sixth interest
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More shots from the abandoned Glenwood Power Plant in New York States’ Yonkers municipality in today’s post. For details on the history of the NY Central Railroad, the power plant, etc., please refer to yesterday’s post which is chock full of links.
Very visually interesting place, which I was invited to visit by My Pal Val, who asked me to join in with a group of photographers she was organizing a visit for. We had an extremely limited amount of time at the plant, which was unfortunately in the early afternoon – the absolute worst time of day for photos (except in February).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My plan – thereby – was to treat the scene as I would if I was shooting there in low – or no – light conditions. To achieve this, I attached a ten stop ND filter. The tripod was deployed, but only extended up to full height a few times. Most of the time I kept it low to the ground, operating the camera through its swivel out touch screen. Depending on what I was shooting, my aperture was never lower than f8 or higher than f18. ISO ranges from 100-6400 are included in this series.
“Hey Mitch – what’s with all the talking shop these days?” “Tell me about the history of the Pulaski Bridge again.”
What can I tell you. I need to talk shop sometimes. About once every few months, I get an email from a younger photographer – college kids, mostly. They want to know how I do what I do. Sometimes they want to be introduced to the Creek, or the harbor, or whatever. A lot of times they ask me how to use their camera to get the sort of shots I routinely churn out for Newtown Pentacle and other sites.
“Show up, do the work, don’t get hurt, go home” is the first speech I offer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got a whole other set of speeches ready for them about how to stay as safe as you can when moving around on the street, which I call “how you look to others on the street, and keep moving at all times.” There’s the whole “don’t cross industrial driveways without looking” and the “why would you stand on that slippery rock if you’ve got a zoom lens and it’s safer two feet away” which is followed by the “how, exactly, would you describe to the 911 operator where you are right now” one. They all like these speeches, I tell them well and with great flourish. I also ask them “what is it a picture of.”
I also try to pass on some of what I’ve learned about marching around NYC with a camera. Especially given the conditions in which one such as myself usually works. A lot of the craft, as I’ve purposed it, involves being hyper aware of my surroundings while allowing the camera to record the scene in some intentional manner while I keep an eye out for bad actors and danger.
Come with, the next time it’s a hundred degrees at midnight or no degrees at dawn, and join me at the Maspeth Plank Road or at Dutch Kills? I’ll tell you all about camera settings and how to get the scene, based on long experience. You’ll also possibly encounter what can only be described as “creepy ass muthaflowers.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Anyway, that’s “what” with talking about that.
As mentioned yesterday, there are two buildings at the Glenwood Power Plant that we received access to. The first one, in yesterday’s post, was the generator building. The ones in today and tomorrow’s post are from the furnace and boiler building. This was a coal fired power plant, incidentally.
As a note, there were fishies swimming around in that puddle of water.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a section of the roof which was unstable and we were gathered into a safe area beyond it for a few last shots of this section of the building.
It was time for the last leg of the excursion.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking south out the boiler and furnace building’s window along the Hudson River, with Manhattan on the horizon. Just for a sense of place.
More tomorrow.
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ten beings
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is a former power plant, found alongside the Glenwood stop of the modern day Metro North rail service, in Yonkers – the first City that you’ll encounter when heading north out of NYC. The plant was built in 1907, when the NY Central Railroad was electrifying its system both in and into Manhattan. My pal Val had arranged for a small group of photographers to enjoy guided access to the site for a couple of hours. This building was abandoned in the early 1970’s, and has sat feral for the last fifty years or so.
This is an extremely well documented site, one which has been drawing in the “urban explorer” crowd for literally generations. Here’s a 2021 article from “Yonkers Times” discussing its current status, a Wikipedia page for “just the facts,” a 2014 NY Times report is here, and the views and plans of the current owners of the property can be examined at their website.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As a note, my methodology for this sort of excursion is often thwarted as you just have to make the best of being on what’s essentially a walking tour. There were several other people shooting at the same time, which adds challenges as you need to dodge their POV’s, and the occasional accidental swing of a tripod leg or something.
People…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are two main structures on the site, one is the building where the generator and battery rooms were housed, the other is where the coal furnaces and the boilers were located.
Our guide confirmed to me that the terra-cotta adorning the entryway into the generator building was – indeed – the product of the New York TerraCotta Works in Long Island City. Check out that old timey NY Central logo on the door lintel’s cornice piece.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The generator room is pictured above, and as you’d imagine – those graffiti covered machines soon became a focus point for every lens in the room. I’ve looked around a bit since getting back from this trip, and it’s appears to me that every photographer with an interest in post industrial ruination has accomplished something very similar to the shot and composition I took above.
