Archive for the ‘Pickman’ Category
cemented hillocks
Today is World Food Day, on this hungry planet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As promised, here’s a few shots gathered on Friday the 13th at the Atlas Obscura “Into the Veil” event at Greenwood Cemetery. A friend I was showing them to on Friday asked me what the “night into day” technique I employed to capture these images entails other than long exposure times, and I tried to explain the exacting series of steps and settings which are employed, but by then he had fallen asleep. It’s complicated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In a couple of instances, I hung a work light of the front of my tripod. The shot above is a fair representation of what was within the range of human vision. The moon was occluded on Friday by heavy cloud cover and atmospheric humidity was quite high, which is ruinous for this sort of shooting due to the scattering and consumption of light by airborne moisture.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The same setup, this time employing the whole checklist of “night into day” techniques which I’ve been working on. The difficult part of this, and why I’m stifled with the result, involves the sky – which isn’t blown out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
LED lighting continues to grow in popularity, but it provides a bugbear of problems for digital photography. LED lights are actually strobing hundreds of times a minute, and throwing out weird wavelengths of saturated color light which the camera sensor struggles to interpret. Notice the difference between the automotive brake light generated red streak on the hill and the unnaturally garish reds of the LED architectural light on the Steinway Chapel at Greenwood.
Just have to figure out how to conquer that one, as I don’t think LED’s are going away anytime soon.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
thunder crazed
It’s National Yorkshire Pudding Day, in these United States.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Tonight, one will finally get to do something purely by choice rather than circumstance or obligation, as I’m attending Atlas Obscura’s “Into the Veil” event at Greenwoord Cemetery. Well… my plan doesn’t exactly revolve around “attending” so much as being in the Cemetery while the Atlas event is going on. A humble narrator is going to figure out where the crowds are headed and then me, the camera, and my trusty tripod are going off in an entirely different direction to do some long exposure night shots of the type contained in today’s post. I will consider tonight a great success if I do not have to talk to anyone.
It’s been a while since I was able to just “take pictures.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last year, I made the mistake of going with a group to this thing. The herd dynamic found us wandering about in broad and aimless circles punctuated by sudden panicked urgency, as one person after the other suddenly announced that they needed to urinate. No one seemed to be able to coordinate their lavatorial schedules with the rest of the group, so it was fairly rare to get a ten minute interval of shooting in before we had to run off in the direction of a porta potty.
I’m like a camel in this regard, and when out “in the field,” carefully monitor the amount of liquids one consumes so as to not necessitate biological crises. Others in my group last year were convinced that they were visiting a Kuwaiti desert and required constant hydration, which resulted in excessive urination, as Greenwood is in… y’know… Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My photographic plan for tonight revolves around long exposures and my unpatented “night into day” techniques. “Night into Day,” as I call it, involves exposures in the half minute to minute range accompanied by the usage of extremely narrow apertures, a tripod, and shutter release – for the curious. All the shots in today’s post were accomplished using this sort of procedure, for example the shot above was invisible to the human eye and was just a vast expanse of darkness, and my hope is that tonight I can capture a few memorable shots at Greenwood.
I’ll show you what I got next week, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
Upcoming Tours and events
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
abrogated rights
Conflicting sources describe today as being either National Pumpkin Pie Day, and or National Gumbo Day – so sweet or savory, whatever floats your boat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A dollar short and a day late, that’s me, and why a single image greets you today. When your morning tasks involve calling the offices of two Borough Presidents, the City Council delegations from the four districts surrounding the Newtown Creek, a smattering of State Senators, and Assembly members, and half a dozen other important people… let’s just say it gobbles up your Newtown Pentacle time in expeditious fashion. Don’t ask, I can’t talk about it.
What I can say is that Sunday’s boat tour is nearly sold out, so if you want to attend – get your tix while you can for what promises to be a killer tour.
Upcoming Tours and events
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
decadent locale
Another void in the National Food Holiday Calendar, with a single nonofficial source reporting today as National Tic Tac Day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle recently informed me of her opinion that Vegan Zombies would be groaning “grains…” instead of “brains…”. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard so far this week, but it’s only Tuesday, to be fair. The shots in today’s post were captured whilst returning from a “happy hour” promotion offered by the “Friends of The BQX” group wherein they were laying out the case for the creation of a trolley service along the East River Coastline. My official statement on this project, the latest quixotic offering from Mayor “Dope from Park Slope” De Blasio, is one of agnosticism towards the project. It would certainly simplify my life, and would be a boon for several waterfront bloggers and photographers I know, but the logistical hurdles and compliance with – a) The Americans with Disabilities Act and b) The Federal laws governing the operation of rail at street grade – make the project seem like it’s going to cost a LOT more than the Mayor claims it will. The BQX people are now talking about dual tracks for the thing, btw, which would negate 18 miles of parking spots, as a note. Saying that, I remain agnostic on this vanity project of the Mayor’s paymasters.
