Ice Landscape

So this is different from the ice crystals photograph I did the other day.  In those photographs I photographed the ice crystals actually on the window, and the resulting photograph was white on black.  This is a similar thing.  Last night it was really cold so I decided to pull the shades down in our bedroom to add a bit more insulation, I thought.  I woke this morning and saw this!  The sun was shining on the ice crystals, and casting a shadow of them onto the old shade hanging in our window!  So you are looking at shadows!  It was a very low-contrast image which I had to enhance, to get this representation.  I love this shot!

Industrial Architecture

This a fuel oil terminal down by the old power plant - you can see the big tanks in the background.  The large white pipes in the foreground run under the road, and down to the edge of the harbor, where huge fuel barges tie up to offload their contents.  This is where a lot of automotive gasoline is downloaded and then tanker trucks come in to be filled.  The tankers then take the automotive gasoline to local gas stations.  There is something about industrial architecture that is really interesting to me, and the clouds and overcast light are perfect for this scene.

The Beauty of Trees

Another photograph that resulted from another walk down to the power plant and back.  I pass these trees each time I take the walk.  But yesterday, I was taken by the shapes of the branches against the sky.  Perhaps I saw the tree branches this time because of the mix of blue sky and clouds.  I just love the way the branches curve and change directions.

St. Seraphim Church

I was driving in Sea Cliff, in an area that I rarely drive through.  That area is the steep downhill part of town that leads down to Glen Cove Creek.  You wouldn't believe some of the roads here, that are so unbelievably steep.  I was looking for a view of the new condos being built across the creek.  So I was driving up and down these roads and stumbled across this church.  The beauty of this church stopped me in my tracks.  And the light was perfect!  There are two Russian churches in Sea Cliff, and I had kind of forgotten about this one.  This one is a Russian Orthodox church and it was founded in 1953.  It is St. Seraphim's Russian Orthodox Church.  In the 1920's there were just a few Russian families in Sea Cliff, but by the 1960's there were more than 200 Russian families living here.

The Superfund Site

A couple of days ago I found some color negatives with a date of 1994 on the envelope.  I looked at the film and was really excited!  Excited because these buildings were torn down years ago.  They were demolished because this was a nasty place.  The Wah Chang Smelting and Refining Company owned the former Li Tungsten facility from the 1940s to about 1984 and, during that period, a succession of entities, including Teledyne Inc. and the Li Tungsten Corp. operated the facility. Operations generally involved the processing of ore and scrap tungsten concentrates to metal tungsten powder and tungsten carbide powder, although other specialty metal products were also produced.  The company declared bankruptcy in 1985.   The short version of this story is that the land was discovered to be heavily polluted and so was named a Superfund site!  The ground was polluted with hazardous chemicals, and there were even areas that were contaminated with radioactive material!  

This led to the buildings and tanks being demolished and removed from the site, and then a massive cleanup of the site by the Federal Government that lasted a number of years.  Contractors came in and dug up huge quantities of earth.  There were giant piles everywhere, and then gradually all the material was loaded on trucks and taken off Long Island.  I think it took 2 years or more and must have cost millions of dollars!

This photograph shows one of the large tanks to the left, and in the distance there are a number of smaller rusty tanks in front of the Quonset huts.   After the contaminated soil was removed, it was replaced with soil from somewhere else.  According to one government report I read, it involved about 130,000 cubic yards of contaminated materials!  So why is this all interesting?  It is interesting because once the land was cleaned and restored, it was sold to a giant corporation and is being developed for upscale housing!  Stay tuned for more. 

The New York Public Library!

OK, so this is crazy.  This is the New York Public Library, and I don't think I have been here for perhaps 40 years!  That is stupid! I think I saw an exhibit of some documents or antiquarian books at the time.  But it is nuts that I don't come here!  This is a photograph of the 5th avenue entrance of the building.  I photographed with trees and without trees, and prefer this one.

This is the McGraw Rotunda.  It is rich with these ceiling murals and wall murals that illustrate the history of the written word.

And this is the huge Rose Main Reading Room, which is as long as a football field.  What an amazing place this library is.  And these are only two photographs of the inside, on only one floor.  I was so impressed that I signed up for a library card!

