January Photo Challenge - Entries (Post them here)

[Photo Challenge]

The topic this month is: "Bridges of the past".

This thread is only for posting your entries and any comments you'd like to make about your own photo.
If you would like to comment on other entries please use the comments thread.
As usual, one entry per person and the image must be your own work.
Normal forum rules and image size applies.

The image doesn't necessarily have to have been taken this month but we do encourage you to go out and enjoy the challenge.

The winner of the poll, which will be run at the end of the month, will get to choose next month's topic.

Good luck and good shooting.

:camera:

[rcheshire]

Nijubashi - twin bridge. ni ju is twenty, but the context is the bridge - bashi - making it the twin bridge. The main entrance to the residence of the Emporer of Japan. That's the inner guard house on the hill. Not that old. Dates to 1888 and the completion of the Palace during the Meiji restoration. The end of the Tokugawa era - Tom Cruise - The Last Samurai.

Taken on a day trip to Tokyo when I was working over there - during the last decade - can you believe that, where'd y2k go.

Sorry, couldn't resist the tepia.

[starfinder]

Here's one I took a few years ago when I lived in Scotland, not far from Edinburgh.

Many will recognise the Forth Rail Bridge spanning the River Forth, one of the engineering masterpieces of the 19th Century, massively constructed in the 1880's of steel (54,000 tons and over 8 million rivets to hold it together) and stone (over 18,000 cubic m of granite). It is still in use today supporting the Edinburgh to Kingdom of Fife and Aberdeen rail lines.

Here the morning light illuminates the distinctive construction and the red lead protective coating over the almost mirror-smooth surface of the River Forth.

Enjoy. :)

[StarStuff]

snapped this earlier today at Tarlee in SA...

there is still a fair amount of water around thanks to the recent storms, its usually bone dry at this time of year...

the new bridge which is hidden in the background has zero character in comparison... we just don't make things like we used to, which i think is a real shame... but that's progress for ya...

cheers
Ian...

[bartman]

This is a shot I took a while back on vacation in Tassie.
Foundation stone laid in 1823. Its Australia's oldest known large stone arch bridge. Built by convicts made of sandstone and completed in 1925. Heritage listed in 2005.
Better more clear version here : http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad216/bartman691/RichmondBridge.jpg
Bartman

[sheeny]

The Snake Valley Creek Rail Bridge supports the Oberon Tarana rail line which opened in 1923 and was decommissioned in the '70s. The Oberon Tarana line is quite steep (1:25) and has many tight radius curves. The line follows a small canyon into the Oberon Plateau which makes the line quite scenic. The Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway Inc is working to put a tourist train back into service on the line soon.

Al.

[bloodhound31]

Found this the other day on one of my reconnaissance drives on obscure dirt roads or the south coast.

[supernova1965]

I am still looking for more bridges but I will enter this one for now and keep looking for something better. Well I think I found a better photo so I am changing my entry and here it is taken the 16th of this month

[UniPol]

Whilst teaching at St Albans in the UK, 2001, I would often be asked by colleagues what plans I had for the weekend, mid term break , term breaks etc. and invariably the answer would be "....depends on how far my money will take me". At that time, one Australian dollar only bought around 35p. so any offer of a free ride to places of interest was most welcome.

On this occasion, one teacher I got to know very well said he was going to Bath for the weekend to catch up with his son and daughter in law who lived in Bristol. The arrangement was that he dropped me in Bristol on Saturday and pick me up Sunday afternoon while he was in Bath. Being a great fan of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (the great British engineer) this was a great opportunity to visit two of his great achievements namely, the SS Great Britain and the Clifton Bridge which straddles the Avon Gorge. IKB died in 1859 and never got to see the completed bridge which was opened in 1864.

I particularly like this photo as the foreground is in shadow and further down the river is graced by the sun which gives added perspective. My camera at the time was a Nikon Pronea 600i APS SLR and this photo was scanned from the print. It is a shame digital cameras were scarce and so expensive at the time otherwise I would have taken many more.

[von Tom]

Not taken this month(!) but this is the Gateway Bridge when it was only a single bridge, on a typical Sunday afternoon. Sorry about the HDR, it was all the rage back then! : )

Cheers,
Tom

[firstlight]

Took this a while ago when there were better times on the river. The William Jolly Bridge (AKA the Grey St Bridge) built around 1930.

I had in mind a few other ideas but the rain/flood has rearranged my thinking... If I get the chance I might put into practice those ideas and update my entry. This will do for now.

Tony

88234

[Jen]

This was taken of the London Bridge section of my Great Ocean Road Trip last week. The middle section of the formation collapsed in 1990, whilst prior to that, visitors could walk all the way up to the end. Hence, London Bridge Has Fallen Down, per the song too. :D

88296

[Nico13]

This is a shot of the old Sandstone Rail Bridge taken while on Hols in the Blue Mountains a couple of years back.

Pentax K20D
iso 100, f7.1, 1/320th sec, 12-24mm zoom at 12mm

Built proir to 1885 but had the Steel cross bolts added in 1885 as they have a date cast into the cross shaped plates.

Not sure of the exact date of constuction but the newer brick bridge behind is not that much younger but still in use.
Have alook at the John west shots for more details as I will post a couple more shots there.

Nico.

[gary]

Built around the time that early Dutch explorers first reached the West
Coast of Australia in the early 1600's, this beautiful covered Japanese Bridge
in the riverside town of Hoi An, Vietnam, was built as a symbol of peace.

Once one of the most important trading ports in Asia, the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
saw Hoi An flourish with merchants coming from Europe, China and Japan.
The bridge formed a link between the Chinese and Japanese sectors of the town
and has remained largely unmodified over the centuries and is thus of great
historical and architectural significance.

Today, Hoi An, with its many old buildings, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

[kinetic]

sheesh , I almost missed out again..!

This old wooden bridge is in Broken Hill.N.S.W.
A picturesque little oasis in a dry outback town.
We visit this park with the kids every trip up there.

Steve