London Bridge Is Falling Down

London Bridge is falling down,

Falling down, falling down.

London Bridge is falling down,

My fair lady.

London Bridge was built across the Thames in about 1830, but by 1962 the old nursery rhyme was coming true and the bridge was no longer safe for traffic. The city of London decided to sell it, and along came a real estate developer named Robert P. McCulloch, who was having difficulty attracting people to his planned retirement community in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He bought the bridge and it was dismantled in 1967 and transported to Arizona in pieces, each numbered. The original stonework was put in place over a new concrete structure, so the “falling down” was no longer an issue. Interestingly, the bridge was built on dry land and then a canal was dredged out under it. There is a rumor that McCulloch thought he was buying the much more recognizable Tower Bridge, but he and the sellers both have denied that. In any case, the plan worked and Lake Havasu City is now a thriving little desert town and recreation area.

For the shot I wanted to catch the lights and reflections, but I also wanted to be able to see the bridge, so I shot while there was still some ambient light. I used a Nikon D700 with a 24-120mm lens at 28mm and F/3.8. The ISO was 800, and I did a 1-second exposure. I didn’t like the result, though. It looked unbalanced and lacked depth, so I stepped back and included the posts and chains in the foreground.