New York Bridges

These photos represent my first attempt at medium format photography.  For this series, I was using a Mamyia 645 (6cm x 4.5cm), loaded with 400 speed 120 film by Kodak.  Since the bridges in these photos range from a quarter of a mile to over a mile and a half, I used two different lenses (I do not recall the exact sizes of these lenses-- approximately 60mm and 85mm?).  Prior to the flight, I calculated the altitudes necessary to compose each bridge based on the length of the bridge and the focal length of the lens.  (In essence, since I was not using zoom lenses, the plane would have to provide the appropriate zoom by flying at different altitudes.)  This was sort of a leap of faith for me because I had never done these calculations with lenses, and was not sure how accurate they would be once I was in the air.  It was pretty exciting to fly over these bridges and find that the calculations were almost perfect!  Composing the photos, however, was another challenge unto itself.  I was hand holding the camera and shooting out of the window of the plane.  In order to get nice vertical shots, I had to put the plane into a very tight bank.  But doing this causes the plane to start turning--the bridges started spinning in the viewfinder, and I literally had seconds to compose and take the picture before the wing strut got in the way!

I went up on a second flight and re-shot some of the lager bridges with a Pentax 67 (6cm x 7cm) and 100 speed film.  For this flight we rented a plane with a hole in the bottom so that I could take the pictures through the hole and get more vertical.  This was especially helpful for the Throgs-Neck and Tribourogh Bridges which covered over two miles of real estate and had to be taken from over 10,000 feet!

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