By Vladimir Brezina
The Twin Towers, as they were.
All of these photos were taken in 2000 or earlier.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been 13 years…
Posted in Kayaking, New York City
Tagged 9/11, Kayaking, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, Twin Towers, World Trade Center
By Vladimir Brezina
The seasons come and go at NYC’s Central Park Reservoir…
Another contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Edge. The first contribution was here.
Posted in Nature, New York City, Photography
Tagged Central Park, Central Park Reservoir, Edge, Manhattan, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2014, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
Maybe the magic was in the pasta.
This year, Vlad and I signed up to provide kayak support for the Ederle Swim, a 17.5-mile open-water swim from Manhattan to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Vlad has done it several times, but this was my first time accompanying swimmers to Sandy Hook (though we’ve paddled there many times).
We’d each been assigned a swimmer, and the day before the swim, the organizers, NYC Swim, sent us the swimmers’ email addresses. So I reached out to “my” swimmer, Andrea Varalli, mentioned that I’d done the paddle many times, and offered what advice I could, including the detailed blogs Vlad has posted on Wind Against Current about his previous Ederle Swims (here, here, here, and here).
Next thing I knew, Vlad and I agreed to meet Andrea and his support team for dinner at a “real Italian restaurant” (as Andrea called it), Piacere. (Pleasure, in Italian.) We had guessed (correctly as it turned out) that Andrea was “real Italian”—not merely of Italian descent. So the “real Italian” restaurant was sure to be a treat!
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Sports
Tagged Ederle Swim, Kayaking, Long-Distance Swim, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, NYC Swim, Open-Water Swim, Sandy Hook
By Vladimir Brezina
In the middle of the city, you don’t see the horizon. Well before sunset, the sun dips behind a dark palisade of silhouettes
To see the sun touch the horizon, you must climb very high
or, down below, wait for a very special day
Or, of course, watch from your kayak on the river!
A response to this week’s Photo Challenge, Silhouette, and Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Horizons.
Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography
Tagged Horizons, Hudson River, Kayaking, Manhattan, Manhattanhenge, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2014, Silhouette, Sunset, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Meeting Places.
Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in NYC’s Central Park—
where you can blow bubbles
get married
have a conversation
row on the lake
and dance discreetly
or not so discreetly
By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina
In Manhattan we get our share of celebrities. Some live here year-round. Many zoom by in a blaze of flashbulbs and applause.
And some show up reliably every day, unapplauded, but make a celebrity entrance a few minutes out of the year. That’s what happens at Manhattanhenge. Twice a year, roughly three weeks before and after the summer solstice, the setting sun lines up precisely with the east-west streets of Manhattan’s street grid.
It’s a well-known phenomenon, and has become more so with each passing year. Photographers gather at major intersections, awaiting that perfect moment when the sun touches the horizon, framed precisely between buildings on either side. For a moment or two, the sun is a celebrity.
I’ve heard about it, and Vlad has taken pictures of it many times. But this year was the first time I’d actually experienced it.
Posted in Nature, New York City
Tagged Manhattan, Manhattanhenge, New York City, Photography, Sunset
By Vladimir Brezina
Yesterday in the early evening a line of strong thunderstorms rumbled through New York City. This happens often in the summer and the sight can be awe-inspiring. But I was working all afternoon in a windowless room, and later, when I got to a window, it was too late to discern much. The building was already submerged in thick green fog. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked directly overhead.
What to do under those circumstances? Let’s go to the video replay!
And from where better to observe the arrival of the storm over New York Harbor and the Manhattan skyline than the Statue of Liberty?
Posted in Nature, New York City
Tagged EarthCam, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, Statue of Liberty, Storm, Webcam
By Vladimir Brezina
Yesterday, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan—
Posted in New York City
Tagged Evening, Manhattan, New York City, Nocturne, Photography, Sunset
By Vladimir Brezina
This week’s Photo Challenge is Split-Second Story, and Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge is Cities.
A perfect conjunction!
For yesterday and today were days of Manhattanhenge, that urban astronomical phenomenon in which the sun appears, for a brief moment just at sunset, at the ends of the cross-streets of Manhattan’s street grid.
Of course, the sun has to be visible at sunset. Yesterday was cloudy. Today was more promising. So I joined the Manhattanhenge-watching crowd—smaller than usual this year because of the uncertain weather—at 57th Street and Park Avenue. As we waited, a rain shower moved in. (Now I know how astronomers must feel, waiting nervously for that once-in-a-century conjunction or eclipse, only to have clouds move in at the last minute…)
But just at the moment of sunset, the sun appeared through the mist! I got a few photos.
But the visibility was not ideal, and in addition I realized only too late that at the end of 57th Street there is a big building, across the Hudson in New Jersey, that blocks the view! As another photographer standing next to me remarked, Jersey always screws things up…
The spectacle was much more impressive last year at 42nd Street:
… and in 2011 at 34th Street:
But there’s always another chance—Manhattanhenge repeats on July 11th and 12th!
Posted in Nature, New York City, Photography
Tagged Cities, Manhattan, Manhattanhenge, New York City, Photography, postaweek, postaweek2014, Split-Second Story, Street Grid, Sunset, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge
By Vladimir Brezina
Same paddle, same day, morning—
and evening—
More photos coming as soon as I can process them…
Posted in Kayaking
Tagged Long Island Sound, Manhattan, New York City, New York Harbor, Norwalk Islands, Photography, Sea Kayaking
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.
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