Bridge to Nowhere, a photo from Utah, West

Photographer's Note

I wasn't sure if this qualified as "Ruins", but it seemed to be the best fit. :)

This is the Great Salt Lake, or at least, it would have been about a century ago when the lake reached to this little dock here. You can see the lake vaguely in the distance, and Stansbury Island (the mountains) beyond.

I took this shot on Saturday while waiting to pick some friends up from the airport. I made an allowance for traffic that never materialized, so I got to the airport about 45 minutes early. What else could I do but drive the 10 minutes to the lake and shoot for a few? I know what any of you would have done, and that's exactly what I did. I got a few good shots, or rather, they became good shots once I converted them to black and white.

This was taken right by Saltair, the one-time entertainment attraction of Salt Lake City. Built right by the lake, Saltair was quite the popular place to swim, dance, and relax for a number of years in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The building has burned to the ground and been rebuilt several times, and it is no longer the center for entertainment in Salt Lake, but it's still kind of cool to see.

I have to admit, I was a bit inspired by David Sidwell's (dsidwell) excellent collection of black and white photos of the Great Salt Lake. If you haven't seen those shots, I recommend them.

As I mentioned, I converted this to black and white, increased the contrast, and...well, that's about it. There's a bit of noise, but I left it because I thought it gave it the feel of an older shot. Let me know what you think.

robertosalguero, Atousa, jmcl has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

robertosalguero (292) 2007-05-29 23:47

Well I think you did a very good job with the conversion. For a moment, before I read the note, I thought the picture was older. It does have that feeling and your subject and theme is well chosen. I am wondering why the lake is receding. Is it global warming or something else? Nice work Clark.

Roberto

mfonda (891) 2007-05-30 0:15

Hi Clark,

Great photo with an interesting note. I like the composition and use of black and white. Well done, thanks for sharing!

-Matt

Atousa (7131) 2007-05-30 1:26

Salam,
B/W here has added to the mood of this shot.
Good composition and title too.
TFS,
Atousa

Cormac (26565) 2007-05-30 10:57

There are some wonderful landscapes in the American west, with the huge sense of space and the desolate, abandoned buildings and objects. For some reason, black & white always seems to suit these scenes better than colour, and it is true in this case. The slight noise seem grain-like, and so gives this an older, vintage feel. Well done!

euryan (8442) 2007-06-01 15:59

As soon as I saw this one Clark, it immediately reminded me of one of David Sidwell's minimalist BW photos. So it was funny to read his name in your note. I do like the composition with the bridge that leads to nowhere, expect for deeper into your photograph. The little sailboats are nice touch, way out there on the lake.

jmcl (14535) 2007-06-03 1:37

Hi Clark,

I like it a great deal .. love the empty and vast feeling .. I think the brightness of this really gives a feeling of the hot and bright sun in this desolate place. Wonderful.

take care,

John

dsidwell (9783) 2011-01-20 4:39

Hey I like this a lot, Clark. The angle of the shadow works well as an introduction into the shot, and the poles keep the eye going quite nicely. We're then satisfied by the mountains in the back. Lovely!

To experiment with: You might try adding some contrast to get more darks and lights to see what happens. Also, if you do an unsharp mask at a high pixel rate but low percentage, you might be able to bring in more "clarity" if you wanted any more.

I like it!