Tag Archives: New York Harbor

A Word A Week Photo Challenge — Cloud

Posted on January 7, 2013 by | 46 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

On A Word In Your Ear , Skinnywench’s photo challenge this week is Cloud. Since I have so many photos of clouds—it’s hard to avoid clouds, just as it is hard to avoid water, in kayaking photos—I thought I would join in.

But, although I have many photos of clouds, the clouds of two special days stand out particularly in my memory. On those days, a dramatic, constantly changing cloudscape dominated the scene. We stared upward, mesmerized.

Here’s the first of those days.

At Pier 40Dark clouds over Coney IslandReturning to Manhattan
Spectacular skies...
... in the Upper BayCrepuscular raysSinister cloud over ManhattanEngulfed in the rain cloudRain easingClouds at sunset

The story of the day is here, more photos are here, and larger versions of some of the photos are here. And the second of the two spectacularly Cloudy days is here.

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Posted in Kayaking, Nature, New York City, Photography

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Last Manhattan Circumnavigation of 2012

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | 33 comments

By Johna Till Johnson
Photos by Vladimir Brezina

At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal: On a sunny weekend in late October, we decided to circumnavigate Manhattan.

We didn’t anticipate, though, that, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, it would be our last circumnavigation of the year, indeed our last major trip in New York waters. And so this trip has a special resonance in our memories.

A Manhattan circumnavigation is usually a pretty predictable trip, though always a treat. It’s not particularly long by our standards, but packed with variety. The scenery ranges from the urban…

Midtown Manhattan from the East River

In the East River: the Empire State Building, with Vlad in the foreground (photo by Johna)

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to the bucolic…

Fall colors in the Harlem River

Fall colors in the Harlem River

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Ferries in the East River

Riding the chop and keeping an eye on the ferries down by the Battery

and the paddling conditions vary nearly as much: The water down by the Battery is often exciting (enhanced by ferry and other shipping traffic)…

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Up the Harlem River

Heading up the Harlem River

but  the  long glide up the Harlem River is usually tranquil.

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All in all, we looked forward to a lovely, if unexceptional trip.

Unexceptional except for being our last long trip of the year.  The following weekend, we toured the Gowanus Canal—a scenic, but short, excursion.

And the Monday after that, Sandy arrived.

Our Manhattan paddling home at Pier 40 was shut down, and the pier itself remains closed (though we’re hopeful it will reopen soon). In addition, there continue to be some restrictions on paddling in New York Harbor. So we haven’t been out (in New York waterways, at least) since.

Which made this “unexceptional” trip rather exceptional, after all.

So our recollection of this circumnavigation is tinged with a bit of melancholy and a sense of loss. As the graffiti has it:

Poetic graffiti in the East River

“Alas this bitter life filled with sweet dreams” — Poetic graffiti in the East River

But even an “ordinary” trip has moments of incandescent beauty, which will live on in our memories…

Yellow and blue nocturne

The George Washington Bridge: Yellow and blue nocturne

We hope to be back on the waters around Manhattan in 2013!

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The individual photos are here.

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

Posted on December 21, 2012 by | 44 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Surprise.

Kayaking around New York Harbor, we see many surprising things. And one of the most surprising, hidden in a narrow Brooklyn creek, is the wreck of an entire, respectably-sized submarine. The Yellow Submarine of Brooklyn has a fascinating history—involving a crazy but surprisingly well-developed scheme to salvage valuables from a famous sunken ocean liner—that I’ve already written up here and here. So I’ll just post a few photos—

IMGP0742 cropped smallIMGP6690 cropped smallIMGP0754 cropped small

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Kayaking Through the Gowanus Canal on the Eve of Sandy

Posted on December 7, 2012 by | 74 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

We head down a dark HudsonOn Saturday, October 27, with Hurricane Sandy just offshore and aiming, it seemed, directly for New York City, we went for what we (correctly) suspected would be our last kayak trip for some time.
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We paddled down the harbor to visit the Gowanus Canal, our favorite Superfund waterway. There one can encounter sights and smells like nowhere else—except perhaps in Newtown Creek, another Superfund site…

Everything was calm. The calm before the storm…

When Sandy hit the next day, the Gowanus Canal overflowed its banks and flooded a wide swath of industrial and residential land around. No doubt, as elsewhere, this caused much destruction. But in addition, of course, the Canal’s water is not just any ordinary water—it is laced with “toxic sludge, heavy metals, oil and—when the sewer system overflows—good old human excrement.” The city issued an advisory that “residents should wash their hands and practice proper hygiene if they come into contact with the canal’s water or sediments.” Sediments that it may take years to clean up…

So the chances are that the Canal and its surroundings will never be quite the same again. These may be some of the last photos of what Gowanus Canal looked like in the good old days before the flood…

ReflectionsIndustrial tableau 2
End of the Gowanus Canal
Intricate composition
In the glowing cavern
... into the sun

Here’s a slideshow of all photos from the trip:

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The individual photos, and a much larger-format slideshow, are here.

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Posted in Kayaking, New York City

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Travel Theme: Mystical

Posted on November 16, 2012 by | 50 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Mystical. And it makes me very happy to learn that, in choosing that theme, she was inspired by a photo that I posted recently. Unfortunately that means, too, that I can no longer respond to her Mystical challenge with that, my most Mystical photo…

Never mind. Here are a few photos taken at a moment that truly came close to being mystical during one of our paddles in New York Harbor—

More photos and the story are here and here.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Green

Posted on November 16, 2012 by | 76 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Green.

Kayaking around New York Harbor, we see quite a few green sights…

A second “Green” post is here.

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Travel Theme: Soft, Take Two

Posted on November 9, 2012 by | 43 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

Here’s a second response to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Soft. (The first response was here.)

The soft light of evening on the water—

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Posted in Nature, Photography

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouette

Posted on October 19, 2012 by | 84 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Silhouette.

Wait, didn’t we already do that theme just a little while ago? Yes, back in August. But that was not the Daily Post’s challenge—it was Ailsa’s challenge on Where’s my backpack?, ahead of the game as usual… (Ailsa herself posted some fantastic silhouettes that you should definitely check out!)

In any case, here are some more silhouettes, or near-silhouettes. A hard-edged one in the late-afternoon sun…

and others softened as the sunlight filters through early-morning fog…

More photos from that trip are here. A second interpretation of “Silhouette” is here.

Continue reading →

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Big

Posted on October 12, 2012 by | 74 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

This week’s Photo Challenge is Big.

It’s big…

… but it always amazes me how tiny it appears when we turn the corner and see it across the harbor, against the immensity of the sea and sky. There it is, just to the left of the sunlit section of the city ahead…

It’s a matter of perspective.

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Paddling down the Hudson at Sunset…

Posted on September 24, 2012 by | 37 comments

By Vladimir Brezina

On Saturday, I was in the right place at the right time. A little rain shower gave way to a golden sunset over New Jersey, with golden reflections in Manhattan…

(At home afterwards, I stitched together a panorama in Photoshop. If I’d thought of it at the time, I would have made sure to take all the matching photos for it. Oh, well…)

… and then the World Trade Center tower glittering ahead in the purple dusk and the moon overhead…

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