Archive for the ‘Photowalks’ Category
Project Firebox 78
At the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Were open and armed conflict between the Boroughs to break out, the Grand Street Bridge would likely be a key strategic asset for either side to possess. The nearby MTA bus depot serves the transit fleet of Brooklyn, not Queens, and the Maspeth Militias would not be able to pass up such a key strategic target.
This centuried firebox, a member of that peaceful legion which desires naught but an absence of harm and obeyance to a strict fire code, would enjoy a front row seat at the literal and littoral frontline- should hostilities erupt.
Want to see something cool? Upcoming Walking Tours
Modern Corridor– Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
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.
walked abroad
Another industrial corridor, just another day in Queens.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Clinging to queer ideations about the storied past, and to the ceramic bricks of the former Swingline factory on Skillman Avenue one fine and recent morning, your humble narrator began to accept the fact that he’s been working too hard. For the last several weeks, I’ve been up at sunrise, not going to bed until well after midnight, and the intervening hours have been more or less filled with various projects, deadlines, and curtailed wanderings. Additionally, chaos and argumentative situations have colored my perceptions.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Unlike certain others, my “busy time” of the year is during the summer, with nearly every weekend bringing another walking tour to conduct. The usual schedule of meetings, along with institutional obligations along the Creek and the larger Harbor, have kept me busy in the evenings. Suffice to say that my game is a purely reactive one at the moment, as I stumble from place to place and show up “a day late and a dollar short.” This is a somewhat untenable situation, and an enormous backlog of tasks gets a bit longer every day.
-photo by Mitch Waxman
Accordingly, for the rest of this week, a series of short postings will follow this one. Its the holiday thing, I guess, and strong desires to fire up the BBQ and drink a beer rule the day. One would also enjoy just sitting in a dark room while staring at a blank wall for just a little bit. Time to regroup, regathering, refocus. It’ll be short posts through the holiday weekend, lords and ladies, as I try to take little break and catch up on what I should be doing instead.
laurels instead
Focus is the topic for today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator has many triggers which send him off into a spiral, but I’ve been too busy of late to really enjoy a good “freak out.” Little respect is offered to those who “lose it” on a regular basis or at inopportune times. One should not burden others with intangible or existential worries, I was instructed at an early age, nor “act up” in public lest personal inadequacy or weakness be revealed in doing so. Just last night, one of my little triggers convulsed when a mid level government employee used the phrase “Now, more than ever” while telling me about her vague suspicions that photography aids and abets terrorism.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unsurprisingly, one has built up an infinite and quite inaccessible reservoir of disappointment at the actions and intentions of others, as well as accepting my own failed dreams and punctured expectations as mere vainglory. It is difficult at best to remain focused tightly on goals in such an environment, instead it is best to just try and get through the day without entering into battle, despite the many novel and illusory windmills at which to tilt ones lance that are offered. Always do I remind myself- “it’s not good, its not bad, it just is.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sophists and corporatists, those who rule the roost these days with their corruption and vain indifference to the long term, hold these days. “Knowing my place” is not something which your humble narrator thinks he can do anymore. “If you see something, say something” is the mantra often repeated by these current masters of the local vicinity, an attempt to get us the rabble into the habit of snitching on each other and driving the train of bureaucracy forward. I do see something, often, and won’t be curtailed in saying something anymore. Unfortunately for the “powers that be” who often proffer this statement, more often than not what I see when searching for enemies of the state and common good is not some threat emanating from a faraway desert, but is instead the institutional culture of government itself.
Back in session, lords and ladies…
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
objectless writhing
In today’s post, the tallest manmade thing in the western hemisphere is noticed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s actually starting to grow on me. Third tallest thing on earth at 104 stories, One World Trade (aka the Freedom Tower) has been steadily dominating or demanding my attentions of late. Generally, I’m not a fan of this style of architecture, but the effect that the structure conveys is one of awe. A lot of it has to do with the mirror like surface, and some of it is associated with the way that the building seems to interact with the environment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Its visible from pretty much everywhere around the archipelago now, and big enough to be masked, obscured, and offered perspective by atmosphere alone. The mirror surface pulses with light, which in turn makes altitudinal mist and ambient humidity in the air glow, imparting to the structure a sort of halo. The reflective surface offers the same luminosity enjoyed by the sky to the Freedom Tower, which is an interesting caprice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot was gathered a week or so ago during heavy weather whilst onboard one of the “Working Harbor: Beyond Sandy” boat tours, and depicts the lower Manhattan skyline at sunset as a thunderstorm moves north and east behind it. The scene looks photoshopped, but this is what it actually looked like. The sky was in a dynamic mood with the setting sun low on the horizon. It was dark and bright orange all at the same time.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
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.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
gnaw and glut
It’s Maritime Sunday at Newtown Creek!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While hanging around Newtown Creek recently, specifically the Newtown Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant’s Nature Walk, the Kimberly Poling tug was spotted towing a seemingly empty fuel barge. The tug is a regular visitor to the Creek, carrying refined product to the BP Amoco yard in Greenpoint at Norman Avenue and Apollo Street. Also, its always called towing, even if the tug seems to be pushing the barge from behind- don’t know why, it just is.
Note: in an interesting coincidence, this year’s April Fool’s day posting, “outward course,” depicted this same tug and barge from the Queens side of the Newtown Creek. It discusses both the towing company and the vessel herself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That 9.98 acre BP Amoco yard, (see the great fires of 1919 and 1882) is a distribution center which feeds bulk supplies to delivery trucks which handle end user customers. Kimberly Poling and her barge are equivalent to nearly 40 of these trucks, I am told.
Oil refining ceased at Newtown Creek by the middle of the 1960’s, and today its all about distribution around here. One doesn’t think of New York City as a refinery town, but this is where Mobil was born, when it was called the Standard Oil Company of New York.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The expression “bringing coal to Newcastle” would be apt, were it offered to someone whose frame of reference was Greenpoint in the 1920’s. A hypothetical time traveller would probably be dumbfounded at the notion of bringing oil to Newtown Creek, and sending an empty barge back out into the harbor.
Maritime Sunday shout outs to the crew of Kimberly Poling, which is a nice looking boat, abound.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
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.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
The Newtown Pentacle 