Sitting with a very welcome draught lager on the Princes Dock quayside in warm sunshine I realised that this was the first time we had been into the centre of Hull for around seven or eight months. This was during a brief shopping visit now that some Covid restrictions have been lifted but, it being a warm sunny day it was also an opportunity to have a quick look at the new bridge over the A63, Castle Street, for the first time.

A footbridge that is. Sorry, a Connection. It’s called Murdoch’s Connection.

The Murdoch part of the name has nothing to do with controversial media moguls but is a belated recognition of the work of Hull’s first female doctor.

The second part of the name ‘Connection’ whilst correct, leaves me grumbling.

I’m clearly identifying myself as an old person. I come from a distant era before a bridge became a connection or a station became an interchange. So I’m imagining a need for modernising and updating here; The Connection On The River Kwai; A Connection Too Far; The Connections of Madison County? Paul Simon trying to make Connection over Troubled Water scan properly?

Other than Ice Interchange Zebra I’m struggling for other examples of that new word for station and can only fall back on the image of Paul Simon moving onto Homeward Bound with “I’m sitting in the railway interchange / got a ticket for my.…” Yes, well.

The story of Dr. Mary Murdoch is a fascinating one. She was Hull’s first female GP, qualifying in 1896; campaigned to improve living conditions in the city; founded the city’s first crèche; founded a school for mothers and the Hull Women’s Suffrage Society. She was also the first woman in the city to own a car – a De Dion. Sadly, she died of influenza at the age of 51 after braving heavy snow to visit a patient after a Zeppelin raid on Hull in 1916.

I had already seen on Instagram numerous creative examples of wonderful photographs taken of this bridge, many at night when the lighting shows off the architectural sweeps and shapes. During a busy sunny afternoon the best I could do today was grab a few shots with my iPhone with a view to coming back sometime with my Fuji equipment. However, I feel I managed to find some angles and make the most of the conditions, sufficient to justify processing them through combinations of Lightroom, Photoshop and the Nik Collection.

So here they are. Just seven shots taken over a 15m stroll around and rather longer in my digital darkroom.

Hope you enjoy them.

  • Under the canopy
  • Steps and my shadow
  • Steps and symmetry 1
  • Steps & symmetry 2
  • Getting arty with the Princes Quay Shopping Centre
  • Harsh light lends itself to this black and white study of Princes Quay
  • Princes Dock – taken directly into the sun.
For us nerds:

Taken on iPhone 12 Pro Max using Apple Pro Raw in Halide.
Post-processed in Photoshop > Nik Collection > Lightroom