Skyscrapers at Dusk

I walked to the New York Public Library along 42nd street, and passed this building.  It is the Bank of America Tower, which was completed in 2009 and at a height of 1,200 feet is now the 5th tallest building in New York City.  Clearly it is not a rectangle from top to bottom - it is not an illusion that the upper left hand edge is "bent."  It is so much fun to see illuminated sky scrapers at dusk, when the sky still has a blue cast.  The city never fails to be magical!  I just realized I did not do this building justice, or do a good job journalistically by not showing you what this building looks like from some distance away, so that you can see its height.

The Lecture at the New York Public Library

This was the lecture that I went to see in Manhattan the other night.  It was at the New York Public Library and it was also sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art.  The speaker was Tyler Green who has written a book about the 19th century photographer Carleton Watkins, called "Creating the West: the Photography of Carleton Watkins."  He focused mainly on landscape photography and Yosemite Valley was a favorite subject of his. His photographs of the valley significantly influenced the United States Congress’ decision to preserve it as a National Park.  The woman on stage is Sarah Meister, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art.  It was a great program!

"The Guardians: Hero"

This is beginning to look like "sculpture week!"  This is the first picture I took when walking from Times Square over to the New York Public Library.  There is a small public park in between the skyscrapers, called Verizon Plaza on 42nd street.  This is where I spotted this interesting sculpture.  It is titled "The Guardians: Hero."  It is by the Italian architect and designer Antonio Pio Saracino, who is based in New York.  One of the magical things about Manhattan is that you never know what you will come face to face with every time you turn a corner or walk down a block. 

"The Garment Worker"

I was in Manhattan tonight for a lecture on the photographer Carlton Watkins who photographed the American West back in 1850.  Walking back to Penn Station, I passed this statue on 7th Avenue, which is known as "Fashion Avenue."  I have seen this statue before in daylight, but there was something about the lighting at night that brought out the textures of the man's face, and the cloth and the sewing machine.  This is by the artist Judith Weller and it is a realistic rendering of a garment worker, wearing a yarmulke, and hunched over a hand operated sewing machine.  The figure is modeled after the artist's father who was a machine operator in New York's  garment industry.  "When I was a little girl, I recall seeing him at work."  The sculpture was created to commemorate the Jewish garment workers, the backbone of Jewish life in New York at the turn of the century.  This is a very powerful work that deserves study and contemplation.

Brrrrrrrrrrr....

I don't have to tell anyone what the temperatures have been.  My first clue when the temps go low is when I wake up and there are ice crystals on the windows!  That was the case this morning.  The crystals happen when the moisture in the house comes in contact with the freezing cold glass and crystals form.  It is amazing how the ice crystals form in lines, that look as if they were drawn with a ruler, and then suddenly change direction.

This view is looking up and toward the sky, which is why it is so blue in color.

This is the same window, but I am looking out and down at the bushes across the street.

I like to think of this as two mountains with pine trees growing on them!  I had a lot of fun looking for interesting "scenes" on the windows this morning.

The Lunar Eclipse!

DISCLAIMER:  This is not my photograph!  I know you are all expecting me to photograph the Lunar eclipse, but it was way too cold for me to set up my telescope on the tracking mount, which I would need to do in order to take photographs.  I am observing the eclipse with a much smaller telescope that is easier to set up and take down quickly.  So I decided that I would do a screen grab from the real-time streaming of the eclipse, from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California.  Thanks to them for this magnificent photograph.  It is magical to look through my telescope to see it in real time, and I am going back out to watch it as it changes subtlety over the period of an hour.  I wish you could all see this from where you are.

All My Ducks in a Row

"All my ducks in a row."  I looked up that phrase just to be sure I knew what it meant.  To have all your ducks in a row is to be well prepared or well organized for something.   I guess I knew that.  I did another walk to the old power plant again today, which has become my routine.  It is too cold for me to ride my bike so walking is a good way to exercise.  And the camera always comes with me.

Rorschach test

I showed a photograph of a line of Sycamore trees in late afternoon sunlight the other day.  Today on my walk, it was overcast, so the colors of the trees are more accurate.  This design caught my eye, and I decided to do a closeup of this part of one trunk.  My sense is that the Sycamore tree bark is usually brown, so seeing all this green was a surprise.  Perhaps this is due to seasonal changes.  And then I realized that this looks like a Rorschach test, except those are symmetrical.

