Posts Tagged ‘Bronx Whitestone Bridge’
thumping rattle
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 20th and a humble narrator had just received the most critical bit of equipment needed to enable his “escape from New York.” A car.
All of these years in Queens, I’ve been a dedicated pedestrian and married to mass transit. I’ve always opined that having a car in Astoria is more of a curse than a boon. It was actually cheaper for me to use ride shares or cabs when I needed a ride than it was to own one.
I’m moving to America, and quite literally to “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood,” where you cannot exist on the continent without a vehicle so I had to drop the hammer. Placed the order in July, and got a fresh from the factory new car in late October.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since becoming hyper mobile and independent of the geographic restrictions which are governed by how far my feet can scuttle, as well as the physical constraints of how long I can carry my photo kit, one has been ranging all over the city. Saying that, what is being missed out on now are the little things that you can’t see when driving along as you’re moving too fast.
After getting my driver’s license reinstated earlier this year, I rented a few different vehicles from Avis and Hertz, looking for a good fit for Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself. The Toyota RAV4 Hybrids rose to the top of my list, and we ordered one from one of the new car dealerships on Northern Boulevard. My accountant opined that even if I bought the thing in Alaska, NYS would still bill me for sales tax since my legal address would still here at the time of purchase, so I bit the bullet. Hopefully, this will be my last really large contribution to the black hole that Albany throws our earnings into to finance its dysfunction.
One of the bits of advice I offer is “if you’re thinking about buying a car, rent the model for a week first, and see if you like it.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
October 21st saw me taking advantage of this new mobility to get a few shots from an area that has always been a little too far off the grid for me to walk around, the coast lines of College Point and Whitestone.
That’s the Bronx Whitestone Bridge pictured above and below.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Funnily enough, I’ve got more shots of this bridge from the Bronx side than I do the Queens one, due to there being a ferry stop on the Soundview NYC Ferry line in the former location.
I tooled around the area, exploiting several points of view which I had previously scouted out on Google maps. The Google Maps app is a great tool as far as finding potential points of view in areas which are either tangentially known or are complete mysteries. I never would have thought to visit the “Whitestone Bridge Observatory” otherwise, or even suspected such a roundabout street end existed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whitestone seems to be a super wealthy community, with expansive homes that border on “mansion” nestled right up against the water. It looks more like a suburb than it does NYC. You don’t see piles of cast off garbage or debased humans lying in the street, for instance.
I had several photo set ups planned for the day, and since I was in a car, didn’t mind carrying all of the heavy kit which would normally create a limit on how far and wide I could range.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There aren’t too many Sandy beaches on the East River. I think it’s about 6 or 7, that I know about at least. That’s one of them, above, at Francis Lewis Park. Nice spot.
One kept on heading eastwards, right up and sometimes over the City/Nassau County line.
More on that tomorrow at your – now – hard driving 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.
sorry planet
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described is prior posts, an NYC Ferry ride from Astoria to Manhattan’s 34th street allowed a humble narrator to intersect with a Bronx bound Soundview line ferry. Arriving at a new ferry stop, one navigated his way over to the Bronx Whitestone Bridge and a couple of hours worth of urban landscape photography ensued.
This portion of my day involved using a tripod, an ND filter to slow down and control the very bright afternoon sun, a cable release to negate having to touch the camera’s controls too much, and a Canon model R6 camera.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While shooting these, a bit of a squall was building to the south west and the wind began to kick up. Before long, a solid wall of 15 – 20 mph wind had become continuous. A simple solution for this one is to use your body to block the wind, standing between the oncoming current and the camera rig. This only works so far, by the way, so it’s best to shoot a couple/three exposures for every composition.
This practice burns through the batteries pretty quick, but I’ve always got at least two fully charged extra ones in my camera bag.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You’re already there, so don’t rush. Look up, down, all around. Don’t just show up after traveling somewhere, click the shutter and say “I got it, that’s a day.” Keep looking. You’re there, and there’s plenty of time back at home later to not regret having captured more.
Try different exposure combinations. Do a focus stack. Maybe do a few HDR exposures. Narrow aperture versus wide open one. Keep working, don’t stop until it’s absolutely time to leave.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Go for textural shots. Storytelling involves “establishment shots” which are wide, close ups, mediums. Don’t stop shooting until you have to. Think about how movie directors do it. Try dutching the angle of the camera, put the thing on the ground and see what that looks like, is there anything you can safely climb on to get some perspective.
Shoot from your waist, from above your head. Up, down, all around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What happens if you underexpose, or overexpose? Can you combine the two as a blended stack in photoshop? Take a minute and burn what the scene looked like visually into your memory. When you develop the RAW files later, that visual memory will come in handy.
