Beyond Thunderdome: A Pro's View

Over the last year and a half or so we have explored the Hartford I-91 overpass a couple of times. First there was a solo journey on a hot summer day which ended with us being spooked by some sort of feral beast as we started to explore the underbelly of the overpass. The next time we visited the overpass we made a thorough investigation and ended up with some really cool pictures. That investigation lead to the a post about a Hartford Overpass Love Story, a post many have stated is the funniest post in the history of Sad City. Those posts piqued the interest of Robb Cyr, a professional photographer whose family had owned a house on McLean Street and he emailed us and asked about the location.






As is far too commonplace Mr. Cyr first asked about the safety and bringing a model and camera equipment to the area. We chuckled to ourselves and responded that as long as he wasn't planning on skulking about at 2 am around the overpass, we were sure that he would be fine. We also told him that it would be a great location and would love to see the results when he did the shoot. While we think we do some decent writing and photos here, we certainly aren't presumptive enough to think of ourselves as photographers or journalists (all of Hakaan and Jumper's photos on this site have been taken with a cell phone) and we were very interested in what a professional shoot would look like.





As we are always happy to promote the arts in Hartford, we told Mr. Cyr that we would be more than happy to showcase his photos, especially since he was showcasing a part of Hartford itself and that Sad City had inspired the work. The shoot did take some time to come together, but last night we finally got to see the results as Mr. Cyr sent us his shots. We think you will agree with us that they are very cool photos. We also got an email detailing his experience at the shoot.



"When I saw your original 2 blog posts I immediately thought this would be a great place for a location shoot. When I visited the overpass I was pleasantly surprised at how much legit use this bridge gets. During our shoot we had 3 joggers and 2 mountain bikers come through. I think this speaks to a lot of things in Hartford, Some areas and places might look a little precarious but If you take the time to carefully explore, you find that Hartford isn't ENTIRELY a sh*t storm of bullets and drugs. I hope these photos help people realize that if you visit some of the roads less traveled in the area you may find your new favorite spot. My aim with these photos was to have fun and introduce a little bit of friendliness to a structure that has a pretty rough appearance. I hope you and your readers enjoy."


Well as we wrote back to Mr. Cyr, he more or less summed up the entire purpose of this blog in that email. We are glad we inspired someone to get out there and check something out in town and it's even cooler that these photos were the result of the blog posts. If there is anything we try to get across on Sad City it is that there is a ton of interesting places to explore in the city that really have no danger whatsoever. This interesting coil of concrete and fencing included. 


Now time for credit where credit is due. Photos by Robb Cyr. See more of his work on Facebook here or check out his website at www.robbcyr.com. All parties claim that the models real name is Serafine Clearwater (heck why not, we've seen Peerless Price play football and God Shammgod play basketball) and for booking she can be reached at Sendmoreparamedics@yahoo.com. Assistant on the shoot was Eliot Geller. Once again, thanks to all involved in the shoot and we're are glad Sad City was an inspiration! 


For Sad City's photos on the trip through click here.


For the Overpass Love Story discovered by Sad City click here.


Also check out Sad City's Favorite Hartford Photos at CTPhotoJunkie here.


More photos from Mr. Cyr's shoot below.