Posts Tagged ‘Subway’
clamoured forms
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Riding the trains again, that’s me. As stated previously, I never thought I’d come to a juncture in my life where I missed riding the subways but I guess that’s what a fairly unprecedented public health emergency teaches a guy. The shot above, of course, wasn’t captured within the system. Instead I was scuttling down Skillman Avenue on my way to do a thing. I’m also “doing things” again. Had my very first live and in person meeting in the last 16 months just last week. Everybody in the room was vaxxed, naturally.
A humble narrator finds himself in a weird place these days. As I’ve mentioned to several people in the last month or so, I no longer have any tolerance whatsoever for other people’s bullshit. Used to be that I’d make excuses for you, or try to explain the many reasons why you’re justified acting like a walking/talking asshole. No more. No second chances. Piss me off just a little bit these days and it doesn’t matter how long we’ve known each other – you’re done. If you’re somebody I didn’t like all that much to start with… woof.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I find that the angst and anxiety I was experiencing throughout the pandemic has transformed into red hot anger. What the hell is wrong with you people? Are you all really this stupid and selfish? Those are questions which have been soundly answered, and the answer is “yes.”
Accordingly, my inclination is to say “Ok, no more Mr. Nice Guy,” and to stop pretending that I’m a better person than I actually am. Patience is no longer a virtue I exhibit. If there isn’t a payoff for being decent, I’ll just go the other way and get mine. Fuck y’all. This is an inclination which I’m currently struggling with.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While I’m trying to figure out how to quell all of the anger and disappointment I’m carrying around with me, I’m also trying to find a way forward which doesn’t involve me screaming at people at the top of my lungs about minor sleights and annoyances. Just this morning, I had to instruct my bagel guy to stop talking and just listen to my bagel shepherding instructions with an “I’M TALKING NOW, JUST LISTEN.” I apologized afterwards, and tipped him well for the affront, but holy smokes am I currently a lit fuse waiting to go off. Sorry Jose, wasn’t your fault.
Best thing, I think, is to solitarily hit the streets with the camera and lose myself in a few audiobooks. It’s been a while since I listened to “The Dunwich Horror” so I’m going to start trying to calm myself with a bit of my old pal Howie Lovecraft.
“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.
boughed orchard
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another evening walk in Long Island City. Pictured above is a 1915 built structure which has been dubbed as “The Point LIC” by its current owner. For much of the 20th century it was called the “Paragon Oil” building, but when it was built and opened it was called “The Subway Building” and the uppermost floor was – in fact – Queens Borough Hall during the tenure of BP Maurice Connolly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that I’m able to take the trains again, I’ve been doing so.
One of the things I missed during the pandemic was the ease and low cost of getting around using mass transit. I found myself forced into paying through the nose for ride share services whenever I wasn’t able to simply walk somewhere. I was able to justify the risk of coming into contact with one stranger, but couldn’t rectify the possibility of sharing an atmosphere with dozens of strangers at Covid’s high water marks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yup, still working on this shot.
Getting close. I’m only going to be satisfied when I hit a crimson and orange sky behind the train, but that’s just a matter of right place/right time. If you’re moving through Queens Plaza at anytime between 8:15 and 8:45 and you notice a deconstructed pile of old man waving a camera about in the direction of the Silvercup sign, that’s probably going to be me. Don’t say hello, I’ll only disappoint you in person, and you might be horrified.
I have that effect on people.
“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.
glancing backward
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One does wish that the pandemic related train cleaning regimen MTA has been observing included the polishing of the window glass on their rolling stock, but there you are. That’s part of the Sunnyside Yards pictured up there, shot through a 7 train window while heading west. A Long Island Rail Road train is at the bottom of the shot, and the owners of the trains parked in the colossal coach yard behind it include New Jersey Transit and Amtrak.
