As you begin to learn anything about photogrpaphy, the concept of “golden hour” (the hour right before sunset or after sunrise) will certainly come up. It is considered to be an ideal time to photograph because of the attractive soft light.In fact, you will often find advice that takeing photos any other time is “wrong” and that you shouldn’t bother. I find that taking photos at this time to be quite tricky and that it doesn’t necessarily lead to better results. This is especially true if you shoot without a tripod or have limited choices in terms of angle and framing.
As you can see from the photos of covered bridges below. there is a dramatic difference in lighting between the photos taken from one side of the bridge compared to the other. However, I still like to document both sides of a bridge, if possible, so I am stuck with shots that really aren’t that great. If the subject is backlit, as it is here in some photos, it can look terrible. At golden hour you are fighting low light, backlighting (but with the foreground not usable as a silhouette), and long shadows.
Rant over. I don’t get into Bucks County as often as I should. I took the opportunity of a trip to Nockamixon State Park for a star party to visit some covered bridges in the area. The first stop was Mood’s Covered Bridge, a historic covered bridge located in East Rockhill Township. It crosses the East Branch Perkiomen Creek.
Built in 1874 and designed in the town truss style, the bridge was 120 feet long and 15 feet wide. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1980. It was destroyed by arson on June 22, 2004,and subsequently removed from the National Register of Historic Places. The wooden cover was subsequently rebuilt and the bridge reopened on February 15, 2008. It is an example of a one-way bridge and is open to vehicle traffic.
Below we have the all-white Loux Covered Bridge. A historic wooden covered bridge located on Wismer Road crossing Cabin Run upstream from the Cabin Run Covered Bridge in Bedminster Township and Plumstead Township. It was built in 1874 by David Sutton out of hemlock in the Town Truss style. This is one of the shorter covered bridges in Bucks County at only 60 feet (18 m) long. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1980. Bucks County obviously does not go for a uniform look for their covered bridges.
The Cabin Run Covered Bridge has a distinctive look. It is alsoo a historic covered bridge located in Point Pleasant, Plumstead Township. The bridge was built in 1871, and is 15 feet (4.6 m) wide and has a length of 82 feet (25 m). The Town truss bridge crosses Cabin Run (creek) downstream from the Loux Covered Bridge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1980. Together with the Loux Bridge, it is an example of a cluster or pair of bridges built over the same stream, as is found elsewhere in Pennsylvania.
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