Posts Tagged ‘photowalk’
Archives #032
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This week’s archives were somewhat difficult to gather together, as this is the part of the year where I’d normally be taking a break and offering single image shots. Under what were my normal conditions, Newtown Creek tour season would have just wrapped up and I’d be taking a minute to collect myself after a spring and summer’s worth of talking. I’m a chatterbox, admittedly, but after guiding dozens of groups composed of hundreds if not thousands around the creek, a break was always required.
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are randomly pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. This practice will continue until I’m back on both feet full time, and new photos and stories can be gathered. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September.
2015’s ‘distant whine’ discussed and bitched about the inequalities betwixt the two sides of the Queensboro Bridge, as far as how the municipal pie gets divided up in City Hall. Everything is Manhattancentric.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Some years, this calendar date fell on a weekend, or one of those single shots was occupying the slot. In a couple of cases, the post that published on this date kind of sucked, or was ‘filler’ as in when I’ve got nothing to say about what’s in the photos so I riff on an unrelated topic.
In 2018, it seems I was seeking nocturnal altitude, as described in ‘disclosures which.’ A few friends ended up opening their doors to me, with one pair of friends in particular allowing me hours of time up on the roof deck of the condo building that used to be the LIRR powerhouse.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, the physical therapy component of the broken ankle story is yielding a great result. My foot looks like somewhat like its mate on the other leg again, instead of a swollen out and magenta colored version of one of those 1970’s ‘hang 10’ stickers.
In 2019, I had a smashed big toe but I also had a gig doing a slide show/lecture at the library on Roosevelt Island, about Newtown Creek, so I had to suck it up – pain wise – and do my thing. Mission!
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.
Archives #031
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Things are improving around HQ, exponentially at this point, as my broken ankle’s physical therapy routine is tangibly addressing the pain and swelling of early recovery. They’ve even had me walking in ordinary shoes at the ‘PT’ sessions. I’m recovering some of my confidence in the stride as well, in terms of trusting my affected limb.
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are randomly pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. This practice will continue until I’m back on both feet full time, and new photos and stories can be gathered. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September.
2010’s ‘narcotic flowers’ was published on this date, which discussed public health measures that were introduced in NYC, during the late 19th century, to combat epidemics and pandemics arriving daily at the port with the floods of immigrants from peasant lands in Europe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My pal Will from NCA recently sent a photo of my beloved Dutch Kills tree to me, and the thing has turned into a real whopper over the last couple of years. Next time that I’m back home, I plan on getting a few shots of this survivor. Spring, likely.
During the pandemic, your humble narrator was walking around in the dead of night at Newtown Creek for want of any other purpose. 2020 gave me a chance to get ‘technical’ with the photos, and really slow things down, as seen in the post ‘livid marks’ which visits the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m thinking that I might actually be able to get back to my normal pursuits by mid-December at this point, but I’m taking things slowly and following the program as laid out by the professionals. Their first name is ‘Doctor,’ after all, and I’m just a schmuck with a camera.
November 18, in 2022, was smack in the middle of an intensely busy period as Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself were deep in preparation for our move to Pittsburgh and your humble narrator was attempting to ‘see everything one last time.’ Luckily, by this point, I had taken possession of the car, and was able to zip about Queens freely.
“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.
Archives #030
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nothing like shooting a bridge, I always say. They hold stock still, don’t blink or sneeze, and never break the pose to worry if their ‘hair is alright.’ Saying that, it’s all about time of day and lighting when bridge photos are sought. The one above was captured while onboard a Working Harbor Committee tour of Newark Bay.
This 2010 post offered a ‘Happy Birthday’ greeting to the original configuration of the Bayonne Bridge spanning the Kill Van Kull.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘big kahunas’ of New York Harbor are all found within a few miles of each other, with Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges at the center of the garland. I never missed taking a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge every time I happened to be passing it by. On a boat before sunrise, in Brooklyn on foot, or on Manhattan by foot. Its presence in a shot is a ‘place maker,’ just like having the Empire State Building somewhere in a shot, and iconically screams ‘this is New York City.’
