Part nine of my Top 12 of 2012.
October 1, 2012: Aerial Lift Bridge
I took a quick trip up to Duluth in early October to do two days’ worth of exploring and night shooting. I didn’t expect to be at the lift bridge at six in the morning. I had driven out on Park Point earlier in the night when the fog was higher, and got some nice shots across the bay, but decided not to try to work with the bridge, as it’s such a typical Duluth shot and I try to avoid those. I intended to go up the lakeshore to find some more industrial shots and a good spot for a sunrise, but by the time I got to Two Harbors the fog was so heavy that it was obvious that would be impossible. I drove around town long enough to figure out that I couldn’t tell where anything was, and rather than drive into the lake trying to get close to the ore docks there – I could see their lights but pretty much nothing else – I decided to go back to Duluth in hopes of it still being more clear there.
It was somewhat clearer, but not much. The fog had lowered quite a bit here as well, leaving me with limited opportunities. But the lift bridge is very well lit, and in the fog a lot more interesting. I just grabbed a parking spot on the Park point side, set up my tripod behind my car, and took this shot. I wandered around and took a few more, but this was clearly the best of the bunch.
I don’t work in black and white much, but this one was pretty clearly destined to come out that way. There’s not a lot of color in the objects in the original, and the mixed colors of lights just came out messy.