Author Topic: Third annual general NYC area "Hey I'm Walkin' Here" photowalk? (Read 8207 times)

Indofunk · « **on:** June 01, 2016, 09:02:49 PM »

Now that summer is here and perhaps Andrej and Leonore have fewer teaching responsibilities (also, it is more pleasant to be outdoors in general), shall we try to schedule a 2016 NYC photowalk? I am currently unemployed, so technically I'm free 24/7 (except when I have gigs), so let me know when everyone else is free. Hookstrapped? Terry? LANolan? I also just found out that an old friend of mine whom I only knew as a great bass player, also shoots film, so I will invite him as well.

Terry · « **Reply #1 on:** June 01, 2016, 09:33:02 PM »

I'm available except next week when I'm on call for jury duty. Any interest in schlepping out this way?

02Pilot · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2016, 12:17:01 AM »

We can probably make something work. My schedule is fairly flexible (though right now I'm mired in car repair hell), but I know Leonore will be away across the last full week of June (she'll post the exact dates, I'm sure). As to location, I've been thinking I need to do some street shooting in the city, but I can always do that another time. I'm open to suggestions, within reason, or I can provide some ideas if need be.

Terry · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2016, 12:37:26 AM »

What about Hoboken? Thinking about the view across the water to Manhattan, the street opportunities in Hoboken and the good bars that exist there.

gothamtomato · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2016, 04:22:23 PM »

What day of the week will this be? If it's a Sunday, (or any day except a Friday or Saturday), I could host something at B&H for you guys.

You could start out here and maybe I could put something together for you. Just let me know and feel free to PM me.

Indofunk · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2016, 06:20:21 PM »

Like I said, I'm pretty much infinitely flexible at this point, though if it's a day that I have a gig, I'd probably need to be back in Queens by 5pm, so I'll try to steer it to a day that I don't have an evening gig scheduled

Sundays are usually good for that.

Hoboken sounds a bit boring to me, but I'm game to give it a try. Down by Terry might be a nice change of scenery for us city folks. Is there any light hiking in your area Terry?

02Pilot · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2016, 08:02:06 PM »

I know nothing of Hoboken, so I can't really comment either way except to say it's a possibility.

Hiking is plausible, but on a summer Sunday the two biggest enemies are crowds and heat, especially if we start relatively late in the morning. The places up by me have gotten ridiculously overrun with daytrippers on the weekends.

Doing something at B&H might work if we end up in Manhattan, though we'd have to see how it ties into whatever else is planned.

Terry · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2016, 09:00:06 PM »

There is some good nature to be had around here and light hiking is a definite possibility. Light because mostly it's flat countryside. There is the old D&R canal towpath (now a state park) that has some scenic bits. Might be worth a schlep westward to the Lambertville/Stockton area on the Delaware River. Worth noting that Lambertville has one of the best Thai restaurants in the state and is home to a big flea market. Trenton is just down the road a way and is good for derelict city shots but probably less interesting than Hoboken. Not a lot directly accessible by public transport but I'd be willing to provide transportation for up to four passengers if needed.

Personally, I'd be up for a trip to the river--Lambertville or (preferably) Frenchtown. There's some good geography up there. Like upriver on the Hudson, weekends are likely to be filled with day-trippers, but they can be avoided.

Indofunk · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2016, 09:17:57 PM »

Terry, your area is sounding REALLY tempting to me. I'd love to see the towpath, and Trenton's urban decay would be pleasing to nobody but me, I'd guess

Thai food and flea markets are a huge draw for me as well...

BUT, here's a wrench to throw into the plans ... I was just in Central Park and remembered that the Hallett nature preserve is now open to the public! (It's been closed since 1934 I believe.) I am DEFINITELY going to go there someday with cameras in hand, so if others want to go as well, then we have a photowalk. In June they're only open on Mon, Weds, and Fri from 2-5pm (in July & August they're open on Sundays too), and the maximum number of people at a time is 20, so we could make ourselves about 1/4 of the people there if we tried hard

Anyways, that's just a thought.

But my main vote is still for Terry's area

Adam Doe · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2016, 08:14:13 PM »

This summer the Whitney is hosting a Danny Lyon exhibit and The Met is hosting a Dianne Arbus exhibit. I must try to make it there at some point. So save some walking for me!

limr · « **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2016, 02:13:24 AM »

Finally getting around to seeing this thread!

Well, as 02 mentioned, I'm going to be out of town from June 10-18th. After that, my time is limited because though I am not teaching this summer, I'm about to join the ranks of the 9-5/M-F zombies. It'll be nice to have health insurance for the first time...well, damn, for the first time in 20 years, but it also means that I can only join filmwastering walks on weekends. For that reason, my vote would be Hoboken or the city, and a Sunday.

Terry · « **Reply #11 on:** June 04, 2016, 01:36:47 PM »

Of course we don't need to choose between Hoboken and the city--it's a short PATH ride between them.

Jeff Warden · « **Reply #12 on:** June 04, 2016, 02:46:42 PM »

Hi all,

My availability is unpredictable for the foreseeable future but I'll keep and eye on this thread and if the day works will head your way from Philly. It would be great to put faces with names!

limr · « **Reply #13 on:** June 04, 2016, 03:36:23 PM »

Quote from: Terry on June 04, 2016, 01:36:47 PM

Of course we don't need to choose between Hoboken and the city--it's a short PATH ride between them.

Oh I know they're right across the river, but I just figured trying to activities in both places makes for a very long day, so it would be simpler to stay on one side of the river or the other. And I'm a fan of simple plans

Indofunk · « **Reply #14 on:** June 04, 2016, 06:22:14 PM »

Quote from: limr on June 04, 2016, 03:36:23 PM

Quote from: Terry on June 04, 2016, 01:36:47 PM
Of course we don't need to choose between Hoboken and the city--it's a short PATH ride between them.

Oh I know they're right across the river, but I just figured trying to activities in both places makes for a very long day, so it would be simpler to stay on one side of the river or the other. And I'm a fan of simple plans

I agree that we should stay on one side of a river. Think of it this way: subway time takes away from drinking time!

So I take it we're deciding between the city and Hoboken? I suppose I'd lean towards Hoboken because I don't go there as often, but as I said the times I've been there it seemed a bit boring, so if anyone knows of any cool places to go there I will follow your lead

hookstrapped · « **Reply #15 on:** June 04, 2016, 09:45:51 PM »

I've been wanting to go up to the recently re-opened High Bridge for a year now. And it makes it easy to go on both sides of the river (Harlem River, that is).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/nyregion/a-stunning-link-to-new-yorks-past-makes-a-long-awaited-return.html

Indofunk · « **Reply #16 on:** June 04, 2016, 10:26:18 PM »

Quote from: hookstrapped on June 04, 2016, 09:45:51 PM

I've been wanting to go up to the recently re-opened High Bridge for a year now. And it makes it easy to go on both sides of the river (Harlem River, that is).

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/nyregion/a-stunning-link-to-new-yorks-past-makes-a-long-awaited-return.html

Oh wow!! I've been driving past there quite a bit to gigs in North Jersey/upstate. I'd love to go on that! But I don't look forward to the throngs of people that will be there for the first few weeks. I'm imagining Highline type crowds

02Pilot · « **Reply #17 on:** June 05, 2016, 01:02:54 AM »

There was a thread on the High Bridge over on RFF a while back. The gist of it was basically that the bridge and the park around the pool on the west end were fine, but the park areas beneath it were, and I'm quoting here, "feral". Conceptually it's an interesting location, but giant crowds in a confined space are less than ideal. We have the Walkway Over the Hudson up this way, which is a much larger bridge in a less densely populated area, and it gets very stupid on summer weekends.

Related to this, there was someone in that thread (I think) who mentioned a pedestrian walkway on the Hell's Gate rail bridge - any of you city people heard of such a thing?

Indofunk · « **Reply #18 on:** June 05, 2016, 01:11:29 AM »

Quote from: 02Pilot on June 05, 2016, 01:02:54 AM

Related to this, there was someone in that thread (I think) who mentioned a pedestrian walkway on the Hell's Gate rail bridge - any of you city people heard of such a thing?

That's not far from my place (on the Queens side). If there's a pedestrian walkway on that bridge and I *haven't* heard of it, then I feel like I've wasted the last 15 years of my life (time I've been in Astoria).

Once this rain lets up I'm going up there and investigating. Will report back.

02Pilot · « **Reply #19 on:** June 05, 2016, 01:42:38 AM »

Quote from: Indofunk on June 05, 2016, 01:11:29 AM

Quote from: 02Pilot on June 05, 2016, 01:02:54 AM
Related to this, there was someone in that thread (I think) who mentioned a pedestrian walkway on the Hell's Gate rail bridge - any of you city people heard of such a thing?

That's not far from my place (on the Queens side). If there's a pedestrian walkway on that bridge and I *haven't* heard of it, then I feel like I've wasted the last 15 years of my life (time I've been in Astoria).

Once this rain lets up I'm going up there and investigating. Will report back.

