abhorred necropolis
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yup, still working on this shot at Queens Plaza. Just a matter of time till the right time and place collide. Unfortunately for me, a massive collection of “have to’s” and “I’d really like to but need to do this pedantic and boring thing instead’s” have obligated one to photogenically unproductive activities for the last couple of weeks. Boring.
I really want to get on a boat, or a series of boats, sometime in the next week and just relax on the water while shooting whatever N.Y. Harbor decides to send my way. Serendipity awaits.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While stuck listening to a long and boring meeting, one noticed a thunderstorm approaching HQ and I was hoping that I might capture some lightning to punctuate the boredom of it all. I didn’t, but I did manage to record the weird color changes to the sky which such turbulent weather manifests. About a minute after this shot, the low clouds collapsed and inundated Astoria with heavy rain. No lightning, though.
I mentioned a fantastic offer that Amtrak was offering last week, which priced 30 “segments” of travel at $299. Given that two segments (and three days of travel) are enough to get me to California if I wanted, you can see the value of buying the package which I did. I have until the fall to activate it, whereupon I need to use it all within 30 days. Where am I going to go?
There’s definitely a day trip to the pretty city of Pittsburgh and it’s amazing collection of bridges coming up (there’s also a significant number of “connections” to Newtown Creek there), and it’s also likely that day trips to Washington D.C., Albany, Erie, and Boston are going to happen. My plan for all of them is to have a well designed shot list and route planned out. Leave NYC in the pre dawn and return late at night sort of things. Fun. I’ve been saying I need a vacation from “the zone” and now I have a very affordable and comfortable mode of travel. Probably going to execute all this moving about at the end of the summer when the light is a bit nicer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back at Newtown Creek, we had an in person get together for the fully vaxxed crew at Newtown Creek Alliance recently. We’ve all been interacting over zoom and phone during the pandemic, but it’s been a while since the staff and board members were all in the same room at HQ in Greenpoint.
Spotted a DonJon tug moving barges around at SimsMetal on the Queens side from the green roof at 520 Kingsland Avenue, where NCA is headquartered. See what I mean about N.Y. Harbor serendipity? You go to a gathering to inhale some pizza and beer, and there’s a maritime industrial show going on in the background.
Ahhh… my beloved Creek, she never disappoints.
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mindless animal
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sorry for the late update and single shot today, but what can I tell you other than that I’ve been about 24 hours behind schedule since Thursday of last week. Busy, busy, busy.
Back tomorrow with more, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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recalled dreams
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent scuttle found me soiling the sidewalks outside of Aviation High School, painting the sidewalks with the corruption permanently stuck to the soles of my shoes. One is so incredibly aberrant that area grocery stores have established rules about allowing me near the Fresh Produce or Dairy aisles, as any occupation of such spaces on my part causes spoilage. Old ladies clutch at their purses, children begin to cry, birds flock into the sky, and cats hiss when I approach. It would not surprise one if the sidewalk spot I was standing upon while shooting the plane pictured above needs to be replaced. My presence causes concrete to rot, steel to rust, and lumber gets reduced down to a corrupted pulp. I once wilted a flower by staring at it. Ask anyone, I’m horrible.
The damning realization that I actually enjoyed the solitude of the Pandemic is currently messing with me. I always said that what this City needs is a good plague, and my wish came true. Thereby, COVID is all my fault.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m tired. Tired of arguing. Tired of listening to paranoid conspiracy theories. I’m tired of virtue signaling, tired of public rhetoric that is abandoned in private, and tired of those who project the “shiny happy people” trope. I’m also tired of the perennially angry, the unfocused, those who cannot forecast the consequences of their actions. I’m tired of the ground permanently shifting around under my feet, and tired of reacting to other people’s bad decisions. Tired.
I’m especially tired of everyone wanting something from me that they did nothing to earn. Duplicitous status whores, false potentates, graven idols – that’s what I see everywhere I look. Gah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The only solace for me is when I’m alone and behind the camera. This is the latest iteration of a certain shot I’ve been chasing, depicting the 7 entering the Queens Plaza station on the elevated tracks. This one counts as “almost” and I won’t be satisfied until I manage to get the crimson and orange sky shot I’m yearning for. I keep on missing that one, which in the last week alone I was denied from chasing it by a series of evening meetings which kept me here at HQ in front of the computer.
It’s all dissolution and death ahead of me, nothing matters anymore.
Back next week, hopefully with a better mood and outlook, and lots of swell pix 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.
moving outrageously
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The great thing about Astoria is that even on a day when you’re staying in, Queens brings the show right to your front door. The shot above is from May 22nd, when a largish protest group was moving through the neighborhood demonstrating in support of the Palestinian cause. Luckily for me, I was able to shoot them going by from the comfort of an outdoor porch. Here’s the whole set of shots.
