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Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Views of the Golden Gate Bridge taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" on May 2, left, and May 3.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
In this photo taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" hanger cables on the Golden Gate Bridge are seen on May 2.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
A view of the Golden Gate Bridge taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter
Getty Images photographer Justin Sullivan has photographed the Golden Gate Bridge countless times. Based in northern California, Sullivan frequently gets assignments at the iconic bridge, a popular spot not only for tourists, but for all kinds of news events – from protests to security threats.
On May 27, the Golden Gate Bridge celebrates its 75th anniversary. Sullivan’s offbeat images of the San Francisco icon offer a refreshing perspective on the much photographed bridge. A quick Google images search shows the view most people think of when picturing the bridge. In his Instagrams, Sullivan captures the various moods of the structure in shifting weather, details of its art deco style, as well as some of the sillier moments, often involving tourists.
But it wasn’t until recently that Sullivan actually began photographing the bridge – or anything else, actually – outside of his news assignments. What changed? His daily camera lost some weight.
“I used to never take pictures outside of work," said Sullivan. "I don’t have any pictures of my friends or family. Now, I take pictures all the time.”
In February, Sullivan got the iPhone and with it has come a newfound freedom behind the lens. He has embraced experimenting taking pictures when – and where – it would not be possible with a heavy, expensive professional SLR. Using the phone’s volume button on the earphones to release the shutter, he will playfully hang his phone out of windows and moving vehicles to see what he gets. Of course, the iPhone has not replaced his professional cameras, which he continues to use regularly when on assignment.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
In this photo taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" a tourist is seen holding a puppet in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on May 2.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
This photo taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" and shot from the window of an airplane shows fog rolling over the Golden Gate Bridge on Feb. 21.
This new flexibility allowed him to revisit an idea that occurred to him in 2007 atop Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands. The spot is known for its vista of the Golden Gate Bridge, and this particular day was shrouded in a thick fog. “I ran into [San Francisco Chronicle photographer] Fred Larson on Hawk Hill. We both said we could come to the same spot, at the same time and it would be different every day,” said Sullivan.
And so began Sullivan’s quest to capture the daily life of the Golden Gate Bridge. The popular photo-sharing app, Instagram, provides the perfect outlet for his daily snapshots as he commutes into San Francisco, or when he ends up covering an assignment on the bridge.
Though Sullivan will usually cross the Golden Gate Bridge 3 or 4 times a week, he falls for the bridge’s charm, as is evident in his Instagram feed. "It is one of the architectural wonders of the world," said Sullivan. “I think it’s pretty amazing to be able to drive over it every day.”
Follow Justin Sullivan on Instagram @sullyfoto or see his feed on Instagrid.
Related links:
- Slideshow: The Golden Gate Bridge's 75-year history
- Video: A Golden Gate love story
- Telling campaign stories, one diptych at a time
- Focusing on the edges of the campaign trial with Instagram
- One photojournalist's surreal ride into Libya's war zone
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Views of the Golden Gate Bridge taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" on May 3, left and right, and May 1, center.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Views of the Golden Gate Bridge taken with an iPhone 4S using the Instagram filter "LoFi" on March 16, left, and March 19.
Leave a Comment:
A realistic daily life portrait of the Golden Gate Bridge should include at least one suicide.
Sees Thru Gloss, I understand your frustration of society's widespread existential denial. But you choose the wrong place to vent.
Take something beautiful and sh-t on it...you are a piece of work
a-hole.
I'm a So Cal boy and I lived in San Francisco for about two years. Could not wait to get back to San Diego. Damn it's cold up there all the friggin' time. Beautiful City, but when it's the middle of July and you have to wear a parka it just doesn't work for me.
Best not try to live in any other state besides Florida and Hawaii.
my dad was born in 1925. He walked across the Golden Gate Bridge the first day it opened.
That is very cool :)
My favorite day to walk across the bridge was on Easter Sunday. A favorite for many on that day. We were always in a group that crossed.
