Poinsett Bridge

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve comprises 120 acres and contains Poinsett Bridge, a 183-year-old arched stone bridge named for Joel R. Poinsett. It is believed to be the oldest surviving bridge in South Carolina. Poinsett, a Charleston native, was a prominent early resident of Greenville and a U.S. ambassador to Mexico. The poinsettia flower, which Poinsett introduced to the United States from Mexico, was named for him. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Poinsett Bridge was part of the State Road from Charleston through Columbia to North Carolina designed in 1817-19 by Poinsett, then director of the South Carolina Board of Public Works. Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument and many significant South Carolina buildings, may have designed Poinsett Bridge.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/mlands/managedland?p_id=39

I decided to capture this interesting old bridge built in 1820 and then found out some damn vandals had defaced it with graffiti .Fortunately while the leaves still had color the SC DNR used a chemical to remove a lot of it.
Don

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Don,

What a nice find. Is this near you? It's great that you reported the vandalism. I'm surprised they acted so rapidly! What was the lens you used and the processing? Is there more dimension possible for the trees and the water?

Asher

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Asher, thanks for commenting. Yea ,they are in the upper part of SC from Greenville.
I used a 17-85 IS and 70-200f4 L IS on the closeups and processed in LR where I think they look realistic for that cloudy day. Here are two more. So what do you think ? A Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 would have been nice that day for a better perspective ,maybe in the future.
I thought they looked pretty good but not getting many comments

I noticed the left side looked darker so worked on and extended foreground in first one as maybe it was cropped too much in the first one ?

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

One in color .

And a more radical crop from the other shot . That frame I kinda like. Hope some enjoyed.

Don

 

[Asher Kelman]

Don,

Bravo! This top picture is very well set up for orthogonal lines and gives us a feeling of certainty. A great marriage of man-made stone arch and the tree beyond.

And a more radical crop from the other shot . That frame I kinda like. Hope some enjoyed.

Don​

Yes, it is enjoyable. But why?

This radical crop, then is equivalent to seeing the picture larger so we can observe the rich detail. Certainly the crop is so much more impressive. There may be two reasons; the greater detail revealed but also intimacy seems to be added, a private small place.

So these pictures need to be larger. In OPF, some folk post images so large one has to scroll and they are just portraits or whatever with little need for that real estate. Your pictures, however, have magnificent detail that is needed for full appreciation. I'd still work on the water to get the little ridges of white more dimensional if that's at all possible so every sparkle can be appreciated.

BTW, is that vertical distortion correctable and would that be a good idea anyway?

Thanks for sharing!

Asher​

 

[Tracy Lebenzon]

This is a very nice series! The first, in particular is a great harmony of forms, colors and textures. Fine work!

 

[StuartRae]

Hi Don,

What a little gem, like a temple hidden in the jungles of Borneo! A perfect place to sit and contemplate life's mysteries, perhaps aided by the occasional sip from a hip-flask.

I don't care so much for the B&W rendition - it loses the warm tones of the weathered masonry.

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Thanks, y'all and I really appreciate all the nice comments.
Don