I come from the head of the Mississippi River, where it is swift and runs through gorges, and we have many bridges. Minneapolis has 27 bridges over the Mississippi; St. Paul has 11. (Three of those have one end in each of the two cities and are counted twice.) At the other end of the river, where it is slower and wider, New Orleans has only one bridge: the Crescent City Connection.
There's another difference between the two cities in January, which is when I visited the Big Easy in 2017: there the Mississippi is still liquid. During that time of year it's frozen over here and we ship all of our humidity downriver, as you can see from the morning fog in this photo.
My priority for photographing a bridge is always getting beneath it, and that's not an easy thing to do in New Orleans unless you're there for a cruise. Because there's no gorge to support the crossing, there's a long, rising approach to the bridge on the city side, and you can get under it, but there's no view of the bridge. They built a convention center in the way. And while it's only a little out of the way for pedestrian traffic to get to the entrance of the convention center, the bridge is on the other side. So I had to walk all the way around, dodging car traffic meant for the cruise ship terminal which is also behind the convention center, past Mardi Gras World and a Tulane University research center, to get to the bridge.
It was worth it, though; there's a nice little park behind the Port Authority building with good access to the area beneath the bridge, and a very pretty riverboat moored there. As so often seems to be the case, the first time I found it I didn't have the lens I really needed for the location, so I had to come back the next morning, and do the whole walk-round again. But I'm glad I did; I ended up with my favorite architectural photograph of 2017, and one that's in the running for the best I've ever taken.
I love the idealized vivid color of the reflections from the windows of the Port Authority and the way they transition smoothly into the grittier universe of the unreflected bridge.
This has been an entry in the 1001 Places to Remember project by @archisteem in collaboration with Architecture and City by @photocircle.
I have always been intrigued and captivated by the underside of bridges. Growing up, these areas were where we would go to fish rivers and streams. I have learned so much about life and who we are as a people from the things I have seen and found under bridges.
From graffiti to architecture, from refuse to forgotten treasures, it is all there waiting under the bridges. That last shot is absolutely stunning.
Thanks. You're right - it's always somewhere worth going.
i love that last picture. great post, i'd vote this as the best one i have came across.
Whoa, great shots indeed beneath the bridges. I love the second one with the riverboat passing by.
This IS a beautiful photograph, I can see why it's your favourite.
I couldn't help but chuckle at all the efforts you took to get under the bidge because I entirely relate with it! I think bridges make for fantastic architecture and I love how grand, industrial and functional they are. Was looking through my phone the other day and came across pictures of different bridges and I was thinking to myself that I should make a bridges post!
It is totally spectacular! I really congratulate you was a great portunidad to be able to photograph this moment a passage so perfect
Super cool! Love the fog!
I liked this picture so much
The bridges looks amazing and beautiful, I never knew that there are alot of bridges in Minneapolis and st Paul areas . This must be one of the longest bridge in united states
At 4093m it's not particularly competitive for longest total bridge length, although according to Wikipedia it has the fifth-longest cantilever span in the world and second-longest in the US.
It's close to the longest bridge in the United States only in the sense that the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway goes the other direction from one of New Orleans' northern suburbs across the lake. That bridge is 38442m long.
Dear @tcpolymath,
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Hello @tcpolymath,
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Photocircle Team
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All photos are good, but the last one is really amazing. I also like he feel of the first photo, "mystic river"