Tag Archives: New York City

Pipes at Grand Central Station

Posted on February 11, 2017 by | 19 comments

By Johna Till Johnson

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Pipes at Grand Central Station

Friday morning, midwinter.

O-dark-hundred, as they say in the military: early in the pre-dawn darkness. I’m at Grand Central Station, traveling north for a business event.

I pass by the track where my train is supposed to arrive in 20 minutes. The track is dark, deserted, with no sign indicating an imminent arrival. Plus the track is filled with what looks like junk. In some places there’s barely a walkway for the passengers. Could there be some mistake?

Buying my ticket I ask the booth agent: “Is this really the correct track?” He checks the monitor, nods. So I take my ticket down to the track. Still no sign, but there are now a few guys driving carts up and down, past the piles of junk.

I walk towards the end of the track, my mind and eye trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. Banks of carts. Wire containers. And is that an old office chair standing by itself? Where did it come from, and what is it doing here?

I pass by a brick building with a sign:  Grand Central Station Mailroom. A mailroom, improbably located on a train track?  Who knew?

The building is lit indoors, but empty. The sign on the door says it opens at 7 AM, but it’s not yet seven.  I peer inside. Tables, printers, bins for sorting.

I keep going, towards the darkness of the tunnel at the far end of the track.  The piles of junk thin out, replaced by banks of cables and pipes, soaring into the cavernous darkness overhead.

There’s a conductor at the far end, standing by himself. He’s a young man, trim, with a tired look on his face. I approach him, wonder in my eyes, excitement in my voice. “This is amazing! Is it always like this?”

“Like what?” he asks.

“All this… ” I gesture to the clutter, the pipes, the darkness.

He laughs. “Every day!”

“There’s so much to look at!”

“Yeah… I guess there is…” His voice takes on a wistful tone. “You don’t really notice it when you see it every day.”

I nod, understanding what he means. Then my attention is captured by a perfect arch of pipes, rising into the overhead darkness.

I reach into my backpack for the camera.

19 Comments

Posted in Architecture, Culture, New York City, Photography

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“Photography helps people to see”-Berenice Abbott

Posted on February 6, 2017 by | 12 comments

By Johna Till Johnson

Photographs by Berenice Abbott

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Pike and Henry Street by Berenice Abbott, 1936

It was one of those Facebook memes that occasionally goes around. “Let’s fill Facebook with art! Like if you want to participate, and I’ll give you an artist to post on your Facebook page.”

The poster, David, is a longtime friend with wide-ranging artistic interests and great taste, so I signed up. Besides, we can all use a little art in the dark days of February, right?

David assigned me Berenice Abbott. I’d never heard of her—though even a photography newbie like me immediately recognized some of her iconic NYC photographs. I spent a delighted evening reviewing her life and work and reading her brief Wikipedia biography. If you haven’t heard of her, I encourage you to do so, too–she was one of the great 20th-century artists of the “realist” school. Her quote about photography helping people to see resonates very strongly with me right now, as I work to develop my eye.

A delightful discovery: She developed several cutting-edge techniques for scientific photography, and in fact illustrated a 1958 high school physics textbook (an article about which appeared in Forbes Magazine recently).

Enjoy!

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Penn Station Interior, Manhattan by Berenice Abbott 1936

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Blossom Restaurant by Berenice Abbott, 1935

 

12 Comments

Posted in Art, Culture, New York City, Photography, Science and Technology

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Subways

Posted on February 4, 2017 by | 23 comments

By Johna Till Johnson

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Subway scene February 2017

I love subways. I’m not sure why.

It’s not just how functional they are, how efficiently they take you in minutes to places that would otherwise require hours of travel through traffic-choked streets.

It’s partly—even mostly— because of the way they instantly, magically adjust your experience.  You go down a staircase and in a moment find yourself safely (or swelteringly) out of the elements.

Perhaps there’s music, anything from a violin to a jazz band, interrupted by the blare of announcements and the scream of trains.  Regardless of whether it was day or night outside, cloudy or clear, the light has changed to a steady, unflattering overhead glow.

Shadows seem deeper, edges sharper. Platforms roll off to the side, hiding themselves behind square pillars. And there are people all around, almost all intent on ignoring you.

It’s an alternate reality, a step out of space and time. And when you emerge at the far end, you’re never quite the same person who first entered…

23 Comments

Posted in Culture, New York City, Photography

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Cling

Posted on January 11, 2017 by | 9 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photo by Vladimir Brezina

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Squirrel clings… with an expectant look!

Vlad and I have always been fascinated by squirrels: The acrobatic way they catapault through the leaves. How quickly they can scamper up trees. The brazen way they beg for food (at least in Central Park). And most of all, the way they’re able to cling like Velcro to the trees….

