The Symbol of a City
By Reid Crosby
19 Sep 2007
In May of 2007, I visited San Francisco and was looking forward to exploring the Golden Gate Bridge. I had been to San Francisco before, and the first time I saw the bridge, I was completely amazed by it. The sculptural details of this wonder captured my eye, from the subtle changes in angles on the surfaces of the towers to the three distinct designs of the light fixtures on the bridge. I was hoping to explore the bridge more extensively than in my previous visits to the city, but there was one problem: I was staying five or six miles from the bridge and did not have access to a car. A rental made no sense, as parking would cost nearly as much as the car itself, so instead I rented a bicycle, which made the trek to the bridge relatively easy.
After securing my bike rental, I pedaled out to the bridge. Once there I took my time walking the bike across, constantly stopping to take pictures as I went: severe angles of the towers, details of all three light fixtures designs, and for the first time taking the walkways underneath the bridge for an up close view of the structure below the roadway.
As much fun as I was having (honestly, I was like a little kid on Christmas morning), I really didn't want to head back downtown. But I had plans to meet friends and needed to return. And I had an idea. Since the bike rental was for twenty-four hours, I could come back the next morning for more pictures and still get the bike back on time. On my return trip, I timed my ride back to where I was staying in preparation for the next day.
The next morning, getting up at 4:30 a.m. local time, I pedaled down an empty Market Street to the Embarcadero, thus avoiding the hills. Circling the city along the piers, I skipped tempting pictures of the Bay Bridge in the dark and the lighthouse on Alcatraz emerging through the mist in order to make it across the bridge and up to the Marin Headlands in time to see the sun rise over the city.
The bridge is a symbol: of a city, a region, even the entire United States. It is said to be one of the most photographed locations in the world. While I was a little bit off in my guess of where the sun was going to rise (it was late spring and the sun was much further north), the experience of riding the bike through the empty streets of such a large city and crossing the bridge in the wind and morning mist is what gives my images life. That experience is what energizes me to take the photographs that I do. It becomes a very important part of the process. Experiences like that, much more than the images themselves, are why I take photographs.
