Michael Wilkins
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Night photograph of the Sydney Harbour Bridge lit in teal and gold, its full arch mirrored in still water in the foreground with the city skyline glowing behind.

Coathanger

Sydney, Australia · February 2018

1D X Mark II, 25 millimetres, f 22, 20 seconds, ISO 800

Sydneysiders call it the coathanger. Lit up, it earns something better.

Shot from the north shore with the tide out and enough standing water left behind to take the whole arch. The bridge was lit teal that night, which against the sodium of the city gives you two colour temperatures in one frame and nothing much in between. Long exposure to flatten the water — at anything shorter the reflection breaks up and the symmetry goes with it.

Part of Night Cities, a series.