Archive for December 7th, 2011
foetid darkness
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On Monday the 5th of December, the Newtown Creek Alliance had drawn me from the safety of Astoria to the wild streets of Brooklyn and far off Williamsburg’s Graham Avenue. I decided to walk, as the mists had begun to swirl. When the meeting ended, certain Greenpoint based members of the Alliance offered me a lift as far they were going and I gladly took their offer.That’s how I ended up on the Pulaski Bridge in the middle of an astounding weather event.
In the photo above, what is missing from the shot of Newtown Creek is Manhattan.
from wikipedia
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth’s surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term “fog” is typically distinguished from the more generic term “cloud” in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Even the nearby spires of Tower Town in Long Island City were obscured, lost in some primal soup. The sound was eerie, as well, and our Lady of The Pentacle (who is British) informs me that her countrymen would often remark that sound doesn’t travel the same way through fog as it does in clear air and great caution should be exercised when moving around in it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking toward Dutch Kills along Borden Avenue, which trails along the malefic Newtown Creek, the enormous advertising sign mounted upon the “Fresh Direct” facility (which recently was, but I’m not sure if it still is, the nations largest illuminated sign) was creating quite a lightshow in the mist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This thing plays through several advertisements for the Internet green grocer, and spotlights key products and offers to passing drivers on the Long Island Expressway, which it towers above. Depending on when in the repeating reel of ads you were, the mist either looked like this…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…Or like this!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Additionally, here’s one from earlier in the day, at Maspeth Creek, looking toward the Kosciuszko Bridge.
The Newtown Pentacle 