My home town of Folsom, California, has three bridges right next to each other. It is Thanksgiving week of 2020 and I decided to stay close to home instead of being off somewhere hunting for a great photo. I am glad I stayed because I got two of my favorite photos at these bridges right at home. But, before getting to my photos (shown below), a little history.

A Little History

This is the first time I have dug into the history of the three bridges. It helps explain how their individual features contributed to the stories in the photos.

Folsom, California, lies along Lake Natoma and the American River that feeds it. The three bridges cross Lake Natoma within a mile of each other. They were each built in different eras to handle the traffic of the time.

The first one is the Historic Folsom Truss Bridge. It was built in 1893 and handled livestock in its day. Interestingly, it was moved in 1930 to the Klamath River, but Folsom bought it back in 2000. It is now a pedestrian crossing.

The second is the Rainbow Bridge. It was built in 1918 and was meant to be part of a scenic drive between Sacramento and Folsom. I do not have a photo of Rainbow Bridge in this article, but I believe it influenced the design of the third bridge, Lake Natoma Crossing. The two lane road surface of Rainbow Bridge sits on an arch. At the time, it was the fourth-largest concrete arch span in the world.

The Lake Natoma Crossing was opened in 1999 to handle the rapidly growing population of Folsom and the surrounding area. Part of its design are ornamental arches below the road surface and between the towers. I do not have evidence of this, but it looks like the arches were meant to reflect the arch of the Rainbow Bridge.

Away — Historic Folsom Truss Bridge

I got up early on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to get a sunrise photo by the bridges. But, it was completely socked in with fog.

Lousy weather makes for good photography. Landscape photographers like fog because it can hide the surroundings and isolate the subject. This was certainly true in this case.

As I walked closer to the Truss Bridge, my heart quickened and I dropped my camera bag. The isolation of the bridge in the fog was amazing. The feeling of desolation and aloneness was telling a great story.

Part of the desolation comes from the old time feeling of the structure which places you back in time. The fog emphasized the eerie steel elements. This was built at a time when looking good was a natural outgrowth of the structural need to hold up the bridge.

A straight symmetric shot was the obvious composition, but it was missing something. Suddenly, someone appeared through the fog and I saw what was missing.

Having a person going into the fog dramatically added to the sense of aloneness. The person in the photo is not the person who appeared earlier. It is me. I set the timer on my camera and walked across the bridge.

Taking the photo was a little funny. It was getting later in the day and people started arriving. A shot in this light takes a little longer shutter speed and there would be motion blur if I was truly walking. So, I took a walking pose, but stood still. It took a few tries to get the shot I wanted, so I had to run back and forth from my camera to set the timer. I think people were wondering what I was doing.

Fortunately, I was able to get a shot with myself posing alone. I call this photo, “Away,” because I get the feeling that a person is going away for a long time.

A Quiet Morning Ride — Lake Natoma

Lake Natoma is part of the American River Parkway which is run by Sacramento County Parks. It is a popular water sports area.

As fall fades away and winter approaches, the activity on the American River subsides.

It was early Sunday morning this time and I was under the Rainbow Bridge looking towards the Lake Natoma Crossing bridge. I was taking shots of the fog hovering around the bridge.

It was going to be a fine photo. The foggy conditions gave an early morning sensation. The ducks in the middle are a little hard to see, but they added a scenic quality.

Then this lone kayaker emerged from under the bridge. I scrambled to refocus my camera to get the shot.

The kayaker makes the image much more intimate. A scene without the kayaker would seem so far away. Having a person in the photo allows us to put ourselves in his place and imagine ourselves having the whole lake to ourselves.

Some people consider Lake Natoma Crossing to be just another concrete eyesore. I mentioned earlier that the arches under the bridge are ornamental. Unlike the Truss Bridge, the elegance of this modern bridge is not an outcome of holding up the bridge. The arches are there to simply make it look prettier. Could you image the scene without the arches?

I call this photo, “A Quiet Morning Ride,” because of this peaceful feeling of the kayaker having the whole lake to himself.

What Makes Pretty Pictures

A lot goes into making pretty pictures. Certainly, there is an element of luck when people enter a scene to make them extra special.

But, this only works because of the history of all the players in the the images. “Away” is impactful because the Truss Bridge was from an era where beautiful form came from function. If it were built today, the bridge could have been just a concrete slab.

A bridge that could have just been a concrete slab to serve its function is the Lake Natoma Crossing. “A Quiet Morning Ride” would not be as scenic if the ornamental arches were not there for the sake of aesthetics.