Photo courtesy Jenny McCabe

When Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) students, Jenny McCabe and Mariah Lamb, contacted The Landmark Society regarding a collaborative project featuring one of our Five to Revive selections for 2013, we jumped at the chance. Jenny and Mariah wanted to do a feature on the pedestrian bridges that span the Erie Canal in Genesee Valley Park. The bridges not only provide transportation to walkers, runners, bikers using Rochester’s extensive trail system but they’re also significant as a design element in the park.

Photo courtesy Jenny McCabe

The park itself was designed by noted landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, while the bridges were designed by his successors in the Olmsted firm when the Canal was re-routed through the Park.

Photo courtesy Jenny McCabe

We thought Jenny and Mariah’s project would be a great opportunity to highlight the beauty of the bridges to a new audience. Here, in their own words, is a bit more about the project:

This project was for a class at RIT called Editorial Design and Photography. In this class photographers and graphic designers team up to create an editorial article. We do this three times with different partners and different topics with the end result of a magazine called Positive/Negative. The topics are completely open to the students with one guideline: it has to have either a positive or a negative spin. We write the article, photograph the story, and design the layout. For our project, Mariah Lamb (designer) and I (Jenny McCabe/ photographer) knew we wanted to focus on something local. We knew The Landmark Society would make for a great story and wanted to showcase the positive things they do for Rochester. I was attracted to photograph the pedestrian bridge in Genesee Valley Park because of its wonderful shape and the purpose it serves to the Rochester community. We very much enjoyed working on this project in collaboration with The Landmark Society.

And here is the final product that Jenny and Mariah produced: We so enjoyed working with them and love how they have showcased the bridges! Congratulations on a beautiful final project!

Photo courtesy Jenny McCabe