In response to the daily prompt, “Cling”.

9 Comments

Posted in Culture, Life, Nature, New York City, Photography

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Frame

Posted on August 31, 2016 by | 7 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Without the frame, there woudn’t be a Manhattanhenge.

Frame 1Frame 2

A contribution to this week’s Photo Challenge, Frame.

7 Comments

Posted in New York City, Photography

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Close

Posted on June 13, 2016 by | 13 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

When kayaking in New York Harbor, you can’t avoid getting close—

Close 1Close 2Close 3Close 4Close 5Close 6

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Close.

13 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, New York City, Photography

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Citizen of New York

Posted on May 30, 2016 by | 12 comments

By Johna Till Johnson

This year I became, officially, a citizen of New York City.

How’s that, you ask, given that I’ve lived in New York City for over 20 years?

Well yes, but living somewhere doesn’t automatically mean you’re a citizen of the place. Citizenship connotes something larger: a mix of rights and responsibilities. You’re not just passing through, you’ve put down roots. You take personal responsibility for how things are run, and feel that you’ve earned the right to enjoy (or criticize) the results.

And as of last year, New York City actually has a formal rite of passage for becoming a city citizen (in a sense): getting your New York City ID card.

New York City ID

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Life, New York City

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The Other Sights of Spring

Posted on May 2, 2016 by | 33 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Sure, there are the sunlit showy blossoms that everyone stops to admire—

Other Sights of Spring 1Other Sights of Spring 2Other Sights of Spring 3Other Sights of Spring 4

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But deeper in the shadows, too, if you look closely, Spring is everywhere stirring to life.Other Sights of Spring 5Other Sights of Spring 6Other Sights of Spring 7

And what’s this?

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A A A scrap of bread stirs to life the pond’s inhabitants, both expected…

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… and unexpectedOther Sights of Spring 11Other Sights of Spring 12Other Sights of Spring 13

More photos are here.

33 Comments

Posted in Nature

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Park Bench Sentiments

Posted on April 22, 2016 by | 11 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

Central Park benchesMany benches in NYC’s Central Park bear engraved metal plaques. For a donation, one can endow a bench as part of the Park’s “Adopt-a-Bench” program.

As you might imagine, the engravings are sometimes sentimental, and often heartbreaking. Too often, they memorialize a loved one who’s clearly still missed by grieving friends and relatives: “To my beloved…”, “In memory of my dear…”

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And then there’s this one:

"So far so good"

It made us laugh. And agree that it’s something to be grateful for!

11 Comments

Posted in Humor, Life, New York City

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New Jersey Weird and Wonderful

Posted on April 18, 2016 by | 17 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

This trip dates from last fall, but took us this long to post in part because we wanted to include a lot of detail to guide paddlers who might want to go to these places, which are very accessible to NYC paddlers of all skill levels. 

So each photo is numbered, and the third image down is a map showing where each photo was taken, so you can associate the photo with the location. The  body of the post includes only a small selection of the photos; for the rest, see the slideshow at the bottom.

And don’t miss the special bonus: A link to a GoPro video from the trip, at the very end of the post!

New Jersey Weird and Wonderful 47

47. Beautiful day at the Sims Scrap Metal Yard

The currents weren’t really right for any of our usual trips, ebbing most of the day, and turning back to flood around 4:30 PM. So a long trip to points south would mean returning close to midnight, which neither of us wanted to do.

But it was an effervescent fall day, with a gusty breeze, blue skies, and sunlight sparkling over the waves. We wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary, for us, at least.

“Why not visit Port Liberté, and meander down the Jersey side of the harbor?” Vlad suggested.

New Jersey Weird and Wonderful 15

15. Port Liberté

What a splendid idea! Port Liberté is one of the many weird and wonderful things on the New Jersey side. Vlad calls it “the would-be Venice of New Jersey,” and it truly is: According to Wikipedia, it was designed in the 1980s as a waterfront community patterned after a similar one in Saint-Tropez, France, complete with canals lined with docks and waterfront walkways.

The idea is, to my mind at least, flawless: Imagine living right on the waterfront, with your own personal dock, just a few minutes by ferry or private boat from Manhattan! Unfortunately, though, the market crash of the late 80s ended the development plans, and what remains, though beautiful, is just a wistful indication of what might have been.

We’d last been to Port Liberté several years ago—maybe as far back as 2011. So it was time for another look. Then we’d continue down the Jersey side of the harbor, our moods and the currents permitting, until it was time to turn back. Come to think of it, despite our many years of paddling in the harbor, neither Vlad nor I had ever really properly explored all the ins and outs of the Jersey side.

Continue reading →

17 Comments

Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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