In May, a wedding shoot took me to Pennsylvania. The couple I would be photographing wanted rustic charm in their wedding photos and, besides a weathered barn, what is more iconic and charming than an old covered bridge?!

The particular covered bridge at which they wanted photos taken was just a short drive from the church where the wedding would be held. As is customary before every wedding, I went there to scout things out ahead of time. As you can see below, for landscape photography, it was a challenging location. With some cloning work, however, you could make it a pretty nice-looking place.

For portrait photography, on the other hand, it was a much easier location! Especially for wedding photos.

Pennsylvania is known for its covered bridges. One summer, I spent a day or two at my uncle and aunt’s home in Lancaster County and was determined to photograph as many covered bridges as I could while I was there. It was pretty easy finding them scattered around the local area and yes, I got photos of all five.

Pennsylvania isn’t the only place where you can find covered bridges, though. Over the years, I have learned on my travels that there are covered bridges all over the place!

Of course, Vermont comes to mind. The best time to photograph them anywhere is early morning golden hour. You just have to be willing to get up and get there in time.

And there are plenty of covered bridges in Connecticut, too. This one in West Cornwall was right along the route to Kent Falls State Park. It happened to be around lunch time when we drove by, so we stopped for a picnic. And to photograph it too, of course.

New Hampshire is another great place to find covered bridges. I remember Julianna and I running across this one while honeymooning in the White Mountains.

There are also lots of them in Quebec!

And here is one in Ohio….

…and Indiana…

…and, believe it or not, California! It’s kinda interesting how their style of covered bridges is a little different out there.

And then of course, there are many covered bridges in my home State of West Virginia.

Since most covered bridges around here are neither well marked nor highly popular, I often discovered the ones near me by word of mouth or by stumbling on them accidently. Nowadays, a search on Google Maps is a good way to find where they are.

These bridges are like hidden treasure. There are lots of them, too, in lots of unexpected places and each one offers the potential for picturesque, country charm.

Are there any covered bridges near you? Have you gone exploring for them in your own area yet? If you are able to find one soon, during the month of July, feel free to submit it for this month’s photo assignment! You can check out the details here. If you love exploring like I do, this is the assignment for you, and you don’t even have to be a Lenspiration member to win a prize!

I’ll be adding each of the above bridges to the Scouting Guide, but I’d be curious to see where covered bridges can be found in other parts of the country. Who knows, maybe one of these days you’ll find me in your own neck of the woods, down at the old covered bridge with camera in hand.