never had much chance to use it. I took up computing instead.
Life changes. We move on. Photography allows us to look back on the past as it was, and to think about what might have been ... which bridges we chose to cross and which we decided to burn.
References:
(2-Oct-2003, Revised 16-June-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca