Lock and Stock

Another photo from the heart of downtown Brooklyn; the Williamsburg Bank Building...

Yellow Saturday Special

Taken in the heart of downtown Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue. I tend shy away from selective color, for I believe its overuse tends to make for a cheesy photograph. That being said, I find it to feel natural here.

The Night Highway Fit for a King

Along the old BMT Brighton Line (B and Q trains) in the far southwest end of Brooklyn is the Kings Highway Station, which serves the Midwood and Sheepshead Bay areas. The station is currently under construction, but I was able to get some unobstructed views of the area from it.

This shot was not taken from the station, but from the corner of 17th and Kings Highway. I like the flowery illumination along the streets...

MTA Sacrificial Alter

This complements this previous post; The 'unofficial' location where service is sacrificed and fare raising rituals take place... Its Ok MTA, I kid; sort of...

51st Street Cables

Taken at Lexington Avenue - 51st Street Station in Midtown Manhattan...

Best if viewed large...

MTA Sacrificial Rituals

I originally entered this in a 'Guess Where NYC' pool on Flickr, but I will spare you the chore of having to guess this subway station. This station is the Carroll Street Station that services the G and F trains on the IND Culver line that heads to Coney Island. The lights you see here are pretty unique for a New York subway station. I have speculated on the purpose for them, although I suspect is has to do something with the fact that once the train leaves this station, it becomes elevated high above the Gowanus and Park Slope neighborhoods of Brooklyn; that or MTA is engaging in sacrificial rituals (in the form of service and personnel cuts ;) ) of sorts.

Photographer's Paradise

High above the Gowanus canal, lays a veritable treasure trove of photographs to be had. The Smith and 9th Streets subway station, which resides on the IND Culver Line, is one of the highest points on the New York City Subway System. This provides you with delicious views of Brooklyn and Manhattan.

If you can get a shot with a cool perspective here, you just might be blind...or without your camera. Be sure to check out the geotagging info of the location, this may be done by clicking on the image.

I actually like the processing and lighting much better than the one above, but there is a defect in the composition of this shot :(

The downtown Brooklyn skyline...

Convergence

Recently rented a car with a friend for the day and drove down the Atlantic coast line of New Jersey. We stopped at various towns and beaches, photographing retro hotels and boardwalks; this particular shot was taken in Seaside Heights. This is the very same beach where the highly 'intellectual' reality TV show Jersey Shore was filmed.

Best if viewed large...

The Urban Photographer's Blues

What can I say, I've got the urban photographer's Blues... It was a nicely lit day for photos, and I was out on the prowl with my camera to get a great shot. There it was, I found it! It was a historic art deco subway station in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I begin to shoot it, and this fellow, whom resembled Jodie Foster's pimp in the film Taxi Driver (played by Harvey Keitel) stepped into my shot and began to swear and perform obscene gestures at yours truly. See attached photo for said crazy dude...

You may ask, what does it matter what some random, wild-eyed dude thats five days off his haloperidol says anyway? In isolated incident form, nothing at all, but this happens to me all the time...Regardless of the location, both civilians and members of law enforcement alike. So all of my ranting boils down to this very question: what is it about a photographer that seems to invoke the most basic paranoid instincts in people? Its obvious I'm not some sleazy paparazzi photog shoving a gigantic zoom lens in some has-been celebrity's face, nor am I some voyeur sporting an erection clicking away in the bushes. Regardless, people will dive out of the way of a camera as if the shutter will rob them of their very soul...Interesting

Best if the crazy dude is viewed large...

Gowanus Express II

This shot is an extension to the previous post of the Gowanus Expressway and its effects on the neighborhoods it divides. This shot performs a better service is articulating its massive scale...

Meat Packing Curb Stew

Nothing like a little curb stew to enhance Winter Solstice recollections. Taken from the streets in the Meat Packing District of Manhattan...

Gowanus Express

The Gowanus Expressway (a section of I-278) cuts through the neighborhoods of Red Hook, Gowanus, Park Slope, South Brooklyn, et al. It serves as a major vehicular artery through the Borough of Brooklyn, providing several commuter connections; for example, from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. As it cuts through Brooklyn, it delivers the typical fare to the table of its urban neighborhoods; in the form of noise, pollution, destruction of human scale design, and their isolation from nearby neighborhoods. For better or worse and although he didn't get the Brooklyn-Battery Bridge he wanted, the legacy of Robert Moses is still alive and well in NYC...