Methodology wise, I like to be able to learn a bit about a site. The photos in today and tomorrow’s posts are essentially scouting. I’d like to be in here at night with an extremely diffuse set of light sources. I’d also want to be inside this room in the extremely early morning AND at dusk. Dusk and heavy fog… hey now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, methodology wise, I’ve got a whole bag of tricks learned over the last fifteen years, along that shining ribbon of municipal neglect that provides a 3.8 miles long and currently undefended border for Brooklyn and Queens – the fabulous Newtown Creek.
My plan for these photos – which involved a one time opportunity at the subject – was to go “low and slow.” Unfortunately, neither time of day nor atmospheric humidity were on my side. An uncomfortably humid day would have created an absolutely visible miasma, but this was the day after a heat wave broke and it was unusually dry as a result.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By “low and slow” I mean that the camera was on a tripod and seldom placed any higher than waste level. I affixed an ND filter to one of my zoom lenses, and either treated the image like a “night shot” with high ISO and longish shutter speed, or went full landscape mode with a 30 second long shot. I did some “exposure stacking” for a couple of these, most successfully in the shot directly above this one. That’s three exposures, each metered for and focused onto a different part of the image. In Photoshop, you can “blend” the three images together automatically.
Like a lot of things “digital,” once you conceptualize what’s actually happening when you tell an application to do something, the process can then be taken advantage of and guided. In the case of focus and or exposure stacking, it can get pretty exciting – results wise – if it’s subtle enough.
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forty alleys
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the 12th of August, my pal Val had arranged an event up in Yonkers, wherein an abandoned NY Central railroad power plant would be opened up for the inspection of a group of photographers by its new owners. These new owners have some pretty ambitious plans for the site, but more on that next week. In the meantime, I had to get from Astoria to Yonkers.
Luckily, this is accomplished fairly easily. The M60 Select Bus service runs down Astoria Boulevard, and has a stop at Steinway Street. Out of the house early, thereby, with a ham egg and cheese sandwich in hand, went a humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had padded an extra half an hour of “shit happens” time into my schedule, and spent that interval photographing the Metro North and Connecticut Rail commuter rail trains which travel along the old NY Central Railroad’s right of way.
125/Lex is a pretty busy station, I tell you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above looks south along Park Avenue towards Midtown Manhattan and Grand Central Terminal. It’s called a “terminal” because its always been the “end of the line.” The 7 train Subway enters a part of the facility called “Grand Central Station,” which is called that because it’s not the last stop of that service. Station = passing through. Terminal = last stop.
As far as the whole Pennsylvania Railroad and NY Central thing – man… it’s complicated and I don’t want to even get into that whole story. Suffice to say that the MTA is one of the many orphaned love children which fell out of their contests, courtships, troubled marriage, and bankrupted divorce.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I hung around the 125/Lex platform for about a half hour, and never ran out of trains coming and going to take photos of. My destination was in Yonkers, but one stop past the “big” Yonkers stop. Glenwood, that’s the one I’d need to get to.
I’ve got a buddy who grew up in Yonkers, and he’s always pronounced the place’s name as “AhYonkahs.” This is the same guy who always kept a series of loaner gorilla suits in the trunk of his car, in addition to his personal gorilla suit, in case he had the sudden urge for company when it was time to go “aping.” I’ve aped with him, which would take the form of us climbing on things, invading bars and fancy restaurants while wearing gorilla suits, and clowning around with pretty girls. I can confirm the idea that you can get away with literally anything while wearing a gorilla suit. Even Cops will find your antics entirely humorous, because of the gorilla suit.
AhYonkahs, that’s where I was heading. No Gorilla suit though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My chariot arrived, and away did I go.
I was hoping to get a few “out the window” train shots while crossing the Harlem River, but Metro-North’s windows seem to be composed of thousands of small fractures and the sun was not on my side. C’est la vie.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Annoyingly, whereas my destination was literally next to the train station, I had to walk about a half mile, up and down hills, and over dales (actually a baseball field) to get to it.
More next week, with a detailed look at a long abandoned NY Central Railroad Glenwood Power Plant, found along the Hudson River in AhYonkahs.
“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.
commencing to
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One can never resist grabbing shots of the high steel of the Long Island Expressway when I’m moving through the “empty corridor.”