Before any of you get started on debating the Israel/Palestine thing… just don’t. I got kicked out of Jewish Summer Camp when I was 11 for my particular set of opinions (yes, I’ve always been like this) on this subject. Suffice to say that there’s a largish number of very poor people who have been stuck between a military death machine and an organized crime family since 1949. Everyone involved is both entirely right and utterly wrong. There is no solution, only intermittent cessation between slaughters. The Romans couldn’t fix this problem with crucifixions. The Turks couldn’t with literal flaying. There is no justice, there is no peace, never will be. End of conversation, as far as I’m concerned.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A Memorial Day shot from Blissville, depicting current Queens Borough President Donovan Richards “speechifying.” There’s a tiny triangle park right at the corner of Van Dam/Greenpoint/Review Ave. dedicated to the memory of Sgt. Daniel Kish. If memory serves, Blissville’s Kish died at the battle of Guadalcanal during WW2. For many years, this memorial was looked after by a nearby American Legion Post, but that organization seems to have aged out and become defunct. The memorial is in poor condition, and Hurricane Sandy claimed the flag pole that used to be here, so City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer just allocated a sizable amount of cash to the Blissville Civic Association to spruce the memorial up and erect a new flagpole there. Jimmy did an event here on some random Thursday to announce the funding, but I couldn’t make that one.
Since this is election season, of course, and Jimmy Van Bramer is running for Borough President against the incumbent Mr. Richards… Holy smokes has the Kish triangle become a political hotbed. At the event which the shot above was captured at, another BP candidate – Liz Crowley – also showed up, as did City Council candidates Brent O’Leary, Julia Forman, Amit Bagga, Emily Sharpe, and there were several others who showed up as well. Here’s the whole set of shots from May 31, 2021.
Man, the amount of effort it takes to get these people to Newtown Creek when it’s not an election cycle… The following week, two other candidates – Jonathan Bailey and Stephen Ragga – did another event here. General consensus is that if the election was just about who has the best hair – Bailey wins. Here’s a few shots from that one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last, I was on the R heading to Jackson Heights to make a connection with the 7 so I could hit LIC before the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself slid behind New Jersey when I spotted this little fare dodger sitting on some dude’s shoulder.
Fun times in the ancient villages of Western Queens, I tell’s ya.
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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.
local manifestation
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, you just had to figure that as soon as I was able to ride the trains again, y’all would be seeing multiple posts of trains here, huh? It has been a fairly nightmarish couple of weeks for a humble narrator, watching the world roll by while he’s been stuck in multiple holocausts of zoom meetings. Last week got gobbled up preparing for a virtual lecture on Dutch Kills for the Queens Public Library, which is online at the Queens Memory Project in case you’ve missed the dulcet sounds of my voice, followed by social obligations. After that, I got sucked into community board stuff.
Additionally, a little side project of mine for the last few months has been walking candidates for office in LIC around Newtown Creek and detailing problems or opportunities which the successor to Jimmy Van Bramer in the 26th council district will find landing on their plates. You very well might want to defund the cops, candidate, but you’re also going to have to form an opinion about a Federal Superfund site where 17,500 blue collar jobs can be either saved, magnified, or thrown away – in your potential district.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, Community Board breaks for the summer as do several of the various obligatory meetings for Newtown Creek. I’m actually heading up to the Empire State Building observatory this evening to do some shooting. One desires perspective, and when putting together the presentation for the Queens Library mentioned above I came to realize that all of the “top down” shots I’ve got of Newtown Creek have the old Koscisuzcko Bridge in them. Have to maintain the image library, me.
Additionally, as far as summer stuff goes, Our Lady of the Pentacle turned me on to a couple of great offers by Amtrak for regional rail travel. Might just take advantage of that, and take the camera out for a few day trips to the lesser Cities of North America.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Snap back answers are a big part of the current problem when discussing anything these days. So’s virtue signaling. Why do you have to have an opinion about everything?
Are you a racist? Probably not, but you’re a lying fool if you don’t admit to harboring prejudices. Are you an idiot? Probably not, but if you don’t offer that there are things you are completely ignorant about you are similarly a lying fool. There’s being a fool, and then there’s being sinister and weaponizing all of this current cultural bullshit going on for short term political gain. I’ve already seen “me too” weaponized.
As an example of weaponized politics, a casual friend of mine who is running for office in Flushing just got booted off his community board because the old guard thereabouts decided they didn’t like him or his opposition to a real estate mega project. This fellow is obviously East Asian in ancestry, but the specifics of his ethnicity never came up in the decade or so that I’ve known him. We mainly talk about food and transit, truth be told. As it turns out, he’s Korean, which I discovered on social media. This ethnicity thing became an issue since the specifics of race are very important to the anti racist lefties (dichotomy much?) who think that not building luxury condos is racist, and this fellow’s enemies – on the left – are accusing him of taking money from Pyongyang and acting as a Communist sleeper agent for North Korea. Wow.
Great thing about riding the trains again is having time to ponder, and think.
“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 