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Aug 14, 2006 8:31 am US/Eastern
Notable New Yorker: Bridges Connect Man To Passion
by Kate Sullivan
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Dave Frieder standing on top of the world with the World Trade Center behind in the background.
Dave Frieder
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The George Washington Bridge is one of Dave Frieder's favorites. It's where his passion began.
Dave Frieder
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Frieder's view straight down thousands of feet to the water below.
Dave Frieder
Some people spend a lifetime developing their passion. Not Dave Frieder -- he knows it and lives it every day. He's a photographer, but it's what he photographs that really tells his story.
Bridges -- you drive over them every day, see them from a distance or hear how busy they are. But bridges do more than just connect one land mass to another. They can tell stories with rich cultural significance.
For repairman/avid photographer Dave Frieder, bridges are pure bliss.
"I love it. I am like thrilled to death. It's like a natural high," said Frieder. "I've probably been actually more places than Superman has been. Some people have actually called me a modern day Ansel Adams in a Spiderman costume."
Think about the importance of bridges. Staten Island would look different without the Verrazano, and the George Washington Bridge ushered in a whole new era. The Brooklyn Bridge is practically part of Americana.
For Frieder, no bridge is too tall, no crevice too tiny to climb. He wedges himself into a spot for the perfect shot.
"Anywhere I can hang, climb or crawl I would go," he said. "Heights don't phase me in the least bit, not at all."
Frieder's been photographing bridges for 13 years and had taken thousands of photos -- snapshots of a world few get to see. A New Jersey native, the George Washington Bridge has a special place in his heart, since it's the spot that piqued his interest as a child.
Frieder says that walking up the main cables on the bridge is the easiest way to get up. Some bridges have elevators, but they don't take him as high as he wants to go. To get to his prime locations, it's all about the rung ladders or the steel work.
Frieder's goal is to compile enough fabulous photos to publish a coffee table book, but until then he's still snapping away, in awe of the beauty and grandeur of the area's most overlooked architecture.
"I love it. I love engineering. I love photography, I love N.Y.C. I like living in N.J.," he said. "I like to have the quietness and the serenity of the air but I love coming into N.Y. and N.Y.C. has the greatest bridges in the world. And a little excerpt from the old CBS Radio, it said, "New York City..the greatest city in the world that has the greatest bridges in the world."
If you know someone who fits the bill of a Notable New Yorker -- whether they have a fascination with bridges or they have devoted their life to a worthy cause -- I would love to hear from you. Click on Notable New Yorkers in the middle of our home page.
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