Archive for March 2022
perilous disposition
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Remember that insanely cold day back in middle February when it was twelve degrees? That’s the one where a humble narrator got frostbitten, when he decided to be at the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City at five o’clock in the morning. I remember it well, since I’m just now starting to get the feeling back in my fingertips. Literally weeks later.
It’s felt like I’ve been wearing a band aid over my right thumb ever since, and it’s only in the last few days that the nerve damage from the frost bite has ameliorated sufficiently to perceive texture again. You have to suffer for your art, they say. Well, here’s what it looked like while I was sustaining an atmospheric temperature induced injury.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dutch Kills was thoroughly frozen over. A plate of ice several inches thick sat over the water. One was awaiting the arrival of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself in the vault of the sky, with the camera set up on its tripod. What that meant was that I was standing still with my feet in a six to eight inches of snow and a solid fifteen miles an hour wind hitting me. I needed to pee, but was afraid that if I “whipped it out” to do “that,” “it” might freeze and crack off.
Yes, I was wearing gloves. In fact, a layer of thermal underwear AND a long sleeve sweatshirt would have been found under my normal clothing. Additionally, a fleece sweatshirt would have been observed under the filthy black rain coat by the staff at the coroner’s office after being defrosted. On my left hand, I actually had two gloves on. On the right, there was just one so I could still operate the camera. Cannot tell you how difficult that is when you numbness has set in. Cold is my kryptonite.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had left HQ at about 4:30 in the morning and hopped in a cab for the journey to Dutch Kills, which I normally just walk to. Man, oh man was it cold.
The entire purpose of the exercise was the hope that my favorite little tree of paradise, pictured in the first shot, might have some snow on its bows. No such luck. Since I was already on site, I decided to just tough it out and wait for the morning light to arrive. That interval is what resulted in frost bite. It wasn’t “British explorer” frost bite, mind you. There was no discoloration or blistering, just a bit of nerve damage.
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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.
barbaric degeneracy
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As part of the recent sunken barge raising operation on Newtown Creek, crews working on the project had brought in several equipment barges which operated as platforms for them to work from. The Tug CMT Pike was there to keep everything placed correctly and provide motive power to combat the effect of tide and current. Pike seems to be hanging around the creek. I recently observed the tugboat from the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge in the dark of night.
The location where the barge went down was actually quite fortuitous for both myself and the environment. In my case, it was the rare occasion when something had happened and I could easily get three different points of view of the situation without having to climb on or trespass through something, and in the case of the barge – it didn’t settle down on any petroleum pipelines or conduits of criticality, or anything other than mud and yuck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After getting my shot of the Pike at the gloriously named “Unnamed Canal,” I headed over to the Newtown Creek Nature Walk on the DEP’s property, along the Whale Creek tributary, and got in a few long shots of the action.
One maintained the tripod and filter setup for the camera, which I’d established at the start of the excursion. I also decided that I’ve got to buy myself an infrared filter. I’ve since ordered one, but it’s on back order, so hang in there lords and ladies – Martian landscapes will be coming this spring.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking westwards towards Manhattan along the main spine of Newtown Creek, this was one of the last shots I captured with the tripod and filter setup before reconfiguring the gear back towards hand held mode. Reconfiguring takes the form of changing a few menu settings, detaching the filter and tripod and cable release, and closing all of the hatches on the camera body which allow for “hands off” operation. The entire operation takes less than five minutes. I can do it faster, but what’s the rush and when you’re dealing with camera gear – it always pays to be methodical – in terms of storing the gear away and ensuring that all the switches and settings are circumstantially correct.
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.
psychopathic institution
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, a few weeks back, a barge sunk into the gelatinous waters of the gregarious Newtown Creek. This isn’t the first time, won’t be the last, this sort of thing happens. Nothing nasty got released into the water, the barge was filled with rock and sand. Saying all that, it’s quite the pickle raising a barge sitting under 20-30 feet of water, and it requires specialized gear and a crew of experts. Luckily, NY Harbor being NY Harbor, there are a couple of outfits which will rent you the equipment and help you hire the experts needed to operate their stuff.
