4. The “Bridge Man” who photographed the George Washington Bridge from up top
Before 9/11, New Jersey-native Dave Frieder was making it his mission to scale the bridges of New York City. With a working partnership with the New York City D.O.T. over the course of eight years, he was given access to a view few of us ever see. His bridge series begins in 1993, but his work in photography goes back to the age of seven, including a stint with the Ansel Adams Gallery, which he got by cold calling. It was through the Ansel Adams circle that he met Othmar Ammann, an engineer on the George Washington Bridge.
In 2013, we met up with Dave Frieder on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge to talk to him about his feats, which were cut short by security concerns after 9/11. He used photography to fully understand the bridges themselves, 16 of which he has scaled and photographed in New York City. He says, “for me, being able to ‘feel the steel’ was a way of understanding how and why bridges work and function.”
