David Plowden on Photographing Bridges

David Plowden appeared on Studio 360 this weekend. There's a longer interview there, but also this wonderful short piece on his bridge photography. He's very modest.

Jet Lowe in Windsor, Vermont

Cornish-Windsor bridge
The Cornish-Windsor covered bridge spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. Constructed in 1866, the two spans measure 203 feet and 204 feet long. These photographs were taken in 1984 by Jet Lowe for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

Cornish-Windsor bridge underside

Jet Lowe in Hancock, New Hampshire

Hancock-Greenfield bridgeJet Lowe took this picture of the Hancock-Greenfield bridge in November 2003 for the HABS/HAER project. What impresses me about many of the HABS/HAER photographs (and particularly those of Jet Lowe and Jack Boucher) is that, while they are intended as historical record, many of them are also beautiful, artistic photographs. Jet Lowe has the eye.

Jack Boucher in New Jersey

Pulaski Skyway, Manhattan in background

Jack Boucher took this picture of the Pulaski Skyway in 1978 for the HABS/HAER project at the Library of Congress.

Boston & Maine Railroad Bridge

Northampton bridge photo by Ed Bacher


My grandfather was an engineer on the Boston & Maine railroad based in Northampton, Massachusetts. He crossed this bridge every day as he drove his work train east along the B&M line. This multispan bridge crosses the Connecticut River just north of the Route 9 road bridge. The railroad is gone, but the bridge remains as part of the Norwottuck rail trail.

Northampton bridge,  photo by Ed Bacher


The bridge crosses Elwell Island in the Connecticut River, and the trees appear to be winning.

Gary Samson in Concord

Concord gasholder house

Gary Samson teaches at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester. He took these photographs of the old Concord gasholder house in August of 1982 for the HABS/HAER project of the Library of Congress.

Concord gasholder house, interior view


This shot is looking up at the cupola of the old gasholder house.

Jet Lowe in Montana

Paragon bridge, Montana

Jet Lowe took this picture of the Paragon Bridge spanning the Yellowstone River in Montana in May, 1980. Lowe and Jack Boucher have taken an astonishing number of pictures of historic structures (including many bridges) for the HABS/HAER project of the Library of Congress.

Walker Evans on Fourth Street

Street view, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

I've been a Walker Evans fan for a long time, and there are lots of his images that I like. This one was taken in November, 1935, in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Evans worked for the Farm Security Administration for a couple of years (along with many other photographers), taking pictures of industrial towns and agricultural areas around the United States. I spent a couple of years in graduate school in Bethlehem in the mid-1980s and, except for the cars, Bethlehem looked pretty much the same. The steel mill is gone now, and I have not been back to Bethlehem in many years, so this scene may be different now.

Update (9/11/2019): This is Fourth Street now (via Google street view):

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Jack Boucher on the Lordville - Equinunk Bridge

Lordville-Equinunk bridge over the Delaware River.

This bridge crossed the Delaware River between Lordville, New York, and Equinunk, Pennsylvania. This picture is from the Historic American Buildings/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) project at the Library of Congress. It was taken by Jack Boucher in July of 1971. According to Bridgemeister, this bridge was demolished in 1986.

The Motel 6 Index

The Iowa Caucus is tomorrow, and the New Hampshire primary is next Tuesday. Four years ago, I noticed that the room rate for the Motel 6 in Nashua is a good indicator of primary activity. Last week, the rate for a single room was $45.99. This morning it was $53.99.

Update, January 9, 2007. The primary was yesterday, and the rate is back down to $45.99. New Hampshire fades from the spotlight for another four years.

The Lost Quarry

There's a children's book called Blaze and The Lost Quarry that my daughter read in preschool a few years ago.

Blaze and the Lost Quarry cover


It turns out that C. W. Anderson lived in Mason, New Hampshire, not far from where I live, and the lost quarry is in the woods near the center of Mason. It's a pleasant hike or mountain-bike ride and the quarry is quite large and filled with water.

Lost Quarry, Mason, New Hampshire photo by Ed Bacher


Though the quarry has not been active since the early part of the last century, there is still a great deal of evidence of the operation, including old roads, foundations, the Boston & Maine railroad bed, and some rusted cables and bolts.

Bolt, Lost Quarry, Mason, New Hampshire photo by Ed Bacher

Cyclocross

The New York Times has a nice article on cyclocross racing today.

Z-squared Building

My friend David Kaneda, who owns an electrical design firm that has worked on a number of innovative sustainable projects, has recycled an existing building in San Jose, California, to serve as his company's new headquarters.

He believes it is the first commercial building to have zero net electricity consumption and emit zero greenhouse gases. To achieve this, he and his design partners used a combination of strategies, including energy conservation, passive lighting, solar-electric panels, and a ground-based heat pump.

See this article from IEEE Spectrum for more information.

Dunstable Rural Land Trust

The Dunstable Rural Land Trust protects some beautiful woodlands just south of the New Hampshire border near Nashua. The wildlife refuge is open to hiking, biking, paddling, and birdwatching. There's a small parking area off Main Street just south of the state line.

Shaded Terrain on Google Maps

Just today, I noticed a new button called Terrain on the Google Maps interface. Very nice.

Off Track Blog

Andrew Wolfe of the Nashua Telegraph has an excellent blog called Off Track. Andrew is a reporter for the Telegraph, but he's also apparently a big trail runner, paddler, and mountain biker.

He has an excellent collection of links to trail maps near southern New Hampshire: Off Track trail maps.

Errol Morris on Roger Fenton

Great series of blog articles on Roger Fenton's cannonball photographs from the Crimean War: Errol Morris's blog.

Lowell Bridge

Bridge, Lowell, Massachusetts photo by Ed Bacher


This is a small bridge over one of the canals in Lowell near the Merrimack River.

New York Photographer

There is a deserved buzz about Eugene Salignac's photographs of New York City.

A Watershed Moment

At midnight on Tuesday, the New York Times ended its experiment in charging for some of its premium content. For more than a year they held back some of what they judged to be the most popular articles and Op Ed columnists. I know I missed reading Paul Krugman's economic and social insights . Now they're back, and I think this is clearly a case where the wisdom of the crowd has convinced a lumbering behemoth to reverse course. Although I was sorely tempted to pony up the $49.95 per year that the Times demanded for Times Select, I never quite reached the point of actually doing it. Evidently, I was not alone.

Jason Kottke has spent most of the last several days poring through the archives, and has come up with some real gems.