Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
terrifying delight
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sunset is fairly spectacular this time of year, if you get your timing correct. A recent scuttle found one heading towards the familiar destination of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in Long Island City’s Degnon Terminal section. This is a familiar path for me, and is one of the regular night time walks which I’ve been engaging in throughout the endless pandemic months.
That water tower pictured above is on the roof of the Standard Motor Products Building, which also hosts the Brooklyn Grange Urban farm.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I was crossing the Honeywell Truss over the Sunnyside Yards, which is one of the street bridges spanning the rail complex which connects Skillman Avenue with Northern Blvd., I got the fiery skies I was hoping for.
One was, of course, about a half hour late relative as to where I wanted to be when the sky went orange. I really wanted to be near the water, but had a bit of trouble dragging my butt out of HQ on time. This is one of the effects that the pandemic months has created for me, an inability to rush about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s been a while since I’ve left HQ with the entire photo kit on my back – y’know, the tripod and everything. A point was made of intentionally using my zoom lenses while walking, since most of what I’ve been shooting over the last few months has been accomplished with two prime lenses. Given that I’ve brought a long lens out of retirement, I’m trying to mix things up a bit and “reach out and touch something” with it.
As mentioned, a bit of travel is in the cards for me in September. Definitely going to be visiting the pretty city of Pittsburgh with its amazing collection of bridges and funiculars, Burlington up in Vermont is on my list, as is Washington D.C. If I can make it work, I might come back from Pittsburgh via Chicago. I also have a wedding to attend in a rural section of New York State next month. Exciting, no?
“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.
gaseous consciousness
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What with the crazy heat wave and other obligations experienced last week, including having to quarantine for 3 days until I could get tested for Covid – because an Anti-Vaccine idiot friend of mine decided that his freedom to avoid vaccination trumped mine to not be needlessly exposed to a plague – a humble narrator is a bit behind on his schedule. Hey Anti-Vaxxer, I know that god is going to protect you from Covid and all that, but using that logic – why do you need to own a gun?
Shot 1, above, is a modern shot from 2021. For yesterday and today’s posts I’m reaching into the archives.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in 2009, the Queensborough Bridge Centennial celebration happened on June 9th. I was one of the parade Marshalls, which allowed me otherwise unthinkable access to the span. Zero traffic, and about an hour for me to “do my thing” while completely alone up there except for a couple of cops.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Also in 2009, a friend’s birthday celebration found me in Manhattan just as a thunderstorm was blowing through. A spectacular atmospheric display occurred at sunset. Luckily, I was a few blocks from the Chrysler Building.
Back tomorrow with something different 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.
doubtfully shaped
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What with the crazy heat wave and other obligations last week, which included having to quarantine myself for 3 days until I could get tested for Covid – because an Anti-Vaccine idiot friend of mine decided that his freedom to avoid vaccination trumped mine to not be needlessly exposed to a plague – a humble narrator is a bit behind on his schedule. Accordingly, for today and tomorrow’s posts I’m reaching into the archives. Shot 1, above, is a modern shot from 2021.
Before you ask – yes, I’m vaccinated. The protocol offered by medical professionals indicates that despite the vaccination, you can still “Typhoid Mary” the virus to those who aren’t. Given that I don’t want to be the reason you get sick…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Shot 2 is from 2009, when on a trip to southwestern Vermont and some of its fine cemeteries, I encountered the graves of the Three Thralls. It’s my firmly held theory that a Mad Scientist, or perhaps a Supervillain, used to be a resident in this small New England town. His henchmen, or thralls, met an untimely end due to some heroic intervention, and ended up occupying the loam. Perhaps the Thralls died from a virus somebody selfishly exposed them to.
Thrall, it seems, was one of the three social classes one could expect to be born into during the Age of the Vikings. There were are also Kralls, and Earls, I’m told.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Closer to home, here in Astoria, one encountered a deceased Chicken lying on the side of the road one day. This is also from 2009. Given that I’m talking about a chicken who died 12 years ago, it’s time to end this archive post. I do wonder if the Chicken regretted crossing this particular road?
Back tomorrow.
“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.
archetypal infinity
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One often questions the thought process of others. To wit, the waves visible on the surface of the fabulous Newtown Creek – pictured above – were caused by the passing of a jet ski. You get pretty moist when riding a jet ski, as the thing is positively cleaving the water at a high rate of speed. Speaking as someone who has spent an inordinate amount of time on all sorts of water craft on this waterway, the last thing you want to do at Newtown Creek is get wet. Particularly if it’s rained recently. Yuck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has also been keeping busy, despite certain existential annoyances and “have to’s” manifesting themselves all around me. Given that the physical symptomology, described in prior weeks, of my malfunctioning left foot continues to bedevil and hinder necessitating transit use – there’s been lots of opportunity to photograph subway infrastructure, like the 7 train entering the Vernon Jackson station in Long Island City pictured above. Here’s your history trivia fact of the day – this was the very first subway station in Queens and it opened in June of 1916.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over in Woodside, one observed the ghastly evidentiary leave behinds of the Queens Cobbler, a likely serial killer who leaves singular shoes as taunting trophies in pursuit of tormenting the gendarmerie.
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.
oppression waned
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whew, what a couple of weeks. One has walked or ridden a boat into 4 of the 5 Boroughs, including… Staten Island… in the last 14 days. I’ve been in Astoria, Long Island City, Bushwick, Greenpoint, East Williamsburg, Sunset Park, Red Hook, Manhattan’s Financial District and Lower East Side, and St. George. This whole spate of activity got started a couple of weeks ago in LIC when I had to meet up with a couple of Newtown Creek Alliance interns to teach them a couple of things about my beloved Creek. Good news is that most of this travel has occurred on boats, specifically on ferry boats.
The shot above is from the sidewalk of Borden Avenue, alongside the Long Island Railroad’s moderately ancient Hunters Point Rail Yard. The current facility is the ninth iteration of a rail yard on this spot. Once, there was a gigantic glass and steel train shed here, and there were turntables that allowed rail engines to reorient themselves from one track to another.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Some of my travels have involved hopping on the subway. A humble narrator found himself at Queens Plaza just as a 7 line train was entering the Manhattan bound lower level tracks at the elevated MTA complex.
Just in the name of decrying how bad the management is at the redoubtable MTA… so, they had 16 months where basically nobody was riding the trains. During that interval, which you’d imagine as being a golden opportunity to perform upgrades and maintenance, they complained about declining fare revenues and an uptick in crime. Give us more money, they said, and the Feds bailed them out. Now, with the City reopening and everybody trying to get back to normal, just this last weekend they started doing signal upgrades to the Culver line. The F was running on the D, the D on the F, and R service was completely turned off in Astoria. Instruction was to take the 7 to Jackson Heights, and then transfer to the E, which was stopping in seemingly random places – none of which were where I was going.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above was gathered by shooting through the dirty window of a N train bound for Queens Plaza. One day it will happen – I’ll be on an N train which doesn’t look it was parked under a flock of seagulls and it will have clean windows offering a crystal clear view of the scene above.
Frustrating, the MTA is. That’s also a good sign of some sort of return to normalcy. How do you bring people together in our politically divided culture? Answer is: our common hatred of MTA management.
Speaking of getting back to normal… what are you doing on August 7th? I’ll be conducting a WALKING TOUR OF LONG ISLAND CITY with my pal Geoff Cobb. Details and ticketing available here. Come with?
“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 