Like A Harp’s Strings V – Strings – Calatrava Bridge Athens

 

AWARD-WINNING IMAGE

– SWPA 2013 – Sony – World Photography Awards – Finalist Top 10 Shortlist

– IPA 2012 –  International Photography Awards – Honorable Mention

Katehaki Pedestrian Bridge, Athens – design by Santiago Calatrava

Goodbye and I’ll miss you.

No, I’m not leaving. But this is the last image in my “harp”  series (at least for now, I need to do other things too)  and I feel as if  I’m saying goodbye to a good friend.

Really,  this bridge has become like a friend to me. I remember a few years ago, when it was built, or rather when it was designed, I hoped to be a part of it, but finally it was another office that got the project and I was kind of sorry, even if I had done enough Calatrava when working at the Olympic Complex in Athens, but just like now, I was missing these huge white pieces of strangely shaped metal (they are really huge when you’re next to them and very white when they are new)  and why not, the glamour (yes, there is some sort of glamour in working with this guy, even if you hardly see him). And now after so many months that I’m working on this series, I feel the same, like a good thing ended and I need a new challenge. It was in February when I took the first shot of this series, like a series, I mean, because I had some older shots too, taken here and there, and now it’s already July.

Of course, I’ve done other things too in the meanwhile, but this bridge was constantly in my mind. I don’t think a single day has passed by without me thinking about it, at least once. I know pretty much all the angles one can get of it, I know how the light falls on it at different moments of the day and with different kinds of weather,  I know that there’s a very nice view that I would like to shoot, but I’ll first need someone to stop the traffic for me   there because it’s in the middle of the street and this is a big and busy artery.

I’m even going to include it on the route we’re going to be shooting in the fall at the modern architecture workshop I’m preparing.  So, maybe this is not even a goodbye, because I’m sure I will find something else I haven’t thought of if I keep going there.
But it’s a goodbye for now and I’m a bit sad for that… Take care, dear bridge!

What was the most difficult thing to control in this image? The competition between the cables and the sky. They both wanted the lion’s share in the frame and I couldn’t nicely convince any of them to give up.   So I had to force them in the end.

I don’t like to use force, but sometimes one has to do what one has to do. So, the sky had to back off, since it was quite busy and overpowering and leave room for the strings to play their tune. And it did in the end, but it took HOURS to get it to agree. And then I had to make the strings sing, and they weren’t less stubborn than the sky.

And this is the result. I hope you can hear the tune …maybe if you close your eyes and listen.