Found it. It's only from Randall's Island to the Bronx, though: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/nyregion/connector-between-randalls-island-and-the-bronx-to-open-this-summer.html?_r=0

Indofunk · « **Reply #20 on:** June 05, 2016, 01:50:21 AM »

Quote from: 02Pilot on June 05, 2016, 01:42:38 AM

Quote from: Indofunk on June 05, 2016, 01:11:29 AM
Quote from: 02Pilot on June 05, 2016, 01:02:54 AM
Related to this, there was someone in that thread (I think) who mentioned a pedestrian walkway on the Hell's Gate rail bridge - any of you city people heard of such a thing?

That's not far from my place (on the Queens side). If there's a pedestrian walkway on that bridge and I *haven't* heard of it, then I feel like I've wasted the last 15 years of my life (time I've been in Astoria).

Once this rain lets up I'm going up there and investigating. Will report back.

Found it. It's only from Randall's Island to the Bronx, though: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/29/nyregion/connector-between-randalls-island-and-the-bronx-to-open-this-summer.html?_r=0

Aha. Also, technically not using the Amtrak bridge itself, but rather a pre-existing ped bridge under and also apart from the train line. Maybe that's the same thing.

If we want to do this, let's choose a day that there are NO festivals going on on Randall's Island and we can walk that bridge and spend some time on the island.

02Pilot · « **Reply #21 on:** June 05, 2016, 03:03:43 AM »

I wasn't really thinking of it as a destination for this get-together - it seems a little out of the way. Might be better for the late fall when the festival scene has died down some.

Terry · « **Reply #22 on:** June 05, 2016, 12:15:48 PM »

I like the idea of targetting an island--what about City Island or Governor's island?

hookstrapped · « **Reply #23 on:** June 05, 2016, 01:30:10 PM »

Rikers? Hart?

02Pilot · « **Reply #24 on:** June 05, 2016, 04:40:53 PM »

Quote from: hookstrapped on June 05, 2016, 01:30:10 PM

Rikers? Hart?

I would love to do Hart. Rikers, not so much.

Indofunk · « **Reply #25 on:** June 05, 2016, 07:41:55 PM »

I've spent my life trying to avoid going to Rikers

Terry · « **Reply #26 on:** June 06, 2016, 08:19:22 PM »

Hart Island would be brilliant. I used to love City Island too--and no doubt they have venues for a post-photowalk libation or two, too.

02Pilot · « **Reply #27 on:** June 06, 2016, 09:21:19 PM »

Huh. Turns out you actually can visit Hart Island, though in a very limited way. I'm not sure how they'd feel about a gaggle of photographers.

http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doc/about/hart-island.page

Indofunk · « **Reply #28 on:** June 06, 2016, 09:27:09 PM »

City Island takes me about 12 days to get to

What's that other island that had all the cool urban ruins? Pretty sure that's verboten to the public, but all this talk about islands reminded me of it.

Terry · « **Reply #29 on:** June 07, 2016, 12:56:14 AM »

Roosevelt Island used to have some cool ruins when I lived there, but I expect they've all been demolished.

Indofunk · « **Reply #30 on:** June 07, 2016, 05:39:36 AM »

I live a couple of blocks from Roosevelt Island, and yes their ruins have been demolished and turned into a whitewashed concrete park. It's disgusting, really. The ruins on which Spiderman (II? III? LXVI?) was shot are cordoned off for "renovation", i.e., to be whitewashed as well

Can't NYC just let urban decay ... decay? I guess that's not good for investors or landlords.

02Pilot · « **Reply #31 on:** June 08, 2016, 01:32:30 PM »

Since there's been a lull, let me throw out another suggestion. I've had an intermittent urge to shoot the old 1964 World's Fair site. Anyone done this? Anything worthwhile nearby? Any interest?

Terry · « **Reply #32 on:** June 08, 2016, 02:46:14 PM »

Whoa; nice idea! Dereliction....my favorite subject!

Indofunk · « **Reply #33 on:** June 08, 2016, 03:17:10 PM »

Quote from: 02Pilot on June 08, 2016, 01:32:30 PM

Since there's been a lull, let me throw out another suggestion. I've had an intermittent urge to shoot the old 1964 World's Fair site. Anyone done this? Anything worthwhile nearby? Any interest?

There's the park associated with it. The rail yard. Shea Stadium (I refuse to call it whatever corporation took it over). Then of course it's in Flushing, so there's every cuisine known to man.

gothamtomato · « **Reply #34 on:** June 08, 2016, 05:34:57 PM »

How many people usually come to this?

