In a recent post I outlined my views on the pros and cons of daily challenges and mentioned the likelihood that I’d be switching from Project 365 to a weekly photo challenge for 2013. I’m now into Week 4 of the HooHaa52 2013 challenge. We’re a small group (16 participants), with quite a few members who also geocache.

I had a lot of fun with the Week 1 (New) and Week 2 (Weather) themes. Both weeks I had a hard time choosing just one photo for the challenge, so I selected what I considered my best efforts for each week and asked the rest of the GeoKs to help me choose “the one”.

“Bridges” was the Week 3 theme. It briefly crossed my mind to photograph everyone in taekwondo class lined up while doing back bends (aka bridges)*. But almost as soon as I read the word bridges I felt compelled to head into downtown Calgary to shoot the (in)famous Peace Bridge over the Bow River.

Designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect, sculptor and engineer, the Peace Bridge is one of 4 pedestrian bridges over the Bow River as it flows just north of downtown Calgary. The project design was single-sourced (to an overseas firm), was really expensive (approx. $25 million), and was finally completed and opened in March 2012 (about a year and a half late).

Despite all the municipal angst about how much it cost, the fact that it’s not situated at any major crossroad, etc., I’m of the view that it was worth it in the end and find the red and white double-helix design quite beautiful.

Please take a look and let me know what you think…

I think this is my favourite perspective, shot from the west end of Prince’s Island Park…

* BTW, some of the other HooHaa52 participants were really creative in their interpretation, including a close-up of the bridge of a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of a nose and a close-up shot of the bridge on a viola. Nice going!