[Leica] At Sundial Bridge in Redding

[dpost at triad.rr.com (Dan Post)]

I hope it does not resonate and respond like the late lamented Tacoma
Narrows Bridge did in 1940!
:o)

Dan ( just a-swangin') Post

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Adam Bridge" <abridge@gmail.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 6:52 PM
Subject: [Leica] At Sundial Bridge in Redding


> On the 4th of July the City of Redding dedicated a new footbridge at
> Turtle Bay. The span is a cable-stayed structure whose supporting
> hollow steel pylon, 217 feet high, acts as the gnomen of a sundial.
>
> My wife and I drove up with her brother and sister-in-law to see it
> Saturday afternoon. It was hot but definately worthwhile.The bridge is
> a work of art, one in which every person who crosses can participate.
> Because it is a pedestrian bridge its scale allows it to respond to
> individual footsteps. You can stand with your feet on the glass and
> granite deck and reach up and grasp one of the suspension cables
> (about as thick as my wrist) and feel the structure resonating with
> the crowd.
>
> The supporting pylon is filled with gracious curves and small
> surprises, wonder shadow angles which change moment by moment,
> textures at the base are in harmony with the smooth skin of the
> bridge. And, of course, the sound of the river rushing beneath the
> span, conversations about the design. I listened to perhaps two dozen,
> all of them INVOLVED the participants. They many not like it, or
> understand it (I'm not sure I understand it) but they most definitely
> respond to this bridge.
>
> Which, to my way of thinking, makes it art as well as architecture.
>
> I believe Redding has something like the Monterey Bay Aquarium - an
> attraction that will bring far more people than they ever envisioned.
>
> Redding is in the far northern end of California's Central Valley, up
> against the curve of the Coastal Range, the Cascades with towering
> 14,000' Mt Shasta, Mt Lassen, and the northern limit of the Sierra
> Nevada range. In the summer it's hot, often above 100 F but you can
> cool off by driving either North into the Cascades or West into the
> Trinity Alps or Eastward toward the Sierra.
>
> I shot with the 10D, an M6 with TMAX100, and the R8 with Velvia and
> E100G. Only the digital photos are currently posted at:
>
> <http://www.splitsecondfilms.com/2004-Sundial-Bridge/index.html>
>
> I welcome your comments, of course. I'll be adding images from my M6
> and R8 as I get the film processed and scanned. Your comments are
> solicited and welcome. I have not attempted to shoot architecture
> before - but believe me, if anything crys out for photography this
> bridge does. Bring up that view camera!
>
> The bridge, all $22 million of it, was paid for by the McConnell
> Foundation. They have a web site at:
>
> <http://www.mcconnellfoundation.org/>
>
> The bridge is the work of Spanish architect and artist Santiago
> Calatrava whose other work you can see at:
>
> <http://www.calatrava.com/>
>
> This is his first free-standing bridge in the United States.
>
> Adam Bridge
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