Manchester Bridge

Ah, the beginning of June in beautiful Richmond, Virginia. The kids are out of school, the vegetable garden is in full bloom, and the light stays strong till 9:00 PM.

Is it any wonder I haven’t had time to write?

I work when I can (my son is at camp and my daughter is playing with dolls: get typing!), but it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so here’s another photograph for the ol’ “Peel Slowly and See” tab:

Alexander Kaplan - 2023 - Manchester Bridge

There are things I like and dislike about this photograph. The former outweigh the latter or I wouldn’t post it, but let’s get the negatives out of the way.

First, I took this with a phone. I mentioned, when I posted Pleasants Hardware, that “I was just figuring out light meters and f-stops and all that jazz when I got my first iPhone and the knowledge returned to the void.” So it goes. I could have made choices about the lighting, aspect ratio, and depth of field in this photograph. Instead, I gave those choices to the ghost of Steve Jobs.

And second, the composition is just a little too “hotel art” for my tastes. When I was double-checking the name of the bridge, the first image that came up was this exact angle. I’m not surprised. I think mine is the better version, but in truth, I like the less striking but more nuanced Pleasants Hardware more.

All that said, I like this photograph a lot! The symmetry is striking. It’s also perfect. I had to do some cropping and tilting, but look at the edge of sky in the top corners: not a millimeter off. And the wetland grasses add a dynamic contrast to all that symmetry. If this were just bridge and water, the image would be much weaker.

But what I like most about this photograph is the adventure that lead to the shot. Richmond has a pretty bland skyline. What more than makes up for it is the winding, rocky, clean-enough-to-swim-in James River. We also have “the pipe walk.” I don’t know where it came from or what purpose it serves, but Lord do I love the pipe walk. To get to it, you drive to the downtown flood walls, park your car, walk through a door in the walls, cross some weedy grass, and climb down a ladder. There, you’ll find a three-foot-wide pipe traveling along the edge of the James beneath train tracks. At times it will be twenty feet above the ground; at times it will be so low you can hop onto sandbar and rocks. If you visit in the spring, it will eventually terminate in rushing water. If you visit in June, like I did here, it will terminate in sandy earth. Pick your way through the foliage and homeless encampments and you’ll find the above view.

Did you know Robert Frost spent the first ten years of his life in San Fransisco? I once heard it argued that he was so good at describing New England because his California years gave him an outsider’s view of the Northeast. I feel the same way about Richmond. I grew up in Minnesota—didn’t move here till I was twenty-seven—and I love this place like only a transplant can. Minnesota will always (always!) have a place in my heart, but Virginia feels like heaven on earth. I never knew the spring could be pleasant!

I remember once telling my dentist that if I could live anywhere in the world, I would live here. She was shocked. Not the Bahamas or Manhattan or the South of France? No, I’ll take Richmond, with its unimpressive skyline and rivers and bridges. I’m working on a poem about it. Till then, here’s Manchester Bridge:

One more time.