Fotoeins Fotografie

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Posts tagged ‘Harbour Bridge’

Dover Heights, Sydney, Australia

Sydney’s sunset heights: a golden crown at the Harbour Bridge arch

It’s late-April, and the days grow shorter in autumn here in the southern hemisphere. That also means that with each passing day towards the winter solstice, the sun’s path across the sky drifts a little bit northwards. The 23.4-degree tilt of the Earth’s rotation-axis with respect to the Earth’s orbital-plane around the Sun ensures that most of the planet experiences four seasons with every full orbit or revolution around the Sun.

From my desire to photograph sunsets here in Sydney, Australia, I knew that the setting sun would soon intersect the crown in the arch of Sydney’s Harbour Bridge as viewed from Dover Heights in the eastern suburbs. Frequent “reconnaissance” visits to Dover Heights (and getting to know the 380 bus-route very well), I had worked out how much the position of the (setting) sun would change in the sky with every passing day.

There would be an occasional day when a part of me would reject the notion of heading out to try again. The reasonable side of me wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s sunny, it’s +25C, you have to go through Bondi Beach (awww); so, get your butt out there before you regret it.” Aaaah, because regret and me, you know we’re … “this” close.

With a successful experiment to photograph sunsets (and the full moon) in late-April, I have no regrets.

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The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Sydney: happy 94 to the Harbour Bridge (2026)

March 19 marks the anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of the key landmarks in Sydney, Australia.

Known informally as “The Coathanger”, the steel through-type arch bridge opened on 19 March 1932, joining the harbour’s northern “Kiarabilli” (Milsons Point) with southern “Tarra” (Dawes Point) to vehicular traffic for the first time. The project took eight years to complete the 1.2-kilometre span over the Parramatta River as its waters empty into Sydney Harbour.

It’s easy to forget Sydney is a city of bridges, as Elizabeth Farrelly wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on 3 January 2013:

Sydney: five bells, one harbour, seven bridges. A bridge is the ultimate romantic symbol, crystallising in steel and concrete the yearning to connect disparate worlds – and Sydney, city of baroque waterways, is as fully (if not as glamorously) bridged as London, Stockholm or Prague.

It’s big, it’s functional, even as some call it “old and ugly.” Today, the bridge provides an important link between the city’s northern suburbs and the Central Business District.

The smooth shiny metallic curves of the Harbour Bridge and the sail-like spherical-shells on the roof of the nearby Opera House form a visually powerful combination which has not only helped to define Sydney but Australia as well on the world stage.

I cannot disentangle memories of Sydney or Australia without thinking about The Bridge. I know when I finally see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, I know I’ve arrived and I’m back in Sydney.

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Sunrise from Mrs. Macquarie’s Point

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Under the central arch

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Northbound, through the south pylons

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

“THIS … is Sydney!”

The Coathanger, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia

Down to the right, up to the left

Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia

Swarming ships on a summer Saturday, at Circular Quay

Parramatta River Ferry (east to Circular Quay), Sydney, Australia

Parramatta River, towards Birchgrove

Parramatta River, Sydney Ferries, near Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia, fotoeins.com

Parramatta River, near Cockatoo Island

Dover Heights, Sydney, Australia

Moonset in front and sunrise behind, from Dover Heights

Dover Heights, Sydney, Australia

Morning light on the City skyline, from Dover Heights

Watsons Bay, Sydney, Australia

West view from Gap Park, Watsons Bay

Dover Heights, Sydney, Australia

Setting sun, from Dover Heights

VIVID Sydney - 25 May 2013

VIVID Sydney 2013

VIVID Sydney - 25 May 2013

Full moon over Harbour Bridge, VIVID Sydney 2013, from Blues Point Reserve

I made all of the photos above between 2007 and 2013. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land called Australia, and the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as traditional custodians of the place called Sydney. References to Aboriginal placenames: ANU, Australian Museum, Creative Spirits, and Pocket Oz. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-38e.