Thanks joecow...It was very dark under the bridge on the west side of the bridge with the sun behind me. I was in the shade of the cliff that was also behind me with the daylight, although diffused by a slight hazy light overcast, on the buildings on the other side of the river to the east. At the time I knew nothing about blending photos or really doing much of anything in photoshop for that matter, so I used a single exposure whereas now I would probably bracket and try to blend them for more balance.

This was shot under the George Washington Bridge from the Jersey side in Fort Lee on New Years Eve of last year in the afternoon and I nearly got arrested for taking it.

Although I was unaware of it, they had imposed a ban of photography for security reasons at the bridge that day and even though the park ranges saw me with my big camera, tripod, and 12 inch long lens, he said it would be fine, we just couldn't drive into the park under the bridge but we could walk in. Apparently, the park ranger didn't know about the ban either.

Some security personnel, not the police, came down and started hassling me to which I responded that the park ranger said it was ok and besides if I was up to no good I certainly wouldn't be so conspicuous with my equipment. I would likely have a small pocket camera not this monster camera, lens, and a tri-pod! He did let me go and keep the photos, but he had an attitude about it.

flipthom...it is exactly 1/2 of the bridge cut lengthwise down the middle, so how is that not half?

Maybe this view will clarify that for you:

http://www.capturethisphotography.com/2007/01/under-gwb-looking-at-ny-from-fort-lee.html

It was cropped a bit, but not quite as much as you might think. The top part and some of the bottom as well was too dark and it was not quite half, it was more like 3/4's when I shot this last Dec.

I had another shot which cut the bridge at an angle it was cropped at the far support, but that wasn't any good for the theme since it wasn't half the bridge nor could it be cropped as such.

If you aren't familiar with the GWB it is a very large 2 level bridge. Here is a shot from about 2 years ago that better shows the scale:

http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/3436/2313/1024/P1222674.jpg

When I shot it I wanted to use the bridge to frame the park and the apartments on the other side.

Yes yes.... exactly what you said about framing the park....
That's what I meant when I said the focus was the shoreline.
I love that other shot. What an amazing bridge!