Saturday, February 18, 2012

Baldwin Street - The Steepest Street in the World

Baldwin Street - Dunedin, New Zealand

According to Guinness World Records, this is the steepest street in the world, at least that's what the sign says at the bottom. 

Making a photo look like what one actually sees is sometimes a real challenge.  It is often hard, for example, to capture the grandeur and vastness of a mountain scene.  If you use a wide angle lens, you will get a wide shot, but the mountains look small.  If you use a telephoto, the mountains look big, but you can't get much of the scene in the frame.  (Of course one solution would be to do a pano in this situation.) Anyway, this was one of those times when I couldn't capture what I was seeing.  I took photos from the bottom looking up, and I took photos from the top looking down (after I stopped panting and gasping for air after the climb).  I tried different lens, and shot from standing up to laying on the road.  But the photos just don't do this street justice.  We parked our car at the bottom and walked to the top, taking several stops to rest.  It was steep!  Every year as part of a local festival they have races up and down.  It's called the 'Baldwin Street Gutbuster'.
Here are some side views: