Just the Steel

They have now removed all the brickwork from around this steel frame at this substation.  What kills me is that I thought I had a photograph of the brick structure before the demolition began but I can't find it right away.  But I will look.  So you saw it partially demolished in a post here: Another Demolition but a lot of the brickwork was already gone.  I do love this photograph, because by photographing it in infrared, the dark trees that blended into the steelwork are now white and the steel is more obvious.  It is not clear to me what was once in this structure.  But there is still a substation here and it is made up of all the lighter steelwork to the right of the photo.  And under that structure are a number of transformers to take the high voltage coming in from overhead wires and lowering  the voltage before distributing that current to lines that distribute the electricity to the community.

 

Not Quite

After photographing the smoke and haze from the fires yesterday out at MacArthur airport, I continued on my way home.  As I got off the Long Island Expressway and headed up route 107, a scene like this flashed by on the right.  So I got to the next intersection and pulled on to a smaller road and parked.  This is the Tam O'Shanter Country Club.  So I walked around this corner of the club and photographed over the fences and through the trees from two different roads.  I think there are some atmospheric things going on that are sort of OK, but the photographs are not as strong as I would have hoped.

I was actually hoping for more of the smoke and haze to separate the trees in the distance, from those close up.  I took a whole bunch of photographs - I must have been walking around the edges for half an hour at least, but I don't think I came up with any exceptional photographs. But that's OK, sometimes there are subjects like that where not everything falls into place.

When I caught that view flashing by, I had hopes that there would be one really great photograph somewhere on the golf course, that would knock everyone's socks off.  And that was not to be, but that's O.K.

 

Smoke from Canadian Wildfires

Crazy day today!  I drove out to Islip MacArthur Airport to do some flying.  When I arrived the visibility was 4 miles.  I need 3 miles to fly VFR - visual flight rules.  So I was good.  By the time it was time for me to fly, the visibility had suddenly dropped to two miles!   Arghhhhhhhh.  So the instructor and I flew in the simulator and that was some worthwhile training.  When we came out of the similator building, we were both stunned at the color of the sky!  The smoke from the Canadian wildfires had arrived!

This is a UH-1 "Huey" on display up in the air at the Army Aviation Unit at MacArthur airport, and it was pretty dramatic to see this against the background of the smoke.  Not only was the color of the sky different, but it became fairly dark.

These are cars on Route 454 coming eastbound after getting off the Long Island Expressway.

And this is the Long Island Expressway as I headed home.  As I drove from Suffolk County to Nassau County, it began to get brighter, fortunately.  What an incredible thing to see.  A real "once-in-a-lifetime" experience for me.

 

If You Don't Photograph it, it Doesn't Exist

Stan and I went to see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Met the other day.  What was amazing to see, was that almost everyone seemed to be taking photographs of these paintings with their cell phones..  That was probably because so many of his famous paintings were all in one exhibit at the same time.  And of course I was photographing all the paintings as well.  But because it was so crowed and people were three deep in front of some of the paintings, I had to wait to get close to the paintings.  So I started photographing people holding up their phones so you can see both the painting and the image on their cell phones. I told Stan this morning that I had so many photographs of people doing this, I wasn't sure how to edit them.  And Stan suggested making a matrix of 3 by 3 images and posting all 9 images as one image to post on the blog!  Brilliant!  So here you are.  And remember, if you don't photograph something then it doesn't exist!  Please click on this and it will almost fill your screen and you can see so many more details.  The show, by the way was absolutely stunning to see in person!

 

The Little Guy: "I Got This!"

I saw this scene as I continued my walk up 5th Avenue.  I was impressed that the little guy had this scooter wired!  He was good to go on his own.  I took about 5 photographs of this scene as the light changed to a "Walk" signal, and you should know that the mother, being very cautious, had reached her hand back and was holding the top of the scooter handle by the time they moved into the crosswalk.  So the mom was pulling him with her rather than letting him cross on his own, which is very smart, given the traffic on 5th Avenue!

 

Less and Less

The first thing I do when I arrive at Penn Station these days, is to go out the 7th Avenue exit and look up to see how the demolition of the Hotel Pennsylvania is going.  Well, this first photograph was taken on March 30.  And then I forgot to edit and post the images from that day!  Duh!  So here is a photo from that day.  Notice the really unusual light on the front of the hotel, which is draped in black fabric.  I was really puzzled by this until I realized that the sun was reflecting off modern skyscraper windows across the street and on to what remains of the hotel.  So eerie, I think.  I cannot believe I forgot to post this!

So now we jump to my visit last Thursday, and look how much lower the building is now than it was then.  This difference is over a period of two months.  I was worried that the only thing I might see is a huge hole in the ground!  It is, or was a massive building, so that's why it hasn't completely disappeared by now.  the Empire State Building in the background is a great yardstick for seeing the difference in height between March and the end of May.

And this particular view probably gives a better sense of how much lower the building is now.  I guess it will still be a while before it is down to ground level.  But I sure shouldn't wait to long to get back there!

 

I'm Hungry! Yum!

Yum!  This makes me hungry.  No it doesn't!  I saw this vendor's cart on 5th Avenue and was taken by the careful photographs of the food - how bright everything looks.  But none of it actually looks appetizing to me.  I have bought an ice cream on a stick once, from one of these carts and it was OK, but it cost a fortune.  Maybe I would buy a hot dog if I was starving, but I don't know.  This cart vendor was doing a pretty good business, so I guess some people like this food.