Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
Magic Lantern Show
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is needless to say, of course, is that my magic lantern is digital. In the dawn of the age of photography, journeyman shooters would travel all around the world, or to corners of the City which the genteel upper crust would eschew- and capture images of titillating subjects for the entertainment and evangelization of the moneyed classes who would otherwise never encounter such things. Jacob Riis and Matthew Brady come to mind, and whereas your humble narrator would never allow himself to invoke those names for fear of the vast hubris it would call crashing down about my ears, a belief nevertheless persists around Newtown Pentacle HQ that such an exhibition can still find a modern audience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just under an hour long, this Magic Lantern Show about Newtown Creek is personally narrated, and transports the viewer to every corner of the Newtown Creek- every tributary and street end, on the water and above it, and is presented in the idiosyncratic and off beat manner which has become familiar to regular readers of this- your Newtown Pentacle. It attempts to explain certain core questions in under an hour which have been repeatedly presented to me over the last couple of years, and the entire talk is illustrated with both my photography and historical researches and documents:
- What exactly do you mean by the “Newtown Pentacle”?
- When did the Newtown Creek begin to matter?
- Why should I care, how does the Newtown Creek affect me, as I live in Manhattan?
- Where exactly is this place?
- Who is responsible for this mess, and exactly who is it that’s going to clean it up?
- How can I get involved and help my community revitalize and or restore the Newtown Creek?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The entire evening will cost you a mere sawbuck, or $5 as it’s referred to in modernity (and I’m not altogether certain what the deal is if you’re already a GAHS member, you’d be best served by checking in with them), and will be presented at the Greater Astoria Historical Society on June 6th, 2011 at 7p.m. I’d love to see you there, and there will be a question and answer period after the show, in which I’ll endeavor to respond to any random question from the audience. Luckily, GAHS will be there, should my knowledge fall short. Come one, come all.
Believe it or not, this still isn’t the BIG announcement. Await with baited breath the next thrilling installment of this- your Newtown Pentacle.
Back on the job…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A reminder is offered today to those interested in spending this Saturday in the company of Mr. Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY.com to follow this link. A photographers dream, this journey will begin at an ancient train station…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…move past a gargantuan railhead with sky flung monuments to a prior age of industrial dominance providing a backdrop…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
…and conclude in a pastoral setting on the sunny side of a vast hill. All of this in quite a short distance, with expert narration guaranteed and wry and often pithy observations promised. Your humble narrator will be coming along as well…
For more on the trip, visit this Newtown Pentacle link from a couple of days ago- “Things to do“.
Sorry for the short post, tremendously swamped with detail at the moment, but a major announcement is coming tomorrow.
Things To Do!!!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mr. Kevin Walsh, supreme and unyielding webmaster of the intrepid Forgotten-NY.com will be teaming up with Richard Melnick of the Greater Astoria Historical Society for a walking tour of Skillman Avenue, a street which begins in Long Island City at 49th avenue and ends in Woodside at Roosevelt Avenue. Your humble narrator will be along for the trip, and has been busy producing the snazzy collateral booklet for the trip, and folks- this one is a visual feast.
Photography enthusiasts will find themselves especially pleased, as will the general antiquarian community, as we move through a fast moving and epic landscape crowded with the sky flung monumental relics of an industrial revolution.
Trace the history of Queens from a civil war era rail road station, stagger through the mighty Degnon Terminal, marvel at the titan Sunnyside Yards, and experience the pastoral glories of entering the Sunnyside- all in under 3 miles on Saturday, April 16th at 11:30AM.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The price of this tour, and one just might think of it as tuition, for time spent with Mr. Walsh and Mr. Melnick often leaves one with the sense of having attended a scholarly dissertation- will be $25. This relative pittance, however, includes the price of an informative and handsome BW booklet written by Mr. Walsh and illustrated with photography whose odd style would be familiar to regular readers of this- your Newtown Pentacle.
The intended route is detailed here, or visit Forgotten-NY’s tour page here.
As mentioned, Mr. Melnick of the Greater Astoria Historical Society will be assisting Mr. Walsh, and has vouchsafed a discount of some 20% for the existing members of his esteemed group, bringing the price to a mere $20.
pounding and piping
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ahh, the return of warmth and a fortuitous angling of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself has resulted in a vast series of walks, which form something of a survey when viewed homologously. Temperatures may continue to underwhelm, but the glorious light which distinguishes the western coast of Queens has woken from its hibernation, and so has your humble narrator.
A shabby juggernaut once more scuttles forth!
from wikipedia
Long Island City station was built on June 26, 1854, and was rebuilt seven times during the 19th Century. On December 18, 1902, both the two-story station building, and an office building owned by the LIRR were burned down in a fire. The station was rebuilt on April 26, 1903, and was electrified on June 16, 1910.
Before the East River Tunnels were built, the Long Island City station served as the terminus for Manhattan-bound passengers from Long Island, who would then connect to a ferry to the East Side of Manhattan. The passenger ferry service was abandoned on March 3, 1925, although freight was carried by car floats (see Gantry Plaza State Park) to and from Manhattan until the middle twentieth century. Today ferry service is operated by New York Water Taxi.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Experimentation with the digital image, from both the capture and the processing angles, resumes.
To wit, “single image HDR”, images- wherein (non photography people can just skip over this part) a single raw image is rendered 1 stop higher and then lower than the metered exposure and then combined in photoshop to highlight the “sweet spot” from all three iterations. Garish, the images nevertheless reveal a wide range of shadow detail and highlight compression otherwise unattainable in a single exposure. A digital image, indeed.
from wikipedia
The Main Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It begins in Long Island City and runs directly across the middle of Long Island, terminating in Greenport approximately 95 miles (153 km) from its starting point. Along the way, five branches diverge from the Main Line. Eastern portions of the Main Line are also identified by branch names. These branches, in order from west to east, are:
- Port Washington Branch (at Wood Interlocking in Woodside, Queens)
- Hempstead Branch (at Queens Interlocking along the Queens/Nassau County border)
- Oyster Bay Branch (at Nassau Interlocking in Mineola)
- Port Jefferson Branch (at Divide Interlocking in Hicksville)
- Ronkonkoma Branch – name given to the Main Line east of Hicksville
- Central Branch (at Beth Interlocking at Bethpage) – a single track with no stations, connecting the Main Line to the Montauk Branch
- Greenport Branch – name given to the non-electrified Main Line east of Ronkonkoma
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Highly “monkeyed around with”, there’s just something about these HDR shots which draws me in- but of course, your humble narrator was once a comic book artist and is naturally drawn toward these sorts of primary colorscapes. This section of the megalopolis could easily be called “Gotham” rather than “Long Island” City.
I would be remiss if the arrts-arrchives pages of historic photos and deep historical insight weren’t linked out to, so click here and here and here. These are VERY cool pages, and worth your time.
weirdly afar
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Long have I harbored secret ambitions to some sort of throne, but ironic hubris would strike from its lurking perch. Rough hewn, this specimen was observed recently on Northern Blvd. in Queens, at the thoroughfare’s junction with 34th Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a difficult retail location, of course, which requires some showmanship and the grandiosity of this chair (obviously a showpiece) made me think about the sort of home decor into which it might blend.
One might expect to find a cheetah on a leash wandering about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I jest of course, as my personal space looks like a server room, and hums audibly. Personally, I’d love to have one of those Frankenstein lightning things going in the corner, but my little dog objects to the sound of electrical discharges.
Which is how I’d describe this chair- upholstered electricity…
The Newtown Pentacle 