Archive for September 2021
impatient affirmation
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, on the negative front – the Ferris Wheel in Times Square’s gondolas are lined with a kind of flexible plastic that isn’t exactly optically ideal. Additionally, the plastic was quite filthy and covered with greasy fingerprints and “yuck.” Given that a humble narrator was shooting from within this hazed plastic enclosure (it’s also rather snug in there) at a brightly lit scene, photo quality suffered. Luckily, I’m used to brandishing the camera about in less than ideal circumstances.
For twenty bucks, you basically get three revolutions of the wheel to take your photos during. I anticipated the plastic problem, and made a homemade light baffle for the lens out of the sort of foam sealant strips you would use when installing an air conditioner. Didn’t fix the problem, but definitely helped ameliorate some of it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got a collection of homemade camera equipment, I should mention. All the electronic stuff is store bought, obviously, but there’s all kinds of environmental adaptations which would cost a fortune if I bought it from the camera people. A year or two ago, a screw that attached the tripod mounting plate to my camera got stripped, and the camera store offered a replacement which retailed for $10. For a screw, $10. I got a box of 20 of them from Amazon for $6. I seem to spend more time scrutinizing Home Depot’s offerings than I do B&H’s these days.
A camera’s tripod mount screw is a quarter inch 20 turn screw. A tripod’s head mount is a three eighth’s inch 20 turn screw. Go to a hardware store, and use your imagination. One of my camera support mechanisms has furniture casters for feet. I had a carpenter body of mine cut an ARCA Swiss Mount into a block of hard rubber that another friend – Hank the Elevator Guy – suggested I use for a squared off vibration damper which I like to mount on my camera’s L Bracket. Ever try a string tripod? Cut a rain shield out of a soda bottle? Countersink a screw into a chunk of wood? It’s glorious, I tell you, DIY is, and kind of fun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The one above is the shot I was hoping to get from up on the wheel. I had to play around with all the settings on my camera, while chatting with the other photographer who was randomly sharing the gondola with me, who coincidentally was using the exact same camera and lens model as I. Wonder how his shots came out.
So, that’s how I spent last Monday night. Minor adventures continued while walking to the train station through the weirdly deserted midtown Manhattan streets. There were plenty of people there, but given what the “normal” density encountered would be on a Monday night on the streets neighboring the 42nd street corridor, it felt like I was either in a zombie movie or it was Labor Day. Not done shooting, by a long shot, one walked away from the subway station which offered the most direct connections back to my section of Astoria. Instead, I headed towards Grand Central Station, where my intention was to board a 7 train. More tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
unsuspected galaxy
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So… there was basically no chance that I wasn’t going to be attracted to Times Square to ride the Mayor’s Ferris Wheel – was there? Having a obligation along Newtown Creek on Tuesday evening, and the forecast of torrential rains occurring later in the week, the only night I could fit this in was Monday and that’s why and when a humble narrator found himself standing in Times Square on the 30th of August with a $20 Ferris Wheel ticket in his hand.
Times Square, the “crossroads of the world,” is also the exact spot where the biblical garden of Eden was located. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was more or less where the entrance to the IND Broadway subway station is at 42nd and Broadway. It’s an easy commute from Astoria, Eden.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having to explain to a couple of con men that I in fact lived here and was thereby a bad mark – I did wish them luck, and instructed one of them that when he figured out “where da rich peoples at,” that he should find me and we’d team up to defraud them – one scuttled over to the 46th street side of Times Square and assessed the standing in line situation.
I could not help but think that the process which began here in Times Square some thirty years ago – the so called “Disneyfication” of “Da Deuce” – was now complete. There’s a ride here now. It won’t be long before there’s a permanent Roller Coaster installed. Manhattan’s Times Square is no longer a “central business district,” rather it’s a NYC themed amusement park laid out like a garish whore for tourists to admire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had purchased my ticket through the interwebs, which allows for scheduling your ride. My ticket engaged at 7:30 p.m. For your $20, you essentially get three revolutions in one of those goofy gondolas. For my $20, I’m getting at least two posts out of the excursion, this being the first.
It’s not easy being as cynical as this, but I put some effort into it. Tomorrow, I’ll show you what the view was like from onboard. Hey – how many times do you think it’s going to be possible to be 110 feet over Times Square? Can’t speak for the future, but in the last fifty and change years this is the first time I’ve been able to swing it. More tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 