Caption
""The
Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a versatile and imaginative engineer, was carried out contrary to the recommendation of Thomas Telford (1757-1834) who, as a result of the near destruction of his recently-built Menai Suspension Bridge (1819-26) by crosswinds, doubted the advisability of erecting a suspension bridge of this size in such an exposed position. The principal span of 214m (702 ft) seems even more daring because of the 76m (250 ft) deep gorge. It was characteristic of the period that Brunel sought to match the grandeur of the setting with a noble design, and the pylons (which were to have had sphinxes and hieroglyphic decoration) were of Egyptian inspiration. The bridge was delayed for lack of funds and was completed after Brunel's death using chains from another of his works, the Hungerford Suspension Bridge, London (1841-5).""
-Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. p1107.
The typical British weather made this a very difficult shoot for me. As you can see the sky is heavy and I had to dodge the rain to the get the shots. On top of that, it was blowing a gale - both the camera tripod and myself almost got blown over completely on a number of occasions. Amazingly the bridge was still open to traffic and didn't sway an awful lot despite the exposed location.
Unfortunately due to the hurried nature in which the shots were captured and the dreadful weather, means that even with some post production the quality and life of the images are very poor. I hope you can get a feel of place from these panoramas however - I think a reshoot in the calm summer sunshine is on the cards.