The other night I was at a Yelp Elite event which was a whole lot of fun and after that one last beer found myself just missing the train that I needed to get back to my creative command HQ. I didn’t have a book or a decent WiFi signal since I was underground and this is an unconnected station still so the boredom found me looking around and upward toward the artwork above the station name. There was some pretty ornate decoration up there and since I am always with a camera of some kind on my person be it a point and shoot or the mobile phone I decided to walk the platform and snap images of all of the ones I could see on the side of the platform heading to Bay Ridge.
Though I didn’t know this at the time, these bits of art were called “CommUnion” and done by Emmett Wigglesworth. Please enjoy the images that I secured.
Okay so it was not too long ago that I shared some mass transit visuals with you all when I was heading out to an art opening in Long Island City. I called it a “A Few Minutes On The #7 Train” for lack of a better description and felt that there were a couple of other instances where I wanted to do the same thing. I head upstate to see friends a couple of times a year and the ride that brings me there along the Hudson River is nothing less than amazing. This clip however is from an entirely different vantage point and brings you along with me to the Underground as my train makes its way out of Grand Central station.
The last time that I went up there I remembered liking the visuals a lot more than I did for this particular visit so I am guessing I was on a different track. It feels as though you are traveling through a dark and eerie city when you are heading out so I pushed my little Sony Cybershot to the very dirty glass and pressed “record”. Mind you some of it is darkness and some of it a little cloudier than I would have liked as the little camera struggled to focus in the dark. Like I said this was just to share the time and also to continue to experiment in this fashion. I think it might have come out better had I used the Lumix since that is a tad more powerful. In any case you have this for the time being and might want to try it yourself. One of my future goals is to get a video when I go over the Manhattan Bridge. If I capture it you can count on my sharing it here. I do them because we have such a worldwide visitor base that its fun to have them along with me and spark their own interests for when they visit.
Every once in awhile I like to showcase some visuals that I have captured in my travels that relate to the subway system or that which is in close proximity. These couple of shots were taken way back in early 2010 while on an adventure with my buddy the Beehivehairdresser. I just liked the way they looked to me and decided to finally post them. Enjoy.
By the way, this is the “D” train line elevated rails. I was on or around 18th Avenue and I think the cross with New Utrecht. It’s the same shot but with a slightly different perspective.
I’ve more in some of my photo folders and as I dig them out of my own personal archive I will try to keep presenting this kind of stuff to you on the blog. As I have often said, I prefer posting things here as opposed to Facebook.
A view from way up high in the sky is this visual of the 65th Street Yards which is located at (you guessed it) 65th Street in Bay Ridge. Just off Second Avenue to be exact if you were wanting to get your own peek at this in person.
The 65th Street Yards From Above
I took this while gathering with friends on the Fourth of July holiday back in 2009 and I have always wanted to use this photo somewhere. Lucky for me the blog is here to showcase this kind of stuff every now and again. This train yard was something of a wild exploration area for many of the area youths way back in the day as it was unused for many years and unkempt. There were a lot more trees and even some small pond kind of regions if memory serves me correctly. It was always fun to wander around like something out of the movie “Stand By Me” and yes I used to go down there with my friends. You always feared getting caught but there was really nothing to do down there but walk around. The far end water you see is the Narrows but no one fished out of it.
It’s been in use for a number of years now, and I guess that it is better than being a vast unused space. If I ever get the chance to go down there for the purposes of photography you will see whatever results I get right here. I promise. I did manage to get a slightly different visual recently from a lower vantage point and appended it into this posting for your viewing pleasure.
There is never a doubt in my mind that I get to endeavor upon a number of interesting things in pursuing my passion as music photographer and journalist but after the evening is all said and done and the goodbye’s have been said, it’s time to make the dreaded trek out to my neck of the woods in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. A lovely region that is most generally accessible by the “R” train line. This local train is reliable during the daytime but when the later evening hours happen upon us the story is an entirely different one. While only a good 45 minutes at best out of the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple, depending on the hour you are heading back to base, it can take upwards of two hours. This happened to me the other night and since the camera was being examined in its bag I decided to use the snappy Sony to snag an image of this cruel reminder of the state of affairs I was in tonight. Yes, the train runs here but “except” for late nights.
The journey involves getting whatever you can get to DeKalb Avenue where you will then need to switch for a now running local “N” Train. The “N” is not too bad a ride when it is running on time but there have been instances where I was waiting at DeKalb avenue for over thirty minutes. When that happens it downright sucks. You’ll then get off this “N” at 59th Street which lets you change for the hopefully arriving soon “R” train, but let me tell you that it very seldom is a timely thing once you get there. It’s almost like a black hole for time in the mind of the NYC commuter. The “R” train now runs as a shuttle train and goes from 95th Street to 36th and back. It does this to be able to switch sides but it really would be better if it just went from 95th to 59th and back but it does not always do that.
The MTA's Version of Purgatory
You might think my labeling 59th Street as Purgatory as a little unfair but your attitude will change if you ever find yourself waiting for more than forty five minutes to go a mere four stops (or even less as some people need to do). I tell you if I didn’t have more than a two mile walk and it being the dead of the night that I would walk the distance and never worry about it. Alas I do not have that luxury and must wait it out. Sigh.
The Lonliness Of The Long Distance Commuter
While there are usually other travelers stranded with you, there are going to be some rare occasions where the train is as empty as you see in the photo above. This particular shot for example was one of those nights but I admit even this is a rare thing to find happening. I usually emerge from the car like a zombie hitting the streets with several other folks who look at hungry for sleep as I do. Depending on how tired I am at this time, the glowing beacon that is the never closing Dunkin Donuts just across the street sometimes draws me in for a late, late coffee.
At Last!!!!
It’s seldom that I will actually stick around the Dunkin spot with said coffee, unless there are guests joining me who needed the couch for the evening. Usually its just back to the site headquarters for some now much needed shut eye. Hopefully a few hours sleep will find me ready to Rock & Roll again once more.
