Bridge Under Stormy Skies

"There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly.  Ugliness is the measure of imperfection." -H.G. Wells-  English novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian, 1866-1946* "My land is bare of chattering folk; the clouds are low along the ridges, and sweet's the air with curly smoke/ from all my burning bridges." -Dorothy Parker- American short-story writer and poet, 1893-1967* In 1895, the New York State Legislature enacted a law providing for the construction of a new Harlem River bridge between 145th Street in Manhattan and 149th Street in the Bronx. Two business leaders, Fordham Morris and John de la Vergne, spearheaded the drive for the 145th Street Bridge, which was to not only connect growing residential neighborhoods in Harlem with new industrial areas in the South Bronx, but also fill in a one-mile gap between river crossings.++ I couldn't help but notice the beauty and strength of the steel framed bridge as the clouds seemed to swallow it whole.  Yet it stood, as it has for over a century, a gateway of travel between two lands separated by a mere mile yet worlds apart if not for this structure.  Imagine having to cross the river by boat before bridges like this were built.   I caught this image right before a storm, as the clouds built, the waning sunshine highlighted the spaces between as well as the glass windows and steel of the bridge.  Using high dynamic range processing I was able to bring the bridge out of the shadows, a bastion of hope before the storm.  A reminder that one can go where one wishes, and that a man who builds bridges instead of walls will never be lonely. *Source thinkexist.com ++Source nycroads.com