Troubled Bridge V
Another image from the removal of the railway span of Victoria’s Johnson Street Bridge a few weeks ago. This picture was taken several weeks ago when I went to the bridge with my then ‘new’ wide-angle lens to document more of what is left of the bridge, and its condition at that time.
I have yet to work all the images I took up into a post as it was a bright and pretty harsh day, and the images need quite a bit of work (made worse by not getting the manual exposure quite right – I must learn how to read the exposure histogram better since the screen view in sunlight can be deceiving). These two images were some processing experiments that are readily accessible on my computer. Other ones in the bridge series can be seen at this link.
The reason that accessibility matters is that I am working in a seriously limited way while backup software runs – no way can I work on images right now, and only intermittently can I even type in the WP editor box. My patience is sorely tried, what there is of it. The MS Windows 7 back up software is hopeless, even though I have installed a hotfix for it. So, I am about to go shopping for an alternative. Nine hours of backing up 500gig and I am sitting at 33% complete with the last 2% taking 2.5 hours and a nearly unusable computer due to system demands. If anyone has a good alternative for Windows 7 backups I would love to hear about them.
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Canon EOS 5Dii, Nikkor-N 24mm/f2.8 lens, ISO100, ca f-8, 1/160th.
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burnt embers 
Hi ehpem, I like the photos. Re: Windows 7 backups: I use this too. Although the first one took forever….similar to yours….the weekly backups are incremental only, so they’re very, very quick, and non-instrusive – I have mine set to run at lunchtime and even if I am at my computer when they run, I hardly notice it. So the agony you’ve gone through is hopefully just a one-time thing – not a reason to buy other backup software as far as I can see. Hope yours finished successfully.
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Hi Laurie – if only it were that simple for me. I have been using it for quite a while and every now and then it runs a full backup. Usually it crashes. If it crashes it leaves me with nothing. It did that this time again, 26 hours in and nothing to show for it. I am trying out a different bit of software which not only leaves you with stuff if the computer goes down, but can do uncompressed backups so you can use the files on the backup drive if you have to, without restoring them all to another computer (like if it has to go into the shop due to a power surge like happened to me a few weeks ago). So, I am hoping it will work better for me, though the initial back up is slow.
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What great clarity from this lens! Did you by any chance get a closeup of the bicycle painting on the road? I love collecting “road signs” painted in asphalt and concrete – makes for great composite photo roesources or just fun funky “message photos” 🙂
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Hi Lynn, I don’t think I have any thing closer than this, but will have to check. I was leery of traffic, which was quite busy. And, I should keep my eyes open for other such signs that might be of interest to you. The lens is very satisfactory, especially for a ~40 year old and a good price. I have been using it quite a bit – but this is from a series taken on its first or maybe second serious outing on my camera, post-modification so it would fit.
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I needed a double take to insure this wasn’t a photo of the old Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River between Bismarck and Mandan, ND which was replaced by a sleek 21st century model a few years ago. Even had the same open grid-work roadway and creeped out all the little kids in town.
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HI Bonnie – welcome to my blog and thanks for commenting. There were quite a few bridges of this design around, but there are very few left and soon enough this one will be gone too. One interesting feature of this bridge, which I read about a long time ago, is that it used to have a wooden deck. The wood gained weight in the winter when it was sodden, so the counter balance weights used to raise the bridge had cavities in them to hold water which was added or drained away as needed to keep the weight of the bridge in balance. These open grid bridges creep me out when walking on them, There is one on a bridge across one of the northern BC canyons which makes my toes curl to walk on it – its a long way down.
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The images are beautiful. I love the wide angles and the gull captured in the second image. There’s great life in these.
Sorry about the computer problems. I feel for you. Nothing irritates me more than a computer that isn’t functioning properly (or is it sluggish traffic – slow lines at the supermarket – delayed responses… okay, I hate everything slow).
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Thanks Ryan – at the time I cursed the gull for getting in the photo, but came to accept it as part of the scene, I guess a bit of life can’t usually hurt a photo.
The computer is still backing up, and I get a few seconds to type then all goes still for half a minute, then I can type some more. Like being in a very slow lineup that inches forward every now and then for nearly imperceptible distances. I suspect you would be twitching about now. Like me.
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I’m sure I would be. 😉
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I like the black and white interpretation on these. The high contrast is nice with the shadows and bridge structure.
It takes me about 26 hours to back up using Win 7. The PC is usable in that time but the back up slows down. I usually start early on a morning on a day i have to work and just let it run. We have our little laptop which is good for reading email and blogs, so I’m happy. I don’t think there is a fast way to back up 500 gigs of data with any software unless you get a Drobo or a RAID device for constant back ups.
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Hi Ken, thanks for your comment on the photos. I clicked the shutter about 1 second too late on the top photo – the middle aged lady pushing the old lady in a wheelchair would have made a more interesting accent on the photos if a bit more in view.
I have read that about Win7 backup software for large backups, but also was under the impression that the hotfix they have for the problem would make a big difference, so interrupted one backup to install the hotfix, thinking I would come out ahead. Mistake. Also, it does not do the incremental backup on a reliable basis, often launches into a full back up that then has to be terminated. I think there must be better out there. It does not help that my external drive connects via USB3 and my machine only has USB2 ports.
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