Weekly Photo Challenge: From Every Angle #2: The Golden Gate Bridge

I rarely post two responses for one photo challenge, but I was so torn by my choices for this week’s WordPress “From Every Angle” Photo Challenge that I felt compelled to break my rule and post another response. And in this post I’d like to focus on what is perhaps the penultimate SF site, because few sites say San Francisco more than the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge.

In fact, the Golden Gate Bridge joins the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the Lincoln Memorial as total visual symbols of the United States. One of the perks of living in San Francisco is being able to easily visit and photography the bridge, and I feel lucky to have that opportunity. I often think to myself that people come from around the world to visit the bridge and it’s in my own backyard. I always appreciate that fact, and I try to take advantage of it, because it’s really an amazing site. It always makes me sad and a little perplexed that many people who live in San Francisco never indulge in all of the great things this city has to offer. But that’s my own particular thing, a rant perhaps better left for another post.

Some fun facts about the Golden Gate Bridge: The bridge officially opened with much fanfare on April 19, 1938. It took four years to complete, with work starting on January 5, 1933. The bridge celebrated its 75th birthday in 2013. It is 4200 feet long, and until 1964 it was the world’s longest suspension bridge. It handles 110,000 cars a day, who pay its whopping $7.00 per car toll. The Golden Gate Bridge cost $35 million to build, and 11 died while building it. Nineteen others fell but landed in the safety nets; they’re known as the ‘Halfway to Hell Club.’

And for those who wonder or debate about the bridge’s color, it is officially known as “International Orange” and its a variation on the color used now for many astronaut jumpsuits. In fact, it is a color commonly used by the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surroundings. The tone of International Orange used to paint the Golden Gate Bridge is slightly lighter than the standard International Orange used by military contractors and in engineering in order to increase its visibility to ships.

For those graphic designers who want to emulate that Golden Gate Bridge color, it is most closely matched by Pantone color 180. Pantone color 180C is equivalent to the hex code #C0362C.

I guess the bottom line is that I’ve had many chances to photograph this iconic piece of architecture from many, but not all angles. Here’s a few samples of my many visits to San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge.