Bill Christensen’s medium is photography and his brush is a Nikon camera. His subject could be the Mackinac Bridge, a bear in Alaska, a rickhouse in Kentucky, or
even guitars captured in the wilds of the Heritage factory. We travel by car when we venture out, allowing many opportunities to pull over when we find something captivating for Bill to photograph. Car travel is best for this because those pictures taken from an airplane window never seem to turn out. My brush is an iPhone from which I navigate and document our travels. My palette is the Google Map app.
On our most recent trip driving back from Bar Harbor, Maine, the subject of covered bridges came up as a fall color photo subject. (Note: the Fallasburg Covered Bridge in Lowell has been one that Bill has wanted to capture in fall, but hasn't because we are usually traveling out of state.) I opened my Google map app and typed "covered bridge" in the search bar. Google found them all around us and many were very close to our route. We began seeking out these scenic, often historic covered bridges. Most had virtually no traffic, allowing Bill to take his time setting up the shot. We stopped at covered bridges across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.
As we crossed the border from Pennsylvania to Ohio along I-90 West, we entered Ashtabula County, destined for our first Ohio covered bridge. Imagine our surprise as we pulled up to find a tent pitched beside the bridge with the local Fire Department roasting hot dogs. At first I thought maybe it was a private picnic, but Bill approached the tent to ask what was going on. Turns out that weekend was the ASHTABULA COUNTY COVERED BRIDGES FESTIVAL! This particular covered bridge was one of 19 covered bridges highlighted by the festival and maps were available. Bill got all the covered bridge photography he could handle that day, and we laughed about our luck and timing.
When we returned to Michigan, Bill did venture up to Fallasburg to capture our beautiful local covered bridge with the fall color he wanted. Bill’s new Covered
Bridge Collection is now on display at the Biggby Coffee shop at 146 Monroe Center St NW # 155, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.