Someday I will get invited to walk around down there. Someday.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Visible from another subway line is this view of the Triborough Bridge. Specifically, it’s the Astoria Blvd. stop on the N/W service. That’s the onramp of the great bridge, and the transitional point where traffic leaves the Grand Central Parkway. Local traffic west of 31st street travels on Hoyt Avenues North and South. East of 31st street, it’s officially the “I-278 Truck Bypass” but we common mortals refer to the travel lanes as Astoria Blvd. N & S.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the extreme western end of Sunnyside Yards is the section called “Yard A” or the “Arch Street Yard.” MTA has a train maintenance facility here, and for the last few weeks they’ve been playing around with a new series of LIRR trains which they just got delivered. I’ve noticed them doing “shake down” trips at night with these new units, which I’m told is probably in pursuit of testing their signaling systems. In the foreground is an Amtrak train emerging from the tunnel which allowed it to escape Manhattan.
“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.
deadly sweetness
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really cannot believe how much I missed this sort of sight over the last year and a half. I also cannot believe my luck in not contracting COVID, as so many people I know did, before the vaccinations became available. Luckily, most of the people in my inner circle who did become infected with the bug recovered, but there’s also a few people I know who didn’t survive the experience or who are suffering from the “long Covid” suite of symptoms. Plague is no fun, huh?
That’s the Manhattan bound IRT Flushing line 7 train entering Queens Plaza’s lower level tracks. On this particular day, one was feeling a bit tired and sore from a long walk the day before, so I opted to “ride the trains” since I had nowhere else to be or go.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still working on it.
Did you know that the purpose of the different colors painted on the steel structures of the transit infrastructure around Queens Plaza and the Queensboro Bridge is to clearly indicate which structure is which? This way some badly informed construction worker doesn’t accidentally torch their way through a support column for one of the bridge’s vehicle ramps while they’re intending to perform maintenance on the elevated subway tracks instead. Queens trivia!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My “ride the trains” shot list involves getting on and off the train at various stops and cracking out a few exposures. The one above was gathered after I had left the system and was walking down Queens Boulevard on my way back to HQ in Astoria.
I can’t resist most shots with the Empire State Building in a dominant position. Add in a sunset and a 7 train? Pfah.
“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.
lambent nimbuses
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since I’m all vaxxed up, riding the subways is something I can do again. I’ve been seriously pursuing an “iconic” shot of the IRT Flushing Line entering Queens Plaza with the sun setting behind it. The shot above isn’t it, rather it’s part of a series of similar shots which I’m going to keep on cracking away at until I get the magic one. One of the features which drew me into adopting the new camera – Canon EOS R6 – was a fairly revolutionary set of autofocus technologies baked into the thing. Saying that, during the pandemic months, I didn’t use “face and eye” or “subject tracking” at all since almost everything I was pointing the lens at was static.
Subject tracking, which is what I’m using while pursuing my “iconic” shot, allows me to tell the camera to focus on a certain thing and then the electronics onboard will follow that object through the frame while constantly adjusting focus as it moves. It also looks for human faces in frame and ensures they are in focus as well. There’s a lot of nuance to how this works, which has been fun to learn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve always considered the MTA Subway system to be an excellent workshop for photographers to figure their devices out. You’ve got all of these “worst case scenarios” going on. Shiny metallic objects moving at a decent clip through badly lit spaces, lots of harsh contrast, random behavioral offerings from the ridership.
Something I started doing a few years ago involves walking somewhere distant and then hopping on the train to get back home. That divides my photowalk time up and keeps things interesting. On the particular night these shots were gathered, I had scuttled over to LIC and visited Dutch Kills and then jumped onto the 7 at Hunters Point Avenue pursuing a connection to the Astoria line trains at Queens Plaza.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Subsequently, last week I left the house and my answer to Our Lady of the Pentacle’s query as to where I was heading towards was “I’m feeling lazy so I’m just going to go ride the elevated subways for a bit and take some pics.”
The only issue I can report to y’all about the new autofocus system is that I am tending to overshoot while using it. I’ll burst out fifty shots of a train entering or leaving the station when all I need is one. That slows me down on the developing side of the operation, since I’ve got to pick just one.
Saying that, it’s bloody fantastic to be able to use the Transit System again. Now, if I only had some place to go…
“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 