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Ice on the Pond

This photograph is from one of my recent walks to the old power plant.  It had been cold, and there was ice on the pond, which I didn't realize until the flock of seagulls alighted on it.  There were seagulls coming and going, and I kept clicking until I found an arrangement that I liked.  What was new for me, since I have photographed this pond so many times, was that I was way off to one side, and as a result, with the late afternoon sun, some of the trees are in sunlight, and others are in shadow, which gives the photograph a nice sense of depth.

Almost a Hopper

My friend Peter asked me to take a photograph of some sites in Sea Cliff so that he could paint them.  He grew up here, but now lives in Albany.  He was particularly interested in this building that used to be a pharmacy, but is no longer.  I thought I would photograph it late in the afternoon so the light of the setting sun would illuminate it in a dramatic way.  On the way home from my astronomy meeting tonight, I decided to drive down Sea Cliff Avenue and take a look at the building.  It stopped me in my tracks!  So I got out my camera, and a tripod and did some photographs.  My immediate reaction was that it looked like an Edward Hopper painting!  I love the feeling of this photograph, and the light on the building.  I am not done with this yet - I still want to try late afternoon on a sunny day.  If I get something good, I will post it.  Stay tuned!

Guess Who Owns This House

This is called The Denton House, located on Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park.  It was constructed in 1795 by a farmer named Joseph Denton.  In 1860 it was given a Georgian makeover complete with gingerbread ornamentation, and throughout the 1900’s, found commercial use as a funeral home and a series of restaurants.  By 1986, it was abandoned and on the verge of falling down.  McDonalds purchased the property with the intention of tearing it down and replacing it with a standard McDonald’s restaurant. Fortunately the citizens of New Hyde Park worked to secure landmark status for the building in 1987. McDonald’s had no choice but to restore the property and work within the parameters of the landmarks commission, which ultimately resulted in their most beautiful restaurant in America!

It was astounding to go inside and after ordering burgers, fries and a coke, we sat down in a beautiful dining room with large picture windows looking outside.  It was so hard to imagine that we were eating in a McDonalds!  Isn't it interesting that they made their logo sign in black, instead of red.  Such a smart and elegant idea. 

Light for its Own Sake

I had an interesting thing happen this afternoon.  I went for another walk to the old power plant.  I did bring my camera, but since I had just taken the same walk yesterday, I concentrated on walking rather than on photography.  So many scenes were familiar because the lighting was the same.  But what I became aware of was the lighting - for its own sake.  I realized how absolutely beautiful the sunlight was, and just kind of drank it in for its own sake, not for the sake of photographs.  It was a wonderful experience!  Light for its own sake.  But I did take a picture, and here it is.

Late Day Colors

I have been a bit of a couch potato recently because it has seemed too cold to ride my bike, or even walk.  But today was warmer so I grabbed my new camera and did a 2 1/2 mile walk down to where the power plant was, and photographed along the way.  I bought a zoom telephoto lens with this camera and used it quite a bit today to try and get some different photographs.  These are the remains of reeds in the water, illuminated by the late afternoon sun.  I used the telephoto lens to "reach out" to these stalks which were maybe 30 feet away from me. I love the colors of this scene.

Vines on the Wall

This is my last post from The Getty Center.  There is so much to see and photograph here.  I was walking up a stairway from a lower plaza when I saw these vines, with their brilliant red leaves.  I think it must be the season that has turned the leaves red, I think.  I have passed this wall any number of times, but never saw it in this way.  Perhaps the vines were green at the time.

It's Cold Out...

It's cold out and I don't feel like going outside to look for photographs yet!  I still have a few photographs from California to post.  One morning I left the house and walked over to this incredible bakery to buy a loaf of sourdough bread.  For some reason I hadn't brought my camera with me.  Along the way, I saw these beautiful succulents planted in boxes in front of homes.  These plants are so beautiful in their form and in their subtle colors.  I wondered why I forgot to bring my camera.  Then I remembered that I had my iPhone with me.  Whew!  That phone is good enough, fortunately, to take some nice photographs like these.

