Friday, March 26, 2010

Friday Shootout - Bridges

Is it Friday already?!   Well, no.   It is more like Thursday and tomorrow is Friday but it was rhetorical.  In any case, the point is that time flies...and if I recall, this week is Bridges and it is the first black and white alternative.  Thanks to the digital world, I can become a black and white photographer in the flick of a saturation slider.  Although I feel a little uneasy that the ghost of Ansel Adams might be looking over my shoulder with disdain. 

The next challenge was to find a bridge. 

A bridge!  Oh.  Not that kind of bridge.  Yeah, I knew that but I wanted an excuse to post this old picture of Brian.


Now THIS is the classic bridge we all sang about as children
before falling down.   It doesn't look too bad in black and white.


Is a dam also a bridge?  Sort of a bridge?  Kind of like a bridge?

There is bridging of the generation gap.

Some bridges are temporary.


Some are more permanent

Okey!  So I broke the rules!  But I didn't like this one in black and white so much.  And Ansel Adam's ghost was giving me a hard time about flipping sliders in Photoshop after he had worked so hard to develop his Zone System.   (Yes, I have his book.  No, I never had the patience to really learn to use it.  Yes, I pretended I used it anyhow just to impress girls in college.)

Since I'm already breaking the black and white guidelines for this post...

An emotional bridge.
Okay, back to black and white


This is the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston during our annual
Bridge Run...which is going on this weekend, coincidentally.

This one needs a bit of an explanation.  Now I have a general rule for myself not to blog about my job so that Bagman doesn't say something smart and gets me in trouble.  But I wanted to show this.  I have a small role in Charleston County's emergency response team, that drills every summer in case we have a hurricane or other disaster.  And last year, drilling in the Emergency Operations Center, we experimented with a collaboration with the Air Force.  If you look carefully, on the screen in the background, is a live picture from a video camera in the nose of a jet fighter that was doing a practice fly over so we could do damage assessments even before roads were open.  It was a bit disconcerting to see a targeting "X" pointing at things like the Ravenel Bridge.  But kind of neat to see technology in action.

And finally, we have this young fellow
doing his best imitation of a bridge.

Well, that's about all I've got for this week...I can't wait to see what everyone else does.

31 comments:

  1. Awesome! Love the emotional bridge and the little boy. :)

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  2. You did bridge many subjects here. Lovely pictures.

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  3. Thank God you didn't show a picture of a dental bridge.

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  4. Thanks, Peruby...and I'm thankful that I don't have one to photograph. Or, of course, I would have...

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  5. Until I read Peruby, I was going to say you had given us the unabridged version of bridges. Guess you have to have one to think of it.
    Loved the emotional bridge.

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  6. You were really thinking for this post! Great variety of selections.

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  7. The remark about the dental bridge is already made!

    Finally, blogging is also a nice bridge between people who otherwise would never had met! Happy I "met" you!

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  8. Great post Mark,as always. Very creative. The range of bridges is amazing and the emotional bridge was touching.

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  9. Great job. You did the word 'bridges' well. I loved the picture of Brian playing the violin, I played for years. Some very creative ideas here.
    QMM

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  10. You knock it out of the park everytime, you're so darned clever! The emotional bridge is lovely. Have a great weekend, Elaine

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  11. Great pics as always. Catching up on my blog reading. Happy Friday!

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  12. Nice all - but I love the 'emotional bridge' very good Bagman - I mean Mark.

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  13. I also break the rule I didn't change my photos to b&w. I like the emotional bridge very romantic. If I saw a person with his/her camera taking pictures while (ahem not driving) I could tell he/she might be a blogger ^_^. A very opposite way of looking a person with a camera taking pictures and thinking about "is he/she being nosy?" Thanks for the visit I do appreciate it. Happy weekend!

    Bridges

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  14. Whahahahah I loooved it... every single one!! Much my thinking myself..always looking for the non literal concepts! Wonderful shots! I loved the on in the Emerg. meeting...would have missed that!! I really loved the very last one too!!
    As always you made me smile!! Hugs, Sarah

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  15. Wonderful. Great Pics all of them.

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  16. I like the emotional bridge. It certainly does make an emotional impact. Excellent as always.

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  17. What a great bunch of photos; funny I thought about Ansel Adams too! Did you know that last shot is actually almost like the yoga position called "bridge pose?"

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  18. I love all the different bridges you found for us, in color or otherwise. A pleasure as always!

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  19. This was such a touching visit. All of your photos fit so perfectly with the theme ♥

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  20. That was not only brilliant thinking, but amused me too. Thanks. No photos from here. Friday Lite for me.

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  21. I declare you a FSO legend! Every single week you just nail it. Who else would think of an emotional bridge and depict it so beautifully? You rock!

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  22. I love your post! love the generation and emotional bridges. the last shot is great with the reflection.

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  23. Thank God you didn't find a dental bridge to exhibit.

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  24. I love that emotional bridge shot and the one after , that's an awesome suspended bridge.

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  25. Oh, I love the photo A Emotional Bridge... I thought of my grandmother and then my mother and how their hands looked... so many people worry about wrinkles and spots and well to me there is nothing more beautiful than a hand with some age on it.

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  26. This is one I should have participated in. But, alas, I did not know it was b/w, and our bridges, what few we have, are standard county bridges - about as photogenic as watching someone blow their nose, although that could make for an artsy photo.

    Anyway, I love your "bridging the generations" photo the best. Although the temp bridge is very nice, as is the last photo.

    The color photo is excellent. Speaks volumes, my friend.

    Have a nice weekend. Miss you. When are we going for a ride in your little red car? The weather is just about right.

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  27. Ah, you are a breath of fresh air! Yours went from oh, to Oh NO! then back to Awww, then to a :)

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  28. The emotional bridge did it for me...

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  29. Love all the interpretations! My best pic is the last one.

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