wwp@yahoogroups.com:
My Story
Robert C. Fisher 2004-Sep-24 07:10:00
Well I finally got my pano done for the WWP. I looked around for a
bridge that hadn't been done and then I realized that maybe the smaller
less known bridges may be better. After some thought I remembered that
when I lived in Hollywood several good friends lived in Silverlake
which has a great little bridge called the Shakespeare Bridge. I
crossed the narrow bridge several times a week as it was one of several
back ways over to Silverlake. So on Tuesday midday I finally had some
time, I packed my camera into the car and off I went. When I got there
I had forgotten how narrow the bridge is and how heavily traveled it is
these days. I parked and walked around and found several decent spots.
I didn't get a profile shot since it is very difficult to find a spot
to look up at the bridge. So I chose to shoot from the roadway to
highlight its distinctive features. As I set up no cars coming so I
went into the middle of the street at the eastern end of the bridge
then no sooner had I put the tripod down here comes a line of 10 cars
in both directions. The road is very narrow so I became quite concerned
since the cars were passing really close, some slowed down but most
didn't. It took about a minute to level the head and check exposure,
now all the cars were gone, I look down and another long line of cars
is coming up the hill and around the corner in the opposite direction.
About every 1-2 minutes another line of cars comes up the road, no
doubt this is the timing of the traffic light about 1 mile down the
road. So I shoot one pano go over to the sidewalk to check the shots,
then brave the traffic to try another, this is getting old. I feel
safer on a racetrack with cars coming at me at 100 miles per hour than
I do on a city street with a bunch of chuckleheads talking on their
cell phones and putting on makeup (I have shot a lot of car races in my
time, Nascar as well as SCCA races). Well so I get finished and head
down the sidewalk to the western end of the bridge and do the same
thing but this approach is wider than the eastern end so it doesn't
seem as precarious. So I'm finally done and I'm still alive, I drive
around a bit more to try to find the street to the bottom of the ravine
but as I think I have found the right street a large moving van is
completely blocking the roadway to the underside of the bridge, well I
guess I will try that the next day but on the way home my car craps out
and I have to leave it at my mechanics shop. I guess I got all the
shots I was meant to shoot on this one.
Well I wonder what the theme of the next WWP will be?
Cheers
Robert C. Fisher
QTVR Photography/Cinematography
www.rcfisher.com