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Chester County Covered Bridges Flickr Photo Journal Photography Photostream Projects

Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)

Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)

Hickory Hill, Chester County [38-15-01]

From the Linton-Stevens bridge, I headed across Hickory Hill and was easily able to find Camp Bonsai Road.

As I drove down the twisty road, and got to the bottom, and spotted Rudolph & Arthur in front of me. I slowed to a stop, looking for a place to shoot and also park my car.

Crossing the bridge from West to East, I parked on the side of the road, grabbed my gear, and headed back towards the bridge, all the while as a large dog barked in the background from a nearby house.

Rudolph & Arthur (1886) - East Entrance (HDR 01)
Rudolph & Arthur (1886) – East Entrance (HDR 01)

As I approach the bridge, I noticed the little shack on the other side of the road, so I set up in the middle-of-the-road framing the red shack in the center of my image.

Moving forward some more, and keeping in mind the red shack, I did my detailed interior view of the bridge.

Looking through Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)
Looking through Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)

Once my detail picture was completed, I started through the bridge looking for a sign or plaque, my eye was beginning to see some interesting tones deep within the bridge, which I made a mental note of and continued to the other side.

From the East side of the bridge I started upstream. After about 75 feet I looked over my shoulder and set up for the following shot.

The dog was still barking and I was surprised that nobody had surfaced to see what the dog was barking at. I could hear somebody inside crashing about which made it even more odd that no one had investigated.

Rudolph & Arthur (1886) South-side View, Full (HDR 08)
Rudolph & Arthur (1886) South-side View, Full (HDR 08)

I continued up the backside looking for a place to easily enter the water, and finally found a spot and carefully waded in. Towards the middle of the creek, there was a shallow sandbar and a place to set up for my next shot.

Rudolph & Arthur (1886) South-side View, Full (HDR 08)
Rudolph & Arthur (1886) South-side View, Full (HDR 08)

From my position in the center of the Creek, I moved downstream and towards the underside of the West entrance.

Once I finally got underneath the bridge, the water level had risen to about mid-thigh. I was able to set up my tripod and capture another undercarriage of a covered bridge.

Looking Underneath Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)
Looking Underneath Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (1886)

This underneath was in stark contrast to the previous bridge, Linton-Stevens. The dark brown undercarriage did not reflect nearly as much light, but with the angle of the sun, light was reflecting off the water and illumining some the structural details of the underside.

From here I continued downstream, looking to do an upstream shot of the full side but with the sun at the current angle I would have been shooting directly into it and decided against.

Crossing over the creek, I got up on the East side bank and back to my car, where I started to pack up.

After I had removed the camera from the tripod, I noticed my battery was dying, so I decided to do some hand-held shots, finishing off the battery.

When I was back inside the bridge, the sunlight was reflecting off the water and up into the bridge, giving the wood a very warm tone.

With the final few moments on my battery I was able to capture this final image.

Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (Interior)
Rudolph & Arthur Covered Bridge (Interior)

Now that my batteries were completely dead, and I had no extras with me, it was time to head home.

All in all, it was a good day of shooting.

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Cross Links

Updates

10/18/2012 – Notes from a talk given at the Citadel Credit Union about the Covered Bridges of the Oxford area.

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Categories
Chester County Covered Bridges Flickr Photo Journal Photography Photostream Projects

Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)

Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)

Hickory Hill, Chester County [38-15-03]

Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886) - Main Sign (HDR 01)
Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886) – Main Sign (HDR 01)

It was another beautiful day in Chester County.

I was able to get everybody out of the house early, so I could then spend down the road capturing more bridges.

This bridge is located in Hickory Hill, which is southwest of where I live, so I took Rt. 1 South and headed towards Oxford.

Once near Oxford, I let the GPS guide me through the various small back-roads as I wound myself towards the bridge.

As I started down a small little hill on Kings Row Road, I saw Linton Stevens in front of me.

About 100 feet above the bridge, I pulled off to the side of the road, parked and began to look for potential shots.

Grabbing my gear, I headed off in search of the main bridge sign to get further details.

I found the bridge plaque on the north side of the bridge.

Setting up my tripod, I took my first images.

From there, I remembered, that during my initial scouting and the walk towards the entrance, there was a shot I wanted to capture on the left side, so I moved the camera and tripod into position, and set up to do another series of HDR captures.

Long View of Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)
Long View of Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)

While I was setting up the shot, I noticed on the far side, an older woman out walking her dog. I waited until she and her dog had entered the bridge and started my first captures. It was easy to locate them in the bridge by the echoing sounds of the dogs claws hitting the wood floor. Once they were through, we exchanged “Good morning”‘s, and they continue their walk.

