The Bridge, Reconstructed: A Different Perspective of the Golden Gate Bridge
I wanted to challenge the perceptions of the Golden Gate Bridge. In solid red-orange and spanning 1.7 miles long, the Golden Gate Bridge is an icon of San Francisco. Though it is visibly massive, people often chase after the same handful of popular perspectives that garner significant social media engagement, which can become repetitive.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve made uncountable trips to this 1.7 miles of architectural wonder to capture all its faces that have never been presented before. The bridge has many beautiful features that are neglected when it’s observed as a whole. It comprised of imposing towers, stylized street lamps, gigantic cables, and more — each with their own distinctive geometry and shape — the bridge may be more beautiful when examining its individual features than viewing it as a sum of its parts.
To me, much of the beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge comes from the fact that the design and visual details are very mathematically beautiful and perfect. I’ve always loved mathematics and that really stood out to me. There are lines that reminded me of math plots, cascading shapes that reminded me of geometry problems, and proportions that follow the Golden Ratio.
Additionally, because of the location and size, there’s minimal visual clutter, making it even more so seem like a perfect mathematical diagram or equation.
Thus, I sought to create a series of photos that represent the Golden Gate Bridge without showing the bridge in its entirety. It’s an intimate portrait of the Golden Gate Bridge studying its form, lines, shapes, and color. Through these photos, I hope to reconstruct our perspectives towards the Golden Gate Bridge.
This is an ongoing project and I’m in the process of putting together a photo book for this series and if you’re interested, feel free to subscribe to get updates!
About the author: Michael Yuan is a Canadian photographer based in San Francisco. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of Yuan’s work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.