In 2016, I spent a bit of time under the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan and came across the oldest tavern in NYC, which was destroyed by Sandy and was still closed 4 years later.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Minor bridges are also kind of a thing for me, and my beloved creek had no shortages in that department for the wandering photographer to record.
On November 15th in 2019, I published this post – called ‘correlated causeways’ – as a catch all post to simply describe all the bridges of Newtown Creek in a single post.
Back next week.
“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.
Archives #029
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A frequently walked pathway to Newtown Creek from Astoria was one that would see a humble narrator march southwards along 43rd street in Sunnyside, and then hang a right on Greenpoint Avenue towards Blissville and Brooklyn. Newtown Creek Alliance’s HQ is just across the water in Greenpoint, so as you’d imagine – there was a lot of back and forth along this route over the years.
In 2014, a humble narrator had grown annoyed at thousands of illegally placed advertisements, ones that suddenly appeared on every lamp post in Western Queens – as discussed in this November 14th post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek is where I spent a lot of time over the last dozen or so years I lived in NYC. To start – it was the section of the creek closest to my house, and a twenty minute walk would deliver me to a subway station if I decided to punk out and find a ride home. Deserted, generally. No one on the streets but me.
The photos in the post ‘pressure laminated’ were gathered while crawling around the bulkheads of Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary, but the text talks about pandemics. Oddly, I was only about three to four miles off in my prediction of Covid’s global epicenter being in Astoria, rather than in Elmhurst where it ended up being.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The age of oil started in western Pennsylvania in a place called Oil City, which is right next door to PA’s Titusville. A day trip in 2023 saw me visiting both municipalities, and photographing some of the sights.
In 2023, this post about Pennsylvania’s Titusville was published.
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.
Archives #028
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator will admit to feeling nostalgic about my beloved creek, back at the undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens. I miss a lot of things about New York, it should be mentioned. Notably it’s the style of life which was normative due to my long habitation of NYC, but my longings always omit the omnipresent piles of blood, scabs, and hair. It also shies away from reminiscences of the smears of dog excrement, and those vomit puddles adorning the curbs which also float the litter. I also haven’t seen anyone ‘bleeding out’ in close to two years now. Imagine that?
This November 13th post in 2018 visited Maspeth Creek in the middle of the night. I was focused in tightly on night shooting at this point, and the shot above was captured while taking quite a risk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in Astoria, our crib had a terraced and covered outdoor space which allowed me to be outside a lot, and observe the milieu from about twenty feet over the sidewalk. There was a catering hall across the street which hosted all sorts of events.
One night, there was some kind of teen dance thing going on there, and most of the kids in attendance were East Asian. My guess is that they were Korean, but that’s a guess. The doors of the catering hall suddenly blew open, and all the kids spilled into the street. They started fighting. They were popping the rear view mirrors off of parked cars to throw at each other, and one of them yanked the two wooden poles supporting a newly planted tree out of the soil. The kid wielded them like Bo sticks, fighting off two other kids. Kung fu style kicks were thrown and a general Donnybrook was under way. That’s until a Toyota Land Cruiser full of their Moms arrived. The fight ended immediately and the kids adopted a particular pose of submission in response to this recently arrived ‘greater authority.’ This was just one of literally dozens of such occurrences which would manifest under my very nose.
These days, I’m psyched if I see a deer in my yard.
In 2019, November 13th came along when I was recovering from a smashed and broken toe, and archives shots were offered from the library. In this case it was a series of experimental macro shots of fruits.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned previously, your humble narrator seems to be on the mend. Physical Therapy started shortly after the cast holding my broken ankle together was removed, and I’m following the program laid out – including the ‘at home’ exercises and stretches which I’ve been assigned. I’m getting my strength back, and have gradually been reassuming my daily round of mundane tasks. Hey – two weeks ago, the victory moment was consistently being able to pee while standing up, so…
Finally, shots from a visit to LIC’s Montauk Cutoff one afternoon were published on 2020’s November 13th, in the post ‘organic metabolism.’
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 