Comfort Slides

These are the dog days of summer. Looking forward to a change in the weather and return to work next week.

Taken upstate last weekend, when the kids were playing speedminton barefoot. I've had no energy to get out and shoot this week, too much back-to-school on my mind.

Speedminton

We have had this speedminton set for about 8 years, but it mostly sat in a closet until a few weeks ago and we decided we like playing it. Non-competitive, just keeping the "speedie" (like a birdie only heavier) in the air.

