Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Author's Comments

The bridges read best from the Gig Harbor side, from War Memorial Park, late on a summer evening when the sun drops behind the Olympics and the cables go briefly to silhouette. Two spans, parallel, the towers rising five hundred feet out of the Narrows. There is a moment just after the sun is gone when the sky holds color longer than the water does, and the bridges become the darkest thing in the frame - a pair of clean geometric lines against everything soft behind them. I prefer the long exposure for this. Thirty seconds, maybe a minute if the tide is moving the way I want it to. The Narrows are aptly named, and the current beneath the bridges does strange things on film - smoothing into something that looks almost solid, almost like a second sky pulled across the surface. The car lights crossing the spans become continuous threads of red and white, which is the shot most people are after, and it is worth being after. What surprises me about this place is how few photographers I encounter here. The bridge has a history that draws engineers and historians, but the photographic potential is genuinely under-visited. Come in winter for the cleanest air. Come in summer if you want the longer blue hour. Either works. Bring a tripod and bring more patience than you think you need, because the light does the work here, and the light takes its time.

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