Our Mayor is, after all, a feckless quisling who has been bought and sold by Real Estate interests while pretending to be a “progressive.” I don’t think he’s ever looked up the meaning of the word “progressive” in a dictionary, it just sounds good to him. If he really wanted to help the people he claims to want to help, he’d set up a low or no fee credit union on the City’s dime instead of vanity projects. As Eleanor Roosevelt used to say – “We all do better when we’re all doing better.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our fragile electrical infrastructure here in Astoria was receiving a bit of tender loving care one recent evening, as evinced in the shot above. I believe that the specific contractor you see above works for the NYC DOT, so whatever they were doing down in that access shaft (manhole) likely involved either traffic signals or street lights somewhere along Broadway here on the south side of the ancient village. It’s been a few months since our last transformer explosion, after all.
I’d like to see signs hung on the lamp posts detailing how long it’s been since our last transformer explosion, the same kind they put up at job sites that proclaim how many days it’s been since the last “on the job” injury.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot from my walk home the other night, this one on the far and kind of wild western side of Astoria. There’s a LOT of real estate activity going on in this zone. Observation reveals multiple one and two story homes being razed in pursuance of medium sized apartment buildings. Can’t blame the owners of those homes for getting a good price and selling their equity, and it’s none of our business that they did. This is America, after all.
The infrastructure crisis, however, continues to loom. Instead of addressing that, of course, outside agitators and groups of straw men are busy distracting us with promises of shiny baubles of proclaiming vast conspiratorial plots. Bread and circuses, my friends.
Upcoming Tours and events
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
meager funds
There does not seem to be a verifiable national food holiday for Oct. 9th, although one checked source suggests that it’s National Moldy Cheese Day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator, for one, is sick of this summer stuff at this point. One realizes, as my pal Chrissy Remein from Riverkeeper pointed out to me recently, that this global warming thing is getting pretty apparent by this point and that this is the “new normal,” but regardless – I’m tired of the shvitz. I shouldn’t have to leave the house in October dressed as I would be for a July afternoon, and as another friend of mine would opine – “get home with total swamp ass.”
Pictured above is the scene as observed just west of Queens Plaza late on last Saturday afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I conducted an LIC tour on Saturday, during which the weather was – as mentioned, “shvitzy and swamp ass” – but as is my habit I arrived at the meetup spot a bit early. Vast clouds of haze were rising from the vicinity of the Queens Midtown Tunnel and so a humble narrator investigated. It would seem that road work crews were installing a new coat of asphalt to east bound toll plaza, which accounted for the misty haze as VOC (volatile organic compound) tainted steam rose from trucks of a superheated industrial waste product (produced by the petroleum industry) which we as a culture mix with concrete and liberally spread about on vehicular roadways.
Those are the work crews pictured above, in DUPBO – Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The preceding Friday was equally as uncomfortable to be moving through the Newtown Creek industrial zone, with its affection of the so called “Maspeth Heat Island” effect. This environmental condition, named for the area of industrial Maspeth just east of LIC but is similarly experienced along the banks of the entire Newtown Creek, sees ambient temperatures rise 5-15 degrees higher than in surrounding neighborhoods due to the complete absence of vegetation and abundance of concrete. The concrete and masonry walls of factory buildings, sidewalks, and roads all bake in the radiation of the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself and store up energy, becoming radiant sources of heat. It feels a bit like walking about in a kiln, or oven, even on days when the Mercury never rises out of the 70’s. Forget about the sensation encountered when the atmosphere is already in the 90’s early in the morning.
That’s the Hunters Point Yard of the Long Island Railroad pictured above, which is similarly in DUPBO.
Upcoming Tours and events
The Hidden Harbors Of Staten Island Boat Tour,
with Working Harbor Committee – Sunday, October 15th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
A very cool boat tour that visits two of the maritime industrial waterways of New York Harbor which adjoin Staten Island and Bayonne in New Jersey – The Kill Van Kull and the Arthur Kill. There will be lots of tugboats, cargo docks, and you’ll get to see multiple bridges from the water – including the brand new Goethals Bridge. I’ll be on the mike, narrating with WHC board member Gordon Cooper – details here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 