That’s capitalism for ya, huh? There’s a solution to every problem, if the price is right. Given the times we live in – that’s not a critique of our grandiose economic system, rather it’s an appreciative comment on a part of its feature set.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lucky for a humble narrator, this particular barge went down in a spot nearby a location which I’ve got access to over in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. After attending a Newtown Creek Alliance press event in Maspeth earlier in the day, which involved a couple of Congress members and a gaggle of local “electeds,” I hitched a ride back to Greenpoint and got busy.
It was the worst time of day for light during the winter – right around noon o’clock – but I was prepared for that, and the tripod was deployed with an ND Filter affixed to the lens to slow things down and control the amount of light a bit. I got “a-clicking.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems that there was a diver in the water, who was attaching ropes and airbags and all sorts of arcane hoses to the sunken barge. That hit of motion blur on the crane’s arm betrays the process – with the diver and laborers moving ropes and chains around and under the sunken barge. Every now and then, you’d see the diver’s helmet pop up out of the drink.
How exciting.
“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.
terraqueous globe
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scuttling, always scuttling, camera in hand, filthy black raincoat flapping about, shoes scraping the concrete. That’s my life. Wherever I go, there I am. Nothing ever changes, nothing matters, nobody cares. Everyday, it all starts over again. Sometimes it rains.
Recent endeavor found me friendless, and wandering through Long Island City on my way home to Astoria after a long walk around a short tributary of the fabulous Newtown Creek. An FDNY crew seemed to be taking a break, but this particular ambulance was instead awaiting its turn to enter a gargantuan vehicle services garage that the agency maintains about a block away. I can’t ignore it when the fire people start strobing colored lights around the study area, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You have to pick your route, I always say. There’s so many “corridors” in Long Island City’s still industrial areas that dead end at a rail yard or a highway that you need to put a little thought into whether turning left or right at a particular corner is a good move. Make the wrong choice and you’re suddenly presented with an extra four to five blocks of walking in the cold dark.
Y’know, I never see stray cats or dogs around these parts. You see cats nearby certain industrial sites and shipping warehouses, but they’re generally being “kept” with food, water, and shelter to assist with pest control. You do hear a lot of hawks and falcons, but they are an illusion. The cries of these birds of prey echo about the empty streets, with said utterances being played through roof mounted speaker systems to scare away prey species like gulls, pigeons, and their ilk. The fear induction mechanism is meant to keep these feathery loiterers from nesting on building roofs, and degrading them structurally with guano.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While scuttling back towards HQ, my empty existence was suddenly illuminated by the appearance of a single shoe, perched along the fencelines of the gargantuan Sunnyside Yards. It would seem that the Queens Cobbler has reemerged from lockdown. A probable serial killer who leaves macabre singular shoe trophies to mock law enforcement and the surrounding communities, the Queens Cobbler has followed me home at least twice – and left behind personalized messages adorning the fence surrounding HQ.
How long will the Queens Cobbler’s reign of terror continue?
“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.
expiring orb
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One really hopes that this critter was playing possum, but given that this shot comes from the corner of Queens Blvd. – I don’t think it was pretending to be dead. Shame, it seemed nice.
Despite the blistering cold, one felt an obligation to migrate over to the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City’s Degnon Terminal section and check in on the collapsing shoreline situation along 29th street.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yup, still collapsing. You probably wouldn’t be surprised at how difficult it is to build up a sense of urgency in officialdom regarding this dangerous situation. They have lots of budgetary options available to them once the street collapses and somebody gets hurt, but very few dollars to spend prior to that happening. Let’s hope that whomsoever gets mortally wounded here is a really sympathetic victim. Homeless mother of three? New immigrant supporting a family by working nights driving a truck? BIPOC Trans bicyclist recently recovered from Covid and interment in a North Korean death camp for distributing condoms and bibles? That Opossum from the first picture?
I really, really hate the world right now. Everyone is focused on what can happen rather than what is happening and that causes bad things to happen.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Dutch Kills canal has been more or less frozen over for the last few weeks of January and half of February, with a stout plate of inch thick ice croaking and creaking against the bulkheads and shorelines. When it warms up, and the frost heaves begging to melt away, I’m pretty sure something bad is going to occur on 29th street.
Thing is, nothing matters and nobody cares.
“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 