Happy Anniversary, Golden Gate!

Memorial Day was established after the American Civil War, and originally honored only Union soldiers, but it eventually was extended to all fallen soldiers.  I am pleased that more attention is being given to these soldiers and their families.

What I had neither read nor heard about until yesterday, due to the general "east of the Mississippi" news slant, is that this is also the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge spanning the "Golden Gate"- the entry to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.  Ansel Adams took many photographs of the Golden Gate before bridge construction began in 1933, during construction, and after the icon was complete.  My guess would be that billions of photographs have featured the "international orange" mass of steel, which continues to be awe-inspiring and photogenic.

Although I have photographed the bridge a number of times from different angles, and at different times of day and year, it is always a thrilling experience of which I never tire.

This series of photographs were made with Fujichrome Velvia positive film and scanned. The first image is of the bridge wearing its fog and patriotic garb, shot from Fort Point.

Bridge tower shot from the pedestrian walkway

Bridge truss work at sunset, shot from Fort Point

In the 1950s, banks and other financial institutions published books on local scenery and culture.  With luck through my husband's family, I have a copy of a comb-bound, 11" x 14" 1954 publication from the American Trust Company of San Francisco titled The Pageant of History in Northern California by Ansel Adams with text by Nancy Newhall.   It features black and white photographs of the state - everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to vineyards, oaks, factories, and churches- and is one of the reasons why photography is important.  The image captures a moment in time that will never be duplicated.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image