Stunning new book captures Glasgow's bridges in all their glory

Jul 2 2009 By Peter Carroll

A CITY photographer has produced an exhibition and book of images depicting 20 Glasgow bridges crossing the River Clyde.

Student snapper George P. McDonald, 60, set out last summer to capture the bridges within the city boundaries as part of a college project.

George, a retired maths teacher, said he got the idea from living on the river's edge at Finnieston and watching the Squinty Bridge, also known as the Clyde Arc, being built in October 2006.

He said: "I take an interest in engineering and I decided the variety of designs and constructing methods would make an interesting subject for my project. All 20 of the bridges were built between 1853 and 2006 and some of them now aren't even used, but they all show an amazing variety of construction and style.

"Some of the resulting images feature in the exhibition and the rest are in the book." Being a perfectionist, George even returned to update his bridge collection by taking shots of the new Squiggly Bridge, which opened in May this year.

His project took him to some strange parts of the city during the night but he says it was all worth it in the end.

He said: "Believe me, you meet some weird and wonderful people when you are on the banks of the Clyde taking pictures in the dark."

A collection of George's images will be on display at a gallery in city centre eatery, the Mussel Inn, 157 Hope Street, from tonight until August 5. Visit: www.musselinn.com/gallery