The Empire State Building in Fog

A group of us were walking over to the west side after eating in a restaurant over on Second Avenue.  It was foggy, and at one corner, suddenly the Empire State Building came into view!  What a spectacular sight!  In the foreground is the Marble Collegiate Church, at 5th avenue and 29th street, which makes a great foreground for the Empire State Building.

More Calder Sculptures

I have decided to show you some more of the Calder sculptures in the exhibit.  This large black one is called "The Beast" from 1940.  The red sculpture above it in the distance, is called "Red Maze III" 1954.

Moving to a completely different scale is this much smaller piece called "Untitled" from 1947.

And this really tall sculpture is called, interestingly enough, "Tree" from 1941.  The mobiles are all delightful to see, slowly rotating around with the drafts in the rooms.  They provoked in me a childish delight in how this artist dreamed up all the shapes, and then figured out how to balance them all. These pieces are all masterful!

Snowflake Mobile

I went to Fun City today to see two gallery exhibitions with Stan, and then we went to dinner with some members of the Big Bend trip crew.  This is an Alexander Calder mobile called "Snow Flurry."  It is really subtle - many of the Calder mobiles have bright red and yellow colors.  But this is more subtle color scheme, and seen against the light gray wall behind it, it seems so ethereal.  There were other Calder pieces in the exhibit, and maybe I will show some others in another post.

The 1/4 Mile

There was a huge exhibition at LACMA by the artist Robert Rauschenberg called "The 1/4 Mile."  It is a 17 year project by the artist, who created 190 panels that when connected together measure 1/4 mile.  There are also some free-standing pieces, like these stacks of books.  For some reason, stepping into this room amongst these stacks was a really interesting feeling.  I can't place the feeling exactly, but when have you ever seen stacks of books piled this high?

Balloon Monkey

This is a detail of a sculpture by Jeff Koons called "Balloon Monkey (Orange}" which is on display in one of the courtyards at LACMA.  I was photographing it, and then realized that it became more interesting when I moved closer and the photograph became an abstraction.  If you click on this and then look closely at the left side "balloon" you will see the reflections of Amy and Gus and I.

This is a photograph that shows more of the sculpture, along with Gus and Amy.  The sculpture looks as if it is made from those long thin balloons that you make figures from.  Except this sculpture is, according to the object label,  mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating.

Urban Light II

I was going through my photographs at LACMA, and I realized that the portrait of Amy and Gus at the "Urban Light" sculpture was really nice, but it didn't give enough of a sense of how large the assemblage is.  So maybe this is cheating, but I thought I would post this other photograph that I took the same day.  I hope you like this one as well

In The Gallery

While walking around one of the exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with Amy and Gus, I was always looking for photographs.  I came around a corner in this gallery and saw this scene.  This seems unfair to Amy because she is working and busy, and obviously has to read texts.  But to see two women, in the gallery, both paying attention to their cell phones, was a shot I couldn't pass up!

"Levitated Mass"

This monumental outdoor artwork installed at LACMA is an amazing thing to experience!  It is called "Levitated Mass, by the artist Michael Heizer.  The rock is a 340-ton granite megalith which was found in Riverside, over one hundred miles away, and was transported through the streets to get to the museum, which took eleven nights.  The boulder is perched on top of a 456-foot-long concrete slot that is fifteen feet deep under the rock.  What a brilliant idea this is and I found it to be a powerful experience to go down the path, and then to stand under the monolith.

Urban Light

I wanted to go to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Amy and Gus said they wanted to go there too.  Neither of them had ever been there before.  I wanted to see an exhibit about the history of 3-D photography.  One of my favorite artworks at the museum, however is this assemblage of 202 street lamps from the 1920's and 1930's called "Urban Light" created in 2008 by the artist Chris Burden.  It is stunning to see all these lamps together and it is a huge favorite visitors who all stop to take selfies of themselves in amongst all of these street lamps. 

The Pretzel Man

One of the fun things about walking on the 3rd avenue promenade is that there are all kinds of performers along the route.  Mostly they are musicians, but there are some dancers, and then there was this guy.  I guess you would call him a contortionist.  He started by standing up and being very still, and then after maybe 30 seconds he started turning and bending, and the next thing he was bent in half.  Then he grabbed his ankles and rolled himself up until he looked like this and then he rolled himself along the promenade!  I look at this and can't conceive how a human body can possible get into this position.  This is crazy!