I moved closer to the bridge, where I could exaggerate the length and also capture the reflection in the water.

Linton Stevens - Side View (HDR 03)
Linton Stevens – Side View (HDR 03)

After that was done, I went back to my car and drove it through the bridge parking on the other side.

I setup my camera to do a long interior shot looking north. What surprised me at this stage of the game, was that some of my exposures were pushing 30 seconds, which seemed unusual for the brightness of the day.

Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886) - Interior View (HDR 05)
Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886) – Interior View (HDR 05)

Once I was done with the Interior shot, I moved around to the right side of the bridge to look for a way to crawl underneath, which was easy because of the small little path, that others had used before.

Looking Underneath Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)
Looking Underneath Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)

As I started my investigation, I was startled, to see a seemingly “fresh paint”  on the iron beams that supported the bridge.

The light sand color of the paint was going to help reflect light into this very dark scene.

I also noticed some very fresh red graffiti painted on the side of one of the main girders, but unfortunately, I did not have a wide enough angle lens to capture the whole scene, but I was able to move easily to the center and capture the following image. (I do have an additional shot trying to show the graffiti, and the artist that left their mark, also dated their artwork as 7/20/2011, just a mere two months ago.)

From here, I started moving downstream to get along side view of the bridge.

As I waded through the water, there was a line of rocks acting as a small dam, that had caught a branch and leaves that were now blocking water from floating freely. I move the branch out-of-the-way, and then there was a sudden rush of water.

I finally set up approximately 150 feet downstream, and captured my final full-length view of the bridge.

Looking Upstream at Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)
Looking Upstream at Linton Stevens Covered Bridge (1886)

I took a few more shots as I headed back upstream towards my car, where I collapsed my tripod, and headed off to the next bridge: Rudolph & Arthur (1886).

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Cross Links

Updates

10/18/2012 – Notes from a talk given at the Citadel Credit Union about the Covered Bridges of the Oxford area.

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Categories
Chester County Covered Bridges HDR Photo Journal Photography Projects

Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (1878)

Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (1878)

Georgetown/Oxford, Chester County [38-36-33]

Daddy PROMISED this would be our last bridge FOREVER!

Especially because it really smells of cow poop,,,

and all I can hear is mooing!

Daddy says they are just hungry… Just like our cat, Joy, when she is hungry…

Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (Exterior Long View) hdr 07
Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (Exterior Long View) hdr 07

I can’t believe he is taking a picture of the horse poop in the bridge!

Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (Interior) hdr 05
Jackson Sawmill Covered Bridge (Interior) hdr 05

Then Daddy let me take my own pictures with the BIG camera!

I told him to stand over there… Move this was… NO THE OTHER WAY!

STOP!

Right there!

Click… Click… Click….

My turn!

Move this was…

Right there!

Click… Click… Click….

All done!

We then got back in the car, and drove to pick up my brother at daycare.

It was a fun day, in a weird way…

and then the next day, Daddy showed me this picture!

How he do that?

Photographer and Assistant
Photographer and Assistant

It was kinda fun… and I really like the cows…

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Tech Talk

Updates

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Categories
Chester County Covered Bridges HDR Lancaster County Oxford Photo Journal Photography Projects

Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)

Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)

Oxford, Chester County [38-15-22]

After more time driving, I saw this LONG bridge!!

Long View Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)
Long View Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)

There was also a waterfall that had geese swimming around, and I had sure that Daddy took a picture for Mommy!

Pump House & Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)
Pump House & Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)

He also found a way to get under the bridge to take this picture:

Looking Underneath Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)
Looking Underneath Pine Grove Covered Bridge (1864)

He is CRAZY!

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Cross Links

Updates

10/18/2012 – Notes from a talk given at the Citadel Credit Union about the Covered Bridges of the Oxford area.

After my presentation, I met many folks and one of those folks was Randy Teel of RNJ Plaques & Engravings, who had a story about Pine Grove bridge from 1973.

He told me, that he and a friend were driving home, and as they approached the bridge, they noticed some flames inside the bridge, and as they got closer, it was burning oil rags.

Because there were no cell phones, they had no way to quickly contact any additional help, but were able to use the available 10 gal “Indian” water tanks to put out the fire, then driving on to find a phone to report the incident to the police.

Randy and his friend, continued to drive home, and found another small fire on  Bell Bank Bridge, and were able to put this fire out, but decided not to report it, because it might not look very good.

– Andrew

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Categories
Chester County Lancaster County Photo Journal Photography Photostream Projects

What I did on Summer Vacation by Madison

This is my last day of summer vacation, and on Monday, I start the Second grade.

Daddy talked me into driving around to take pictures of Covered Bridges.

They are kinda neat.

– Madison
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