Located on the Tamsui River, the Taipei Bridge was originally built in 1889. To coordinate with the governor Liu Ming-chuan’s railway project, the wooden bridge was laid with railroad tracks in the middle with passages for carriages and horses on both sides. The Taipei Bridge has undergone many reconstructions as the wooden structure was prone to be damaged by typhoons and floods. At the end of 1921, the authority gave up rebuilding the wooden bridge and replaced with an iron one.
Lee Ming-tiao opened a photography equipment shop in Taipei in 1946. His photography creation reached the peak from 1947 to 1948, a period when he also photographed many scenes of bridges. Bridges thus became one of his representative themes. The Taipei Bridge was shot with the Rolleiflex 120 camera commonly used by Lee Ming-tiao at the time. Originally in a square composition, the layout was then cut by Lee to show his emphasis of arranging the image. This work is taken from the pavement under the bridge. The photographer has cut out the foreground section of the work to make the layout more condensed. The Taipei Bridge spans the middle ground of the photo. People walk and cycle on the bridge, and other signs of people’s activities can be spotted under the bridge. A vendor carrying bamboo poles walks towards the camera from the right while boats and fishermen are situated on the left, forming a rich element of this work.
Liu Yi-hui, “2020 Compilation and Research Project of Metadata in Photography.”