Trolley Bridge
Scotty, RedBall Assistant on Jan 20 2008 at 1:26 pm | Filed under: Sites
Day Two: The Trolley Bridge
We start our morning in darkness once again. Its colder than I thought it would be here in Scottsdale, but the people make up for it.
We drive up to our location and are greeted by a very spunky morning news lady and her camera man. I think they where there to get shots of the RedBall as it was being installed. The only problem is that the outlet we needed to use was on a timer that turned itself off sometime in the middle of the night… good for the city, bad for us. I’m not sure how many outlets we checked out but all seemed to be turned off. There where four of us looking at each other with some concern. Luckily, we spotted an outlet on a adjacent building in its outdoor dining area that was not open for business yet. We now had power but no way of reaching it. We can thank the Channel 3 camera guy (sorry, but I did not get your name) for helping us out with a very long extension cord and after a short delay we raced to have the ball inflated by the first television spot of the morning.
The ball (for those of you that don’t know) takes a good 45 minutes to inflate. By the time the news crew was ready to broadcast the ball was inflated. The interview looked dramatic as the sun was coming up behind it; a clear deep blue sky waking up to the morning sun was made more intense by an orange reflection that was coming off the water in the canal which slowly makes its way under the Trolley Bridge.
As the sun came up I begin to see the true beauty of this location. The ball is off to one side of the bridge which is made up of concrete, metal and some sort of stainless steel panels that acts like a mirror during certain times of the day. On one end of the bridge there is Old Town Scottsdale and its winding streets and quaint chachkeys shops. On the other, a new super structure which includes apartments, eateries and fancy shops and in the center of both areas a walking bridge with a big red ball.
As the sun moves from low in the horizon to a mid-day placement the shadows become more apparent. The ball and the bridge seem to be helping each other out; they both give an area for which to block or reflect the light. Add the sky and the lack of clouds and we have a photographers dream. Shadows become dark minimal objects that change shape and size every couple of minutes. As the day progressed there was one thing that I noticed; people where ether in too much of a hurry or would stop for a quick second and walk off. I think some where afraid to approach the ball and look from a far in much the same way you might look at a piece of work in a gallery or museum setting.This environment has seemed to have lost that playful innocence that I thought existed everywhere. Luckily, at around the time school is let out, teens, children and parents where stopping by to checkout the big red ball that they had ether seen on television or read in local publications. The kids curiosity gives me hope that the ball is creating a conversation, between who I’m not sure of.
As the afternoon began to unwind the mayor stopped by to give the ball an opening dedication. Many gathered for cookies and Arnold Palmer’s as the sun began to go down on the opposite side of where it started twelve hours ago.
