Archive for the ‘newtown creek’ Category
cloudy throne
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m not joking when I say that I’m obsessed with that little tree which is growing out from under a factory building in Long Island City, along the banks of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary. One feared, during a post deluge walk, that it might have become unrooted due to the heavy rain but there it was. It’s passed from being a tree to being a metaphor for me. Nature wins, ultimately, no matter how hard we try – nature wins.
Hope, basically. It represents hope to me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s why we should be striving to enslave the insects to do our bidding. Imagine commanding armies of ants or termites. It’s just a matter of figuring out their pheromone language and changing their marching orders. Ants can move mountains, one particle of sand at a time. Give me enough indentured ants and I’ll change the course of the Hudson.
To get started – we’ll just need a bag of sugar, a laptop, and a couple of lengths of copper speaker wire. Yeah, eventually we’ll need an AI to act as the Queen, but one thing at a time – huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I don’t know why I automatically go to “mad science” as my solution for intractable problems. I have a friend who’s the kind of scientist who does horrible things to monkeys at work (for good reasons, as he’s trying to cure blindness, but it’s still a pretty grim laboratory setup). I’ve asked him if the “science industry” has any sort of safeguards against he or his colleagues going rogue. If you notice your co worker has a human hand wired to a computer, for instance, is there an 800 number to call?
The answer, after he finished laughing about the term “science industry,” was no. There are no restrictive or societal rules against mad science. Order your Tesla coils, lords and ladies, the sky’s the limit.
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“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.
frightful velocity
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Reliable actuations of the new(ish) camera, wherein I can point it at a scene and get back what I’m expecting, have been achieved. What I’m up to right now is figuring out how far I can push the thing before the images fall apart. These shots were captured at an ungodly high ISO (128,000) to see what that might look like if I needed it in a pinch.
The answer is that it looks fairly “otherworldly” and a little weird, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above is beyond the range of human vision. Literally, I could barely make out anything but the shape of the concrete truck above when I was shooting it. Frankly, I was startled when the autofocus found something to bite into when the camera was pointed at the shadowy mass.
That puddle under the truck was basically the only standing water I encountered on this walk. And the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek is right on the other side of that truck, as a note.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Again, the startling fact that I was seeing so little damage in the industrial zone from the Ida deluge was staggering. I was expecting hydrological evidences – mud slicks, debris piles stacked against chain link fences, puddles. Nothing, nada.
Back next week with more wonders at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
seared unbearably
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few more views from Newtown Creek Alliance HQ in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section for today’s post. That’s the sewer plant in Greenpoint above, with 3 of its 8 stainless steel digester eggs in frame. It’s a technological marvel, I tell you.
For this trio of shots, I was actually on the roof of HQ at 520 Kingsland Avenue, where NCA has partnered up with several other entities around the creation and maintenance of a 26,000 square feet green roof.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Heavily cropped, the shot above depicts night time operations for yet another tug – which I think is the Helen Laramy. Tug companies paint their vessels with certain “colorways” which indicate who owns what and are graphic enough to be seen at a distance. This is a lot less important today than it was in the past, as the United States Coast Guard maintains a system wherein onboard radio transponders don’t just identify vessels in NY Harbor, but also indicate where – exactly – they are, and what their heading and speed are.
Seriously, you’ve seen science fiction movies where the starships have fewer electronic doo dads than the bridge of a modern tugboat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From what I was able to discern, this particular tug was operating along the bulkheads of Allocco Recycling in Brooklyn. Yesterday’s post displayed another tug working the opposite shore. Allocco is in the metals business like SimsMetal in Long Island City, but their main line seems to involve aggregates. Aggregate recycling involving passing excavated soils through a series of sieves to grade it by particle size – sand, gravel, rock etc. The material is then poured into barges and taken away for further processing or redistribution back into the ground somewhere.
I’ve been asked this a few times, so… Allocco doesn’t stand for anything as a corporate amalgamation name, instead it’s the last name of the family who owns this business. I know the showrunner there, Mike. Nice guy.
“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.
intense concentration
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One found himself visiting the HQ of the illimitable Newtown Creek Alliance over in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section the other day, where a maritime industrial show was on offer. I had just conducted an introduction to Newtown Creek for an academic class and while my colleague continued the narrative, I wandered off and got busy with the camera.
That’s the DonJon Towing Company’s Caitlin Ann, towing barges of scrap metal about, which were filled up by the SimsMetal company on the Long Island City side of my beloved Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A maritime barge carries the equivalent cargo of about 38 heavy trucks. You spend carbon and fuel running the tugboat, of course, but the greenest possible way to move bulk cargo around involves the water.
Also, as I’ve often said: it doesn’t matter if they’re pushing or pulling the barges, tugboats are in the towing business.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
SimsMetal handles municipal recycling for DSNY, who bring their collections here. They also do commercial recycling for private entities – recycling structural steel, aluminum, even cars which are all headed for the shredder. Sims also operates the shredder, but that’s at their joint in New Jersey. I’ve asked, they won’t let me and the camera anywhere near the shredder – too dangerous for a non employee to be anywhere near.
Newtown Creek is the most feature rich and interesting section of New York City to me. Period. Back tomorrow with more wonders.
“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.
awesome pulsing
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After spending a stinky hour and change at Penny Bridge in Greenpoint, one decided to walk back to HQ in Astoria via the pedestrian path on the Kosciuszcko Bridge. I ran into a friend and her dog on the way, and got to enjoy a bit of company. Having not seen this particular person since the start of the pandemic, she was a bit startled at how much my personality has changed in the last year and a half. I explained my philosophical embrace of sociopathy in recent months, and how freeing it is to just not care about anything anymore.
Really, I just give zero shits about anything. Nothing actually matters.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The “happy place” is my pet name for industrial Maspeth. The corner which that stop sign pictured above is found on used to host a Yeshiva, which closed under mysterious circumstance back in the 1950’s. Rumors abound, including wild stories about “Dybbuk” infestations, but it’s most likely something mundane that closed the religious school. The “Frum’s” were probably just consolidating themselves into Williamsburg and or Crown Heights during this era.
Translation of Frum for Goyem – many Jews refer to the Orthodox sects (Hasids, Satmars etc.) as “Frum.” It’s a Yiddish word, which I don’t know the exact meaning of, but it seems to be related to being strict. Frum are the people you see wearing the hats and formal clothes everywhere they go, and who rigorously follow religious law and custom, and are often in the camera retail business. Conservative Jews usually dress like everyone else, but wear Yarmulkes and observe both dietary and sabbath law pretty closely, but also often ski or take cruises and that sort of stuff. Secular Jews, which are my particular tribe, are basically assimilated Americans with funny last names, except we have Chanukah substituted for Christmas.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Almost back at HQ, and suffering greatly as the humidity had risen nearly 30 points since my time at Penny Bridge, a chance meeting with a New Jersey Transit train running on the turnaround track at Sunnyside Yards necessitated a photo as it passed. Boy oh boy, was I shvitzing when I walked in the house. Oy, it’s so humid!
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 