Archive for the ‘East River’ Category
nameless panic
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The view of NYC you encounter when onboard the Staten Island Ferry is – as the British would say – “gob smacking.” You’re looking at the peninsular section of lower Manhattan called the Battery. To the south east are the Brooklyn and Queens East River coastlines of Long Island, and on the north west is New Jersey and the Hudson River section of the world. My understanding is that there are other places beyond the actual omphalos of the universe which is New York City, but I can’t speak to legend.
The actual site of the Garden of Eden is found at the crossroads of 42nd street and Broadway in Manhattan – that’s a fact. The tree of Good and Evil – it was a fairly substantial sized garden, Eden – was found at Herald Square, which later became a hellmont. The hellmont factor is why the 34th street subway complex is always so incredibly hot, as it’s a vertical tunnel that leads directly to the fire of Gehenna itself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s always something interesting to see when riding the Staten Island Ferry, such as the Vane Bros. Hunting Creek tug managing a fuel barge with a whole pile of maritime cranes providing a backdrop for it.
One didn’t spend too much time on… Staten Island… and after checking out the vainglorious shopping mall which has recently opened to thunderous silence in St. George – Good Work, EDC – I boarded a Manhattan bound big orange boat and headed back towards Pier 11 and the NYC Ferry Astoria line for a ride back home.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another tug managing another fuel barge was spotted on the way home, this time nearby Corlears Hook – which is better known as the section of Manhattan that the WIlliamsburg Bridge touches down on.
One of the epicenters of ship building during the colonial era in NY Harbor, this is the neighborhood that spawned my favorite “Gangs of New York” era group of tough guy bandits – the Sewer Rats. Freshwater pirates, they would row out into the river in the dead of night and rob anchored shipping.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, September 7th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
tremendous resolution
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s all still there! Despite what the television said, the hot war between Antifa and the Boogaloos hasn’t actually burned the City away and left it looking like Dresden. Son of a gun! That’s the Helen Laraway Tug, spotted as it passed by an old fruit pier in lower Manhattan which has been converted over to a vehicle maintenance facility for the DSNY in modernity. That’s where the proverbial banana boat used to dock, that pier, and it’s the one that your grandmother would accuse new neighbors of having arrived into NYC via.
As mentioned yesterday, a long-standing resolution of mine has been to get the hell out of Queens for an afternoon and go ride on the ferries. This is the first year in more than a decade that I haven’t spent a good number of my summertime evenings riding around on boats and photographing the maritime world, so I had to do something about that before it turns cold and dark again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Brooklyn Bridge – still there. Lower Manhattan too.
My plan for the day was to a) spend as little as possible and b) get as far away from Queens as was feasible. The Astoria line NYC Ferry travels south along the East River. Its new north terminal stop is at 90th st. in Manhattan, then there’s Astoria, Roosevelt Island, LIC North, 34th st., Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the southern terminal stop is at Pier 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan. From there, the Staten Island Ferry is about a ten minute walk away.
The NYC Ferry Fair was $2.75, and the Staten Island Ferry is free. That’s “A.” Staten Island accomplished “B.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Upon debarking from the NYC Ferry, a dredging operation being committed by the DonJon company was noticed. This is just south of Pier 11, and I can make several presumptions as to who, when, what, where, and why. Thing is that I’d just be speculating that; the EDC, in some time prior to March, decided to expand Ferry operational capabilities here at the foot of Wall Street, to please their masters in the real estate industry. Speculation, however, so don’t take that to the bank.
Tomorrow – what I saw from onboard the big orange boat.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, September 7th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
sardonic stare
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“You know what I haven’t done in literally months” was what I said, and it was less of a question than it was a statement. Our Lady of the Pentacle clutched at a pillow and pushed herself backwards into the couch while saying “What?” with a concerned look on her face. “Get out on the water” exclaimed a humble narrator. “Hence” shouted I.
One scuttled over to the NYC Ferry Dock here in Astoria, accordingly. Heroically boarding a ferry, a humble narrator returned to the sixth borough.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sludge boats were bounding across the aqueous meadows, as were tugboats and all sorts of other maritime contrivances. The rule on the Ferry requires being masked up, which creates quite a situation when you’re standing in the slipstream of wind up on the top deck. Managing my baseball cap, sunglasses, and mask while operating the camera made one wish for a third arm. Despite all the time spent at Newtown Creek, one still hasn’t spawned a new appendage, unfortunately. A third arm would make clothes shopping difficult, I admit.
That’s the NYC DEP’s MV Red Hook sludge boat pictured above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Astoria line makes a stop at the venerable Brooklyn Navy Yard along its route, and that’s where the Dann Towing’s Ivory Coast tug was spotted, as evinced by the shot above. My plan for this afternoon excursion involved riding the Astoria ferry to Pier 11, then hopping onto the Staten Island Ferry to St. George whereupon a reversal of course would be enacted.
I’ve missed galavanting around NY Harbor, and the particular photographic challenges it presents.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, September 7th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
unmentionable sabbat
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is taking this last week of summer off from narrating humbly, so single shots from past adventures are on offer. I’m out and about all week, if my plans work out, and will be back with fresh views of a City that doth not sleep after Labor Day.
“This one time I got to visit South Brother Island with the Audubons, and that’s where I saw this cool bird” is exactly how I describe this shot to people.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, August 31st. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
kindred eccentrics
Thursday’s just kind of happen, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I could talk, in a completely uneducated manner, about inverted trusses and why they’re cool. Instead, I’d refer you to google and tell you to read up on what an actual engineer has to offer on the subject. That’s the Hells Gate Bridge, as seen from its western base on Randalls/Wards Island. Surprisingly, this section of the rail bridge is a bit different, visually at least, than the more familiar section (to me) that towers over Astoria Park on the Queens side.
As mentioned earlier in the week, Randalls/Wards Island is a novel place for me, one which I incongruously haven’t explored. My inclination is to go the other way, towards my beloved Newtown Creek, when I’m taking the camera out for a walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was able to get up close and personal with Hells Gate, and stood directly in front of its masonry pier when shooting the inverted truss structure pictured above and below. The bridge is part of the NY Connecting Railroad, which runs first to Sunnyside Yards and then the East River tunnels into Manhattan on the Queens side. It continues over Randalls/Wards, where the bridge ultimately connects to the Port Morris section of the Bronx and the Oak Point Rail Yard. From there… well… as mentioned in earlier posts, what I know about the Bronx wouldn’t fill a thimble.
This shot points eastwards on the right, towards Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You just can’t help but do some abstraction around this bridge, with all the structural steel flying around. Oddly enough, Hells Gate has no structural lighting kit, and at night all you can see is a silhouette with the odd navigational signal or blinking aviation beacon attached to it against the night sky. The bridge is the property of the Amtrak outfit, and you regularly see their Northeast Corridor passenger trains crossing it. There are also freight trains, which are more often than not operated by the CSX company. I’m not sure if other rail companies operate on this former New York Central Railroad Company span.
As long as you’re googling inverted truss bridges, you might as well search for Operation Praetorious. That’s the one where Nazi saboteurs wanted to blow the Hells Gate Bridge up during WW2, an operation foiled by the Greatest Generation’s Antifa. Those ubiquitous rascals are everywhere, ain’t they?
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 20th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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 