The Retro Train II

This is the R4 car, built in the early 1930's they were once part of the IRT and IND New York City subway fleet. This shot was taken at the New York Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn.

Missed One!!! // The Retro Train

I love little historic treats like this! MTA long since slapped their decal over these, but they missed at least one or two, or a few hundred ;) Along with the vintage insignia, the vintage train also make for a cool view as well. Even though newer R160 trains are replacing them, there are still several of these R42 trains in circulation...

Best if viewed large...

Gowanus Mouth

Her breath was only a little funky today, but you haven't seen nothing until something stirs up the sediment; then you will know the true meaning of the word stench. One way in, no way out, and continuing sewer overflows (with varying difficulties and levels of success in historic attempts to flush the canal) the water in the "notorious" Gowanus canal is still pretty stagnant. At one point, the canal was an important method of transport through the manufacturing heart of Brooklyn. The elevated highway to the left is the Gowanus Expressway. Looking right toward the bay where the canal begins at the Port of New York in Red Hook...

Exact location is geotagged...

1-888-I CAN SUE

Home of the "Who needs to chase 'em, we have our own..." Taken on Flushing Avenue in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn;exact location is geotagged.

Best if viewed large...

Chambers Street Discontinued

The downtown/city hall Chambers Street station is one of the oldest, and perhaps, ugliest of all the subway stations in all of New York City. It is also one of my favorite subway stations, for it carries much unadulterated history. The real prize, the original city hall station is sealed off from the regular public, but this station also has much to offer.

This station is still in service using the inner platforms, but the two outer platforms have been out of service since the 1930's. This platform is fully visible, while the one on the opposite side of the station has long since been walled in.

A nice little piece of New York City Subwaycana...Long before there was the MTA (Metropolitain Transit Authority), there was the IRT (Inter-borough Rapid Transit Corp), BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Rapid Transit Corp), and the Independent Subway System.

Nostalgia...Bitter Cold

I recall taking this shot, it was that viaduct over Pleasant Run near Christian Park in Indianapolis. The air was like ice, and my frozen fingers struggled to depress the camera shutter. Its now summer and the sweaty beads of reminiscence brings its appeal forth. Every year, I complain about every season, begging for the next one to make the scene...Repeat.

This location has been geotagged in Flickr, you may click the image to view it...

Bed-Stuy Through my Eye

For those of you that may not know, I now New York City, specifically Brooklyn. Up until a few months ago, I was living part time between New York and Indianapolis, staying in Manhattan until I finally made the move to a full time NYC resident. There are many reasons why I chose Brooklyn over the other boroughs in the city and decided on a place in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant (or as its called in the neighborhood, Bed-Stuy).

Bed-Stuy, like many neighborhoods in New York City is currently experiencing gentrification and is surrounded by other neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Bushwick, Fort Greene, and Prospect Heights. The neighborhood has changed quite a bit over the years and no longer lives up the the whole 'Bed Stuy, do or die' image it once held. These photos are a small tour of the neighborhood I call home.

New architecture being integrated with the elders...

The neighborhood is very bike friendly with plentiful bike lanes and nearby access to the Williamsburg bridge to take you into Manhattan via the Lower East Side...

The neighborhood is also home to some pretty cool graffiti and street art...

And some not so good ;)

I like to call this one 'Special Hair Grocery'...

More new with the old...

These were taken from the platform of the Flushing/Broadway Station along the old elevated BMT Nassau Line (JZM Trains)...

These images are best if viewed large, and as always, are geotagged in Flickr; you may view this by clicking on the images...

Waiting on the J

Waiting on the J train at the Broadway/Hewes station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn... The bridge you see in the distance is, you guessed it, the Williamsburg Bridge. The Williamsburg bridge connects Williamsburg, Brooklyn with the Lower East Side, Manhattan via the East River.

Definitely best if viewed large, you may do so by clicking on the image...

City Market Relic

This is what is left of the old Indianapolis City Market after it was destroyed by a fire. This shot was obviously taken during winter time...

This is a shot I forgot to include with the Red Hook collection; this guy was walking through the neighborhood with a straw hat and a push cart. Taken on Van Brunt Street in Red Hook Brooklyn...

What's at the end of the tunnel?

Another tunnel... Taken in an alleyway in downtown Indianapolis, near the corner of Illinois and Market Streets...

Best if viewed large...