02Pilot · « **Reply #35 on:** June 08, 2016, 06:09:09 PM »

Quote from: gothamtomato on June 08, 2016, 05:34:57 PM

How many people usually come to this?

In the past it's been about half a dozen, give or take.

hookstrapped · « **Reply #36 on:** June 09, 2016, 01:13:31 AM »

Quote from: 02Pilot on June 08, 2016, 01:32:30 PM

Since there's been a lull, let me throw out another suggestion. I've had an intermittent urge to shoot the old 1964 World's Fair site. Anyone done this? Anything worthwhile nearby? Any interest?

I've done that at night. I like that idea. Spaceships and globe. Cool stuff.

Terry · « **Reply #37 on:** June 10, 2016, 01:40:14 PM »

Good idea; an evening outing

Indofunk · « **Reply #38 on:** June 10, 2016, 10:16:34 PM »

Ok, so can we put it to a vote (for the location at least)? Hoboken during the day or Flushing Meadows in the evening? I guess I'll go with Flushing Meadows as my vote.

As far as when, I believe we're looking at a Sunday, due to limr's workaday schedule and my need to keep Saturdays open for gigs.

02Pilot · « **Reply #39 on:** June 10, 2016, 11:26:52 PM »

I'm in for the World's Fair Grounds. I won't speak for limr's preference in locale, but I feel confident in saying that a Sunday evening will have to wrap up pretty early to work for her, as she has to be in to work Monday morning. If we're doing an evening shoot, Saturday (or theoretically Friday) works better for us, but obviously that's not the case for everyone.

Indofunk · « **Reply #40 on:** June 10, 2016, 11:42:23 PM »

Understood. We can either change the time to afternoon, if we're not hung up on an evening shoot there, or go with Hoboken during the day. Or just do it without me, because Friday and Saturday nights are my working nights

Actually, come to think of it, if Flushing Meadows in the evening is the clear winner, then let's go ahead and schedule it on a Friday or Saturday. There's a decent chance I can make it, though I won't know till the week of.

02Pilot · « **Reply #41 on:** June 10, 2016, 11:46:06 PM »

I'm fine with day or evening. I haven't been there at all, so I'm sure I can keep myself entertained regardless of ambient lighting conditions.

Terry · « **Reply #42 on:** June 12, 2016, 12:45:30 AM »

I'm pretty generally free. Did jury duty this week--pretty much completely flexible until July

Indofunk · « **Reply #43 on:** June 28, 2016, 12:29:08 AM »

Ok, now that my hell week of gigs is over and I'm really open for, pretty much eternity, let's try to schedule this thing.

Flushing Meadows, unless someone has a serious objection to that.

A weekend, to accommodate the most people.

So let's vote on dates!

If this weekend is possible (being July 4th weekend), then we have 7/2, 7/3, 7/4.

If not, then next weekend 7/9, 7/10.

Of those 5 dates, let me know when you are available, and for daytime or night time. For the record, I'm available all of those dates, daytime or nighttime, except 7/3 afternoon (because King Sunny Ade is playing Central Park Summerstage! Anyone who wants to come with me please join!! Maybe we can make a day out of it and shoot Flushing Meadows that evening, though we'd probably only get to Flushing at about 7 or 8pm)

(side note: I'm just realizing that scheduling a photowalk is very similar to trying to schedule a rehearsal with my 10-piece band

)

02Pilot · « **Reply #44 on:** June 28, 2016, 12:57:22 AM »

This weekend doesn't work at all for me. Next weekend is theoretically possible, with Saturday being the preferred option. After that we're travelling, so next availability is August.

hookstrapped · « **Reply #45 on:** June 28, 2016, 01:17:38 AM »

Next weekend Saturday works for me

Indofunk · « **Reply #46 on:** June 28, 2016, 02:18:50 AM »

Ok, we're now aiming for Saturday 7/9, with the possibility of Sunday 7/10. Anyone whose name is not Peter or Andrej please vote on these two dates.

limr · « **Reply #47 on:** June 28, 2016, 03:21:35 AM »

Quote from: Indofunk on June 28, 2016, 02:18:50 AM

Ok, we're now aiming for Saturday 7/9, with the possibility of Sunday 7/10. Anyone whose name is not Peter or Andrej please vote on these two dates.

I am neither Andrej nor Peter, and I vote for Saturday the 9th

Indofunk · « **Reply #48 on:** June 28, 2016, 03:25:49 PM »

Saturday the 9th looks like the winner ... who are we waiting on? Terry and Adam? Anyone else interested?

Terry · « **Reply #49 on:** June 29, 2016, 02:36:09 AM »

Eminently do-able.