Photographer Beezer recalls lightbulb-changers on Clifton Suspension Bridge

Photographer Beezer says a picture he took of maintenance workers changing lightbulbs atop the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol has become one of his most popular images; the trust that owns the bridge bought copies.

Beezer says he shot the picture for a Venue editorial called Life on the Bridge after studying photography on a national training course and working as a stringer for NME and Venue. He describes climbing ladders to the top of a tower, jumping a half‑metre gap into the turret and feeling vertigo as cars below looked like matchboxes and people like pinheads.

He says the men walked up the chain holding the suspension cables and posed without safety equipment; he has outtakes showing them standing up and not hanging on to anything. Beezer said he did not know if they had hard hats or whether the picture caused the workers any trouble afterwards, and suggested they might have worn harnesses only for a high‑profile visit.

Beezer says it is 40 years since he took the photograph and that he heard one of the men retired last year. He added that a shot like that "wouldn't happen today" because of health and safety. Beezer has published volumes called Until Now: A Life in Photographs and says he is still working and hopes to carry on.

Key Topics

Culture, Beezer, Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, Until Now, Bridge Maintenance