Yes, the water actually did turn indigo blue in the late afternoon winter sunlight, as a passing high altitude cloud shadowed it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“One and done” is the statement of an egomaniac or an autist. Keep working. It’s digital photography, not film. Everything you shoot will be malleable when you’re back in front of the computer and processing the shots. Stretch the shutter speed out, or reduce it to a thousandth of a second. Maybe you can combine the two shots? Me? I like making waves look like smokey mist these days. You?
That’s my advice. What do I know, after all, as I’m just some schmuck with a camera, scuttling about. Filthy black raincoat blowing about in the wind, friendless and alone, walking down the waterfront.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
escaping forever
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The NYC Ferry carried a humble narrator’s horrific form northwards towards the Bronx, where a desire to have a look at the College Point facing section of the “The Undiscovered Country” awaited. “Undiscovered Country” is how I refer to the Bronx. The reason for this is ultimately that if I want to go to that Borough from Queens, it’s a longer train trip than if I wanted to visit Westchester, despite it being a half mile away across the East River.
That’s the price of Manhattancentric transit, by the way. It’s easier to get to the City from Astoria than it is to go to Maspeth or Ridgewood. Forget about the Bronx, you need to go to midtown and then ride a local train all the way through Manhattan. The NYC Ferry negates this, and puts the unknown country within reach.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Little Hellgate, which crosses the Bronx Kill, a tiny waterway that’s the only reminder of Randall’s and Wards Islands once being separate land masses. Notice the Amtrak train set on it heading north.
The ferry captain really opened up the throttle right about here, and I had to hold onto my hat for fear of having it torn away by the wind.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s been a Soundview stop on this ferry line since the day they inaugurated the service, one found on the south shore of an East River tributary called Westchester Creek. The new stop is on the north shore of Westchester Creek, and the stop is dubbed “Ferry Point Park” after the NYC Parks outpost found there.
Pictured above is the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, which is what really drew me in here. I don’t have many pictures of this one in my catalog, and this day trip involved the beginnings of an effort to fix that situation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s no good choice as to which path to follow along the water’s edge here. Either scuttle on the hard to walk in gravel, or on the muddy grass – it’s your call. I chose to pick out a path in the mud, as walking in loose gravel is sort of like walking in snow.
The park itself was actually quite well used, with joggers and families milling about and doing the sorts of things you’d associate with the human infestation – running, climbing, shouting – that kind of stuff.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A brief trek found me at the edge of the land, and under the Bronx Whitestone Bridge. Opened in 1939, designed by Othmar Amman, the Bronx Whitestone is a suspension bridge which carries six lanes of Interstate 678 over the East River. It’s towers are 377 feet tall, and with the approaches, the bridge is 3,700 feet long. The suspension section over the water is 2,300 feet long, and at the time of its opening this was the fourth longest bridge on the entire planet.
Owned by NYC but operated by the MTA Bridges and Tunnels Authority, it connects Whitestone, Flushing, and College Point in Queens with Throggs Neck in the Bronx.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once I was happily situated, the tripod and filters were deployed and the camera shifted into its “landscape modality.” Why do I keep on mentioning this sort of technical thing, you may ask?
When I meet younger photographers these days, they are generally geared up for a singular mission and aren’t “Omnivores.” This isn’t the way it works, I tell them. Different circumstances will be encountered at every intersection you come to. Sometimes it’s the zoom lens you need, other situations demand a prime lens with an ND or Polarizer Filter. Be ready for everything that might come your way, and get practiced in the art of quickly changing gears without damaging the gear. Military people practice breaking down and cleaning their weapons blind folded, as an example. Be ready.
More tomorrow.
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
The Newtown Creekathon returns!
On April 10th, the all day death march around Newtown Creek awakens from its pandemic slumber.
DOOM! DOOM! Fully narrated by Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of Newtown Creek Alliance, this one starts in LIC at the East River, heads through Blissville, the happy place of Industrial Maspeth, dips a toe in Ridgewood and then plunges desperately into Brooklyn. East Williamsburgh and then Greenpoint are visited and a desperate trek to the East River in Brooklyn commences. DOOM! Click here for more information and to reserve a spot – but seriously – what’s wrong with you that you’re actually considering doing this? DOOM!
“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.
burning curiousity
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Tired and overwhelmed is a humble narrator, who is out taking pictures of the greatest city in the history of mankind this week and not attending any Zoom meetings or frankly doing anything he doesn’t want to do. Thereby, this week you’ll be encountering single images here at Newtown Pentacle, in pursuance of taking a short break from the normal blather.
Pictured above is the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, which opened for business on this date in 1939.
“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 