New England Covered Bridges Project

Overview

New England covered bridges have fascinated me for as long as I have had a camera. Seeing them is like peering into the past, which adds to their beauty and mystery. If these covered bridges could tell stories from when they were first built to when horses and carriages crossed them, I am sure many of us would stand around and listen.

Many New England covered bridges have been lost to time due to natural events or unnatural means (fire).

Today, with the internet at our fingertips, we can find directions and, most importantly, pictures of these majestic bridges. So why should I photograph them if I can just go online to see them?

Like my other projects, it is a way to get out and see New England more. Plus, I tend not to worry about what others have already photographed.

The Plan

What I’ll be doing for this photography series will be a 35mm film vs digital comparison. So, it is less about bridges but more about a personal study of film and how it compares to today’s digital camera technology. There is no doubt that digital will have better quality. But can I, as a photographer, grow to understand light & composition a little better by using film? With film, one cannot spray and pray.

Although I’ll photograph with film, I will bring my digital camera. It takes a lot of time and planning to get to a location, so I might as well grab all the shots I can. This project has been running in the background for several and has already come into better focus, particularly with the digital aspect.

Initially, when I started, it was purely a shot comparison. But it felt a bit boring, so the extra twist I will add is panoramas of each bridge. Some of the early bridges I photographed will not be panos, but I hope to return to them to rectify that.

Goals

I plan on taking five bracketed exposures for the film for each bridge, utilizing bracketing when photographing, giving me the best chance to end up with an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image.

I will grab a panorama of the covered bridge for digital, so bring something else unique.

Self-Imposed Restrictions

For the film, I will limit myself (for as long as I can) to Velvia 50. I have many of these rolls lying around, and they don’t make them anymore, so I might as well start going through them.