“Blighting Long Island City since 1939” – they should put that on a sign.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a reason I call this area the “empty corridor.”
Who cares anymore? I keep on saying that to myself these days. I’m in the process of “checking out” right now. Severing ties seems to be the order of the day, as I prepare to separate from NYC. I see fire shooting out of a manhole cover, I do nothing and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, unfortunately, I’m still me and I’m still here.
On the day that this post was written in mid August, for instance, a downed signal light on Northern Blvd. and a looming sewer backup issue were reported to relevant local authorities. I have a sense, however, that beginning in 2023 – Western Queens is going to be consumed by a series of easily fixable problems without me being able to reach out into agency land to get them to notice things spotted “in the field.” If Astoria ends up falling into the river, you’ll say “man, wish Mitch was still here.”
Saying that, I really don’t care anymore. Somebody else’s problem.
Hey, look at that – an Amtrak train set heading into Manhattan from LIC’s Sunnyside Yards! Neato.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
During the entire walk on August 10th, which started out quite comfortable, the atmospheric humidity was rising at a precipitous rate. Having arrived at the Hunters Point Avenue station, one nevertheless masked up and headed down into the sweating concrete bunker below.
My habit in recent months has been to use the 7 Line to go from subterranean to elevated and land on high at Queensboro Plaza. A transfer over to the N or W Astoria Line keeps me elevated and up high all the way to Astoria’s Broadway, and then I scuttle about ten blocks back to HQ. Yeah, I could transfer at Court Square for the M…
Part of my “Doctor Nerdlington” persona is extremely satisfied by executing a series of transfers when using the subways.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 7 service is pretty good these days, in my experience. Every ten minutes or so, you’ve got one arriving.
I was planning on hanging around Queensboro Plaza for a spell, given the relative infrequency of the Astoria line trains, but the MTA’s ways are wild, and many,
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Arriving at the platform, an Astoria bound train was sitting there, so that funny train rapid dash that we New Yorkers execute occurred, the one followed by the realization that the train would going nowhere for a few minutes and you standing there feeling foolish for having rushed.
Off to Broadway went I, heading eastwards back to HQ and the sweet embrace of Our Lady of the 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.
especially after
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After capturing images of a super saturated sunset in Long Island City, one converted the camera back into its handheld mode and began scuttling towards the train at Hunters Point Avenue. Along the way, something caught my eye at the bridge house for the Borden Avenue Bridge.
There’s graffiti everywhere, but most of the extant paintings are “tags” left behind by “punks.” Every now and then, it’s something different.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular monologue seemed to written in either chalk or grease pencil, and asked several pointed questions. This messaging stood out, and was intriguing.
I did a bit of looking around in response to the curious screed, which led to an internet rabbit hole.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a small population of people out there who claim that they are being stalked by organized groups, and believe that the group has some sort of connection to shadowy intelligence world entities. Sometimes these groups are governmental, or part of a “globalist cabal,” or they’re connected to some corrupted local branch of law enforcement.
There’s more than one subreddit for “gangstalking” and it’s a “thing.” I watched a couple of videos offered by psychologists who have studied and attempted to treat what they described as a paranoid delusion, and the Docs reported problems with getting these patients to accept help because “the shrink is in on it, and working with the persecutors.” Gang Stalking is described by these medical professionals as a paranoid delusion which is built on top of other psychological pathologies. The bit about “the light” can refer to two things in this world view – one is the weaponry used by the cabal to torture the victim of the gang stalking (said “light” has a variety of effects, from burning the skin to triggering programmed behaviors to somehow surveilling the subject), to the “light of god” as offered by lay priests leading suspect storefront church organizations that offer protection and comfort to the “targeted.”
Disturbingly, several mass shooters (notably the fellow who shot up a Navy Base in Virginia a few years ago) have left behind manifestos that discussed gang stalking as being part of why they did why they did. Most of the people who describe themselves as being “targeted” seem to have a host of other intractable problems – drug addiction, homelessness, mental illnesses. Like I said, “Internet Rabbit Hole.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted a cool car as well, while changing the subject.
A late model Ford F-150 pickup.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking north, along Dutch Kills, from the Borden Avenue Bridge towards the Hunters Point Avenue Bridge with the 106 feet over the water Long Island Expressway’s Queens Midtown Expressway Truss framing the shot.
My trick left foot was starting to sing it’s song again, so I started limping towards the train station and a ride back to Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More tomorrow – 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 