Devil's Bridge, Bulgaria; limited Edition 1 of 5 Photograph

What is probably Bulgaria's most beautiful bridge also has its most sinister name. Fifty-six metres long and 12 metres high, it spans the upper Arda River, near Ardino in the Rhodope, and was supposedly built by the Devil. Or the Devil was seen or heard laughing in the vicinity. Or the Devil agreed that he would leave the builders alone if they managed to construct the bridge in a certain way, so that he would be both visible and invisible at the same time. And so on and so forth. The stories about why the Devil's Bridge has this name are more than even the most devoted tour guide can remember without checking Google for devil bridge legends. Here is the true story. The bridge was built at the beginning of the 16th Century to facilitate travel from the Thracian Plain through the mountains to the Aegean Sea. With the advent of Communism that part of the border with NATO-member Greece was closed. The old route, in use from the time of the Romans, was abandoned, and the bridge was no longer needed. There was a moment when the bridge's very existence was put in danger by the proposed construction of a dam upstream. This did not happen, but recent over-restoration has killed some of the charm of the Devil's Bridge. Whilst in my work I use digital Canons and Nikons and Fujis and the out-of-camera files are being put through Lightroom and Photoshop, I always limit post-processing to the absolute minimum, in an attempt to retain as much as possible of the original atmosphere. To put it in another way, what you see is largely what I saw and experienced in real life at the time the original photograph was taken. This is the first of a series of a five-print limited edition. It is sized 16x24' and is printed on high-quality Hahnemühle Photo Rag Bright White 100% Cotton 310gsm paper. Titled, numbered and signed in pencil by the artist. The artwork ships in a box.