In 1937, we had double the unemployment and still had a significant debt. At the same time, we committed to a bold vision to construct this beautiful iconic structure in the Western United States. It costed us a lot of money to build, but we saw it through despite the cost, so don't tell me that government spending doesn't benefit the people! If this bridge was proposed today, it would be labelled pork spending and probably never see completion. The 1930s era of spending brought us many schools, bridges, and dams. It was a depression, but we got out of it through spending. When WWII occurred, our spending shot through the roof and was 120% of our total GDP. If we can spend our way out of a depression, spend our way to victory in WWII, and provide services and new infrastructure for the people, then why is it so controversial to push a stimulus similar to these successful past efforts. The right seems to be both out-of-touch and suffering from amnesia to history. Praise this bold effort that got us out of the Depression, and will get us out of this one provided that our leaders are smart enough to know history. Happy 75th Anniversary Golden Gate, and I hope that your span stands the test of time... =)
Agree - strongly. The GOP is railing about "out of control" Federal spending and MarketWatch comes out a few days ago showing that the Obama administration has the lowest level of federal spending increase in over 25 years - only 1.4% growth. (BTW, right wing hero Ronald Reagan - 8.7%, the highest in the past 25 years, second highest GW Bush, at 8.1%.) We need to urge the feds to spend more federal dollars to put people to work - the working people in America create economic and social growth because they spend most of their income buying locally and circulating money back into the economy - not the millionaires who (for the most part) stash their money away in off shore accounts.
Here is a quote from the second picture in an article about the GG bridge..... "The project received financial backing in November 1930, when voters passed a $35 million bond measure." It looks to me like the California tax payers paid for this beautiful bridge to be built, not the government. Here is a link to the photos which are very interesting ~ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47556139/displaymode/1247?beginSlide=1#.T8Lito61m5Q
I do agree with everything you said.
The Fascists are just trying to sabotage the economic recovery, so they can win in November.
Beautiful, elegant grand ole Lady, may you have another 75 years to go!
Is this an ode the grand bridge or an advertisement for Apple?
I'm sorry, I thought this article was about a historic bridge...I didn't realize this was an article devoted to the iPhone and its photographic capabilities instead, my mistake.
I agree - Instagram! How about just a plane ol picture
Hi, I have Instagram, I'm now a photographer
Some people seem angry that he used his phone. It doesn’t matter whether someone uses a Canon, Nikon, Speed Graphic, iPhone, Android, Leica or a box with a pinhole in it. Cameras do not make good photographs; good photographers make good photographs!
These are good photographs and they only exist because he had a camera in his pocket at all times.
These pictures are worth a story?
A beautiful bridge and to think it was designed in 1921 (not built yet) and as strong as ever to this day.
This was the real American way of working..no way like these days!
iPhone 4s promo? Nice!
Happy 75th to our Beautiful Golden Gate!! It should be quite a celebration. The 50th anniversary was quite spectacular, especially having see it from a boat on the Bay. Cheers!!
I was born in San Francisco... grew up in Palo Alto... haven't been back to California since 1969... how I miss the beautiful Golden State...
sign me-
Stuck in Florida
first day of drivers Training the teacher has me drive across the bridge. That was back in 1965 The Waldo grade was more of a challenge.
If there can be anything more boring and more overdone and more tedious than a bunch of pictures of the GG Bridge pushed through the Been-Done-To-Death Instagram filters I cannot conceive of it. Congrats, oh interns of Photoblog, you have exceeded the previously high bar of tediousness. Now leave for the weekend.
RE: “I'm sorry, I thought this article was about a historic bridge...I didn't realize this was an article devoted to the iPhone and its photographic capabilities instead, my mistake.” - and related comments.
I hate to point out the obvious but according to the big letters at the top of the page, you are reading the PHOTO blog. This is a blog having to do with photography and “conversation sparked by photojournalism”.
Happy 75th Birthday, Golden Gate Bridge!
How absurd that this photographer and others like him believe they are making artistic images.
Without the app, these images are dull, lifeless, and without soul. Bad tourist snapshots.
This Getty photographer is touting his mundane images as "offbeat" simply because the iphone does auto manipulation. It's a breach of photojournalistic ethics, no less egregious than manipulation in photoshop.
I've worked with some of the most renowned photojournalists in the world for the last 30 years.
Cartier Bresson is having a good laugh at this joke.
Let's just call this what it is: LAZY. If you really want to impress us with your creativity, Mr. Sullivan, make a REAL photograph.
Get over yourself.
I can't believe Getty Images would allow this to be called photojournalism. But oh, wait, Getty is the company that pays photographers pennies for the use of their images and has destroyed the value of photography. Now they have their photographers shooting iphone pictures?
This photographer obviously did not identify himself as a photojournalist since he labels all the subjects as "tourist," not even bothering to get their names (which is standard practice for publishing photos). He pretends to be just another tourist, when in reality he's just another sleazy voyeur.