Archive for the ‘East River’ Category
chief torment
Just a feathered friend today…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your eyes are not deceiving you, as you have seen this shot before.
This was gathered last year during a trip to South Brother Island, discussed in the July 2012 post “eery pinnacle.” I’m bust getting ready for tomorrow’s City of Water Day activities which will be occurring out on Governors Island, and hope you can forgive me for a short post today. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
For more shots from South Brother, click here for the flickr set of what I saw when I visited with the Audubons.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
silent tongue
Maritime Sunday floats in with today’s tide.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Evening Mist tug, owned by the redoubtable Bouchard company, motoring its way down the East River and past the iconic and abandoned Domino Sugar Plant. Just a short one today, carrying a heartfelt shout out to the cast and crew of the Evening Mist.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
tightly packed
Today’s post is a bit of vouyerism from under the FDR Drive.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pathologically early, your humble narrator is often observed loitering about in locations wherein a future appointment will take place. Menacing aspect and suspicious body language betray one such as myself as an odd but otherwise harmless outsider, rendering and relegating me down to background status. You stop noticing me, in my cloak of social invisibility.
Accordingly, I enjoy sneaking up on and photographing photographers these days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When you’re in the spot that these guys are, you stop noticing everything but what you’re shooting. Gear, pose, background, settings, trying to squeeze every drop of light from the scene that you can, composition- all that. On top of that you’ve got the problems of corralling the group into the shot. No fun whatsoever, except if you’re just a few yards back and like shooting shoots.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The photographer was lucky, a good looking bunch of kids willing to play along and follow instructions is a godsend. Where he wasn’t lucky was that it was raining and misty, which reduces what you do with the flash a bit. It wasn’t this scene that really drew my attention though, not at first. I had noticed this bridal party, of course, when I arrived down at South Street Seaport for a boat tour, but what had originally drawn my eye wasn’t them.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was this other bride, who seemed to be standing alone as her friends went to the limo. I was actually hoping that some sort of bride fight might break out, but no such luck.
Now that would have been some photo, two brides duking it out under the FDR drive.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
short work
Today’s post is part of the Maritime Sunday series.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent business carried me to the tony DUMBO section of Brooklyn, and having accomplished my meeting, your humble narrator made for the East River Ferry stop at Fulton Landing to get home to Queens. It was a foggy day, with the mist seemingly on the edge of unleashing precipitants, and the always picturesque Brooklyn Bridge was vamping for the camera while I waited for the ferry, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s when the NYC DEP Skimmer boat “Jamaica Bay” appeared. SV Jamaica Bay was new in 2005, Its service area is reported tersely as “Tributaries,” it is 50 feet long, and can carry a capacity of 3,000 -12,000 lbs of wet material.
from epa.gov
Floatable debris consists of a wide assortment of plastic, wood, paper, glass, rubber, metal and organic waste materials that float or are suspended in the water column and may eventually be deposited on shorelines and beaches. Floatable debris originating from street litter, combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges, storm water discharges, decaying shoreline structures, pleasure boaters, and littering beach goers, can harm the marine environment and cause area beaches to close.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the benefit of those of you who don’t spend all of your time puzzling out the make and model of things which randomly navigate past you, a “skimmer” is a kind of work boat which travels along and scoops up “floatables.” This can mean anything from tree limbs to trash, and the NYC DEP operates just one several of skimmer fleets on the harbor. NJDEP and US Army Corps of Engineers also perform this task. The gizmo at the front of the thing opens up and forms a boom, and onboard conveyor systems draw flotsam and jetsam out of the water column and into a bin.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skimmer boat “Jamaica Bay” is one of several “small” skimmers operated by DEP, and the big one is called “Cormorant.” One thing about which jumps at me whenever I look at the NYC DEP… as a department… is just how GIGANTIC it is.
A hearty maritime Sunday shout goes out to the Captain and crew of SV Jamaica Bay.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
another phenomenon
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the estimable Sea Wolf towing a barge of recyclables down the East River, captured on a foggy day in the spring. The barge likely emanates from the SimsMetal Queens Terminal, which we will be discussing in some detail this coming week. If, presumptively, the material being transported is from the aforementioned waste transfer station- this would be the “separated” plastic and glass trash collected by the DSNY which we New Yorkers leave on the curb once a week. This week’s Maritime Sunday shout out goes to Sea Wolf and her crew, plying the waters of NY Harbor, and taking out the trash.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Accusations of environmentalist activism dog your humble narrator, due to my ongoing fascination with both the Newtown Creek and its 19 Waste Transfer stations and the “flow” of unwanted byproducts produced by the great human hive- whether it be sewage, garbage, or “recyclables.” The truth is that one such as myself cannot understand how the average person cannot be interested in improving the health of their surroundings, if for no other reason than the selfish desire to maintain a wholesome and sanitary state of affairs in their own homes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When the current Mayor retires, he will be remembered for many things- both good and bad. The obvious stamp left upon the City of Greater New York by the “Bloomberg team” will be the series of residential buildings which have inextricably altered the skyline of both “the City” and especially Brooklyn and Queens. Additionally, we will all remember the restrictive “Nanny State” laws and regulations, but I fear that their greatest accomplishment- the codifying and modernization of New York’s waste processing and disposal system will be forgotten or overlooked.
Upcoming tours:
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, May 25, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
The Poison Cauldron- Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
Kill Van Kull- Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 