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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stroll
a father and daughter cross the Zaobashi Bridge over the Aridagawa River
Wakayama Prefecture, Japan

On the way to Pierre Nadeau's sword smithy in May, we came across the photogenic Zaobashi Bridge (蔵王橋) in the rural mountains of Aridagawacho City, in Wakayama Prefecture.

It's a short (160m) bare suspension bridge made of steel... steel grid plates that form the surface of the bridge, bolted on top of simple steel I-beams suspended with steel cables to even bigger steel cables draped over two steel towers. It makes it quite easy to see how all the parts conspire against gravity. It's also photogenic. The people in the photo above were the only ones to stop by while we were there.

No one was around when we had first arrived, so I took the opportunity to get a straight-down shot with no one on it....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Slightly Stylized

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I was using my Nikkor 300mm f/2 that I had just picked up the previous day, so I still didn't know what I was doing with it. These are all handheld shots.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 220 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zak Braverman
slightly out of focus

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Stéphane Barbery

The photo of Stéphane that appears on my “little lens” post was taken here.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos

You can see in the photos above that the bridge is also roped down to keep it from floating away (or, perhaps, to keep its relatively light bulk from swaying in the wind).

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/8000 sec, f/2, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Zak Braverman
in slightly better focus

You can see that the floor plates are really just bolted to the I-beams, which are really just hanging there, so everything moves around as you walk on it. It's slightly unsettling at first when the whole thing ripples as you walk. Also, you can see through the floor plates (which are a grid of steel) straight down to the river below. You can see it for yourself at the end of this short video on YouTube.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos

In the background of a few of these shots you can see a bright tree... one of the trees on the far bank was positively glowing with spine's new growth, an effect highlighted even further when the sun would clip it from just above the mountain behind it. I totally didn't capture that feeling, but I gave it a shot...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 300mm f/2 — ¹/3200 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — map & image data — nearby photos