Archive for October 2024
Archives #019
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The most wonderful time of the year, and I’m missing it. Bah.
Some good news which this humble narrator can share with you is that my doctor has cleared me for use one of those boot things and then encouraged me to WALK AROUND WITH IT ON. I start physical therapy next week, so I’m taking things slow, but I actually left the house yesterday and drove around Pittsburgh for a few hours. Filled the car’s gas tank while I was out, and had the camera with me while I was motoring about and listening to Black Sabbath, on an atypically warm afternoon. Didn’t take a single shot, the camera just came along for the ride.
Hey! It’s Halloween!
A fairly well read post – by this point in time some 15 years after its original publishing date – is 2009’s Halloween offering of a western Queens ghost story called ‘The White Lady of Astoria.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I’ve mentioned in the past, given the number of people and residences in NYC, there are surprisingly few city ghost stories. I’ve always chalked this up to real estate valuation, as haunted condos don’t sell as well as the ones without spectral amenities. NYPD seems to not use the term ‘serial killer’ that often, I’d also mention. Probably don’t want to get the people nervous.
Just saying… If you calculate NYC’s head count (The New York City metropolitan region, often called the Tri-State Area, has a population of around 20 million people. This includes New York City itself and surrounding areas in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut), a strictly statistical point of view demands that there have to be at least a few serial killers loose and ‘doing their thing’ in the five boroughs at any given moment. (Historically, it’s estimated that about 0.3-0.4 serial killers per one million people are active in the U.S. each year. Translating that into a percentage, this rate would be approximately 0.00003% to 0.00004% per million people annually.)
2014 saw my revelation of the Queens Cobbler’s activities back in Western Queens and revealed them to the world. How’s that for a Halloween post?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I seem to recall being ‘stuck’ for a Halloween post for this one. A post I was working on fell apart, so I left the house and shot some spooky photos around LIC at night, and got to writing something ‘grimdark.’ The rail bridges in the shot above are the Montauk Cutoff, by the way, on Skillman Avenue.
This grimdark post was from Halloween, in 2018,
Back tomorrow.
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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.
Archives #018
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the hills that I stand on is that the NYC Subway system makes for an excellent photography workshop. Incredibly difficult conditions below – quite dark and very bright at the same time, with a large and reflective surfaced subject matter that’s moving at a pretty good speed through the frame… kind of difficult. I always had my camera out in NYC, instead of it riding around in a bag.
This 2014 post described the many precautions against ghostly and metaphysical invaders which HQ was being prepared with that year, in advance of Halloween’s ghostly assaults.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s ‘Saw Lady’ Natalia Paruz in the shot above, performing in a tomb at a cemetery in Brooklyn, in the shot above. I ‘dragged the shutter’ to get that ghostly quality while Natalia suffered the ecstasies of her melody.
In 2015, October 30th saw this post published, describing a nighttime visit to Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn with Atlas Obscura.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There is nothing as surreal as being on a subway all by yourself. It ain’t right to occupy this sort of liminal space all alone.
This post from 2017 is a bit of an odd duck, and I seem to recall wanting to write a post in ‘full Lovecraft’ – for old times’ sake – about the experience.
“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.
Archives #017
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Archives, archives… luckily, I’m fairly prolific and Newtown Pentacle has been updated almost daily since 2009. All of these posts were published on this date in their respective years. As you’re receiving this, my broken ankle has theoretically just been X-rayed, and I’m talking to the Doc about what’s going to happen to me next. Road to recovery, all that…
Back in 2010, this post discussed encountering the tomb of ‘The man who could dodge bullets’ at First Calvary Cemetery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot of Newtown Creek was gathered with a telephoto lens, from the Empire State Building observation deck – if you’re curious. It’s contextually found in the post linked to just below.
Hurricane Sandy was on its way to NYC in 2012 when this October 29th post was published.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hopefully, the Doc has improved my situation somewhat by the time you’re reading this post.
2018’s October 29th saw this post published, which explores the fact that there are some calendrical dates in the historical record on which profound things just seem to randomly occur throughout the centuries.
Back 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.
Archives #016
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Jesus!
Also, it’s been just shy of six weeks since the broken ankle interrupted my preconceptions and existential plans, and I’m still spending most of my time either sitting in a wheelchair or hobbling about on crutches. Thereby, archive posts are being offered, which draw on the abundance from prior years, here at Newtown Pentacle, which has been updated on a mostly daily basis since 2009. The conceit at work in choice of presenting past work is that each of the postings featured in these archive trios is that they were published on this date, in their respective year.
Famously, when Newtown Pentacle was first launched, your humble narrator avoided colloquial or conversational styles of language and instead filtered everything through a deliberately archaic HP Lovecraft styling. This framing device is one I used to discuss First Calvary Cemetery in LIC, as in this 2010 post, and it was the search for Gilman.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The good news is that I’m meant to be visiting the surgeon this week, and if I’m lucky, and the healing process has proceeded along with expectations, your humble narrator’s prison door might get unlocked soon. Cross your fingers for me, lords and ladies. I really need to get out of the house.
On this date in 2018, this post was published, describing part of a car trip out to South Brooklyn with my Pal Val.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As stated in the past, this process of ‘looking back at the road I walked’ has been very interesting – psychologically speaking. First thing I can tell you is this: I’ve got a lot of dead friends. Saying that, I know a LOT of people, so… law of averages, but… the second observation is that I did not leave the confines of NYC for something like ten years in a row.
Wow… no wonder I’m all ‘effed up.
In 2021, this ‘visiting Pittsburgh’ post arrived in your inboxes.
“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.
Archives #015
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I miss walking, mainly. This broken ankle business is absolutely no fun at all. Today’s archive posts are plucked from previously published stuff, all of which was made public on this date in their respective years.
This October 25 post was published in 2013, and scuttles about in a section of LIC defined by Skillman Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I am not a huge fan of the showrunners at South Street Seaport, but I’ve got a lot of respect for the people who maintain and operate their small fleet of historic vessels.
Back in 2017, this post discussed a Working Harbor Committee get together onboard South Street Seaport’s Wavertree.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every single hole in the fence at Sunnyside Yards which you could fit a camera lens through was catalogued and regularly visited, pretty much for the entirety of the time I lived in Astoria. This was along my walking route back and forth to the creek, after all.
Talking about one of the apertures – which I called ‘hole reliable’ – at Sunnyside Yards is what this 2022 post discusses.
“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 