Zakim Bridge
Sitting in traffic on the old Expressway I looked at the soon to be open Zakim Bridge and worried about the weather. The upcoming assignment was to photograph The Boston Foundation Board of Directors on the newly completed bridge for the cover of their Annual Report. The bridge is the most visible symbol of Boston’s 20 year, 15 billion dollar Big Dig Project. For the Foundation the new bridge was a positive symbol of new leadership in the organization and the changes that Boston has undergone over the past two decades.
In the weeks leading to the assignment, whenever I drove into Boston, I would check out how the light fell on the bridge. The shot had to be done in the middle of the day in mid-September. Cloudy days were best. Soft light reflecting off the white concrete deck created a long gentle range of tones. Sunny days were my nightmare. 18 people squinting and complaining on an overheated deck on a warm September day would not be good. Flash fill, not possible. Rainy days were a cancellation.
Finally the shoot day arrived and my assistant and I arrived early at the location. The construction foreman led us onto the bridge. The Foundation had arranged for a bus to meet the board in the Back Bay of Boston and then to drive they right onto the deck which was not yet open for traffic. I figured out the angle of the shot which would frame the old Custom House in the modern superstructure of the cable bridge. I waited. The light went between sunny and cloudy bright. I worried.
At noon a small bus pulled onto the bridge, followed by a black BMW. The Board filed off the bus and the Foundation Communications Director emerged from the BMW in three inch heels and a black dress. I worried that her shoes would catch in the textured bridge deck. The contrast between my group and the crew actually working on the bridge was striking.
When the Board assembled in a line on the bridge, a high thin deck of clouds softened the September sun. The light was wonderful. Just as I was had everyone arranged and was about to shoot the photo, a black SUV with blue lights flashing raced up the bridge, led by two State Police Cars. It was Mimi Bowler, a Board Member and federal judge who was determined to get to the photo from her morning court hearing. She disembarked and I placed her in the group. With limited success, I attempted to direct the group through the noisy din of construction equipment and everyday traffic. I got the shot and it appeared on the cover of the Annual Report a month later.
Twenty minutes later the group filed back onto the bus. The Communications director slid into her BMW and drove off; the judge left with her police escort. Work resumed on the bridge. Since that day, I’ve learned to mostly stop worrying about the weather.
