Lock Lane Castleford and the Suicide Bridge

Lock Lane Castleford and the Suicide Bridge: I got out of the car this morning a few miles from where I live and what I hoped to be blue hour followed by sunrise shots was very much not happening, I had thick mist coming off the canal and river that runs almost parallel. I love a challenge and photographing in mist certainly is a challenge, mist can make or break images for sure…

The first photo opportunity I came across was a big disappointment, the old rusty ‘Sunbeam Alpine’ (car) on top of the canal bardge that I had been told about by a friend had been re-covered with an ugly tarpaulin and lots of random ugly items had been dumped around it, walk on Tim…

The video shows the start of my walk, the birds were singing and it was cool but not cold, photography wise I had a challenge, but a challenge is always good and an opportunity to learn a little more in different conditions as I went on.

Time to break out, test and learn the new Samyang 12mm f/2.0 lens which has no internal electronics so manual focus only. I used in camera focus peaking for a guide to what was in focus and what wasn’t. Happy with this one (above), it captures the mood of the morning.

The other end of the lock joins the River Aire and marks the end of the canal. The stonework dividing the canal and river looks a little worse for ware but I dare say might last another 20 years, maybe many more?

On to the Suicide Bridge…

The sun did try to burn through the mist but in the end the mist won, this light did not last long.

All the way up to the banking in the distance the bridge is more or less over land, after the banking the bridge crosses the river Aire and is a more substantial structure.

Time to be stupid, naughty and irresponsible…

This bridge is weak, full of holes and dangerous. I would deserve anything that happened to me for ignoring signs and finding a way past the steel fence that blocks each end of the bridge. I walked on the wooden railway sleepers to better support my weight, just in case, I was careful but stupid for doing this.

Stupidity aside, have any of you seen the TV programme ‘ Life after People’? The programme shows what would happen to the world we live in if people just vanished over night, starting on the first day and ending 1000 years after people. The bridge really did remind me of the programme and shows nature starting to dominate again with no interference from Humans.

At first, I was not happy with the above shot, I never like a white sky but it was very misty/foggy, much more than it looks in this image so the sky should be white as should infinity. I now very much like the shot and think it’s one of the images I took yesterday morning that’s a keeper.

I could not decide if I prefer monochrome or Sepia processing so I added both, why not!

Most images in this post have been scales down to 10 to 15% quality to display OK on the net 🙁

Check out some of the holes in the bridge below. Oh and I had a Mink at the side of me while I took this shot, he/she was very inquisitive and kept looking me up and down, this is the first time I have seen a mink, which I believe originally came from the US. I did not photograph the Mink, I was busy 🙂

Anyone reading this, please do not be as stupid as me, entering places like this is very dangerous, remember you have families at home. I will not go back on the bridge.

Lock Lane Castleford – Comments welcome 🙂