Photos

"People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. " Joseph F. Newton

THE PLACE:
The "Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge" (aka: JK Bridge) is one of the most famous landmarks of Brasilia.

The bridge was finished in December-2002 and is named after the president that in 50'ies created Brasilia out of nowhere and made it the new Brazilian capital city.

Situated over the Paranoá river, the JK Bridge is well know for its peculiar architecture. It has 6 lanes and its 1,2km long.

Since it's opening it has become on of the favorite tourist attractions of Brasilia and a point of meeting for the local population.

The Bridge can be seen from many locations, each giving a different perspective of the construction.

THE PHOTO:
I tried for a less conventional shot. The initial idea was to photograph just the bridge. But I didn't had a powerful enough Tele lens. Than I decided that maybe it was a good idea shooting a person watching the sunset and the bridge. The person on the photo is me. I used a tripod and set the camera to timer mode.

CURIOUS AND USEFUL FACTS ABOUT THE JK BRIDGE:

- It is a safe and well illuminated monument. It's nice to visit it in different times of the day. The lights give it a very nice feeling at night. Policeman often are on duty on the bridge to ensure the safety of the visitors, specially on weekends. Don't be afraid, go on a friday night and see how beatiful it is at nights.

- The amount of steel used on the JK bridge is enough to build 2 Eiffel Towers.

- The bridge is often referred to as: "An architecture's dream and an enginnering's nightmare". The assymtrical arches produce and extremely strong torsion on the structure. To counter this effect the arches are also large concrete pillar with 26m of depth.

- The amount of underwater concrete used on the bridge is enough to build 2,000 of Brasilia's residential buildings.