Railway bridge Tauranga
Railway bridge in Tauranga, there is a wooden walkway alongside the bridge
Railway bridge in Tauranga, there is a wooden walkway alongside the bridge
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Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Aperture f/4.5 ISO 200 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 75/1 
Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, NZ
Nov, 2020Views
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Pjerry
December 12, 2020
I'm pleased you joined my challenge "The November 2020 Collection". Great, thanks, and let's hope it turns all right well for you. The competition is, as ever, very hard! That is this month especially the case, because VB approved the challenge for the gallery and extended the duration. Good luck.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at the railway bridge in Tauranga New Zealand. This bridge crosses a waterway at the port and has a small pedestrian walkway alongside the tracks. This is a live industrial railway where there are many trains all carrying freight day and night. There is a curve in the bridge and I walked along the pedestrian walkway until I could get the straight on image that you see. There is just one spot that you can stand to get this view. As soon as I saw the bridge as I drove around the town, I just knew I wanted to photograph it.Time
It was about 4 pm in the afternoon, and I was on holiday in Tauranga, I had an evening commitment and this was the only time I could get to take this photo. I would have preferred to go back to the bridge at last light. but was limited by time. Why is that when on holiday?Lighting
As this was late afternoon in summer time the light was very bright, not really ideal for this type of photography, as you get a lot of light in between the pylons and as you can see at the end of the bridge. In colour the light at pinnacle of the focal point had considerable glare which is why I elected to process this image in black and white where this is less obvious. I did not use a flash to augment the light in the foreground.Equipment
I used my Canon 5D Mk11 which has been my workhorse for a fair number of years. I was not using a tripod or monopod as I needed to climb onto the structure from the walkway to get the shot. Obviously checking that there were no trains coming. I braced myself against the upright to keep the camera stable, and 1/200 of a second was more than adequate. As mentioned above I did not use a flash, as I did not want the section closest to me to bathed in light.Inspiration
We were on holiday in Tauranga and my hotel bedroom looked out toward this bridge, I checked it out through my telephoto lens and I just had to go and explore. Although there is a walkway alongside the track I realized that unless I kept walking through the bend I would not get a shot of the end of the bridge, after each upright I had to stop, jump up and check. I knew was result I wanted. I had to be at the spot where the track continued straight to the end. I was not 100% happy with the image on the camera and made some adjustments to get the light just right. Railways fascinate me and this bridge with its many rivets, rust and just age is very photogenic.Editing
I loaded the image into Paint Shop Pro, which is an application I have used for many many years and could not get the desired effect that I really wanted. I changed it to Black and White and immediately the photo popped, and with some minor adjustments with brightness and contrast I was happy with the result.In my camera bag
I have a canon 5D mk 11 and 600D as a backup. I will alternate between the two. I have a range of Canon lenses, including a 28mm, a 50mm, a 24-105mm and a 75-300mm and some kit lenses for the 600D. I have two speed lights with multiple charged up batteries. However like many photographers I have a huge amount of other stuff such as filters, remote releases, cleaning kits, and an old manual light meter. All these items somehow find their way into my bagFeedback
Railway bridges are special places, and there are not too many of them in New Zealand that you can walk alongside. Firstly with any railway photography consider safety first, do not compromise on this. If you can take these kind of shots ideally you need the "Golden hour" for this as you can get so many colours and textures. A picture that has leading lines evokes emotions of what is just beyond. My advice hit the rails.
