Photographer Visits the Golden Gate Bridge Every Day For Six Years
A fascinating short documentary about a photographer who shoots the Golden Gate Bridge every single day has been published by The San Francisco Standard.
The brief film follows Jake Ricker who has spent the last six years visiting the iconic Californian landmark with increased regularity.
Ricker says he began going to the bridge in 2017 before eventually visiting seven days a week for 10 hours each day from around 2020 onwards.
“I think in like the last three years I’ve maybe missed like 10 to 15 days total,” Ricker says in the video.
Ricker has always had a fascination with the Golden Gate Bridge, particularly the iconic images that have been shot there over the years.
“I just kind of thought, what would happen if one photographer went there all day every day and made one body of work,” he says.
“This is all I do, I don’t have real income or a real job I just kind of go to the bridge every day and then make side money after and live off of my credit card. It’s not the most responsible thing but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Ricker shoots mostly on film which he calls an “endless money pit.” He even shot eight rolls of film in a single day which is $100. The San Francisco Standard visited Ricker’s apartment where he showed them bags and bags of film which he thinks holds 40,000 photos.
“I’ll get to the film eventually and hopefully it all comes out good but it’s like being out there and getting it is more important than sitting in a room scanning for the next six months,” he adds.
Ricker says it’s amazing how much photographers can witness by just “posting up in one spot and letting the world come to you.”
Dark Side of the Bridge
Devastatingly, the Golden Gate Bridge is synonymous with suicide. Authorities have recently begun installing a net to prevent them.
Ricker says over the years he has “played a role in intervening on around 90 or so people” and thinks that when the net is finished that might be a good ending point for the project after which he might make a book or do a show.
More of Ricker’s work can be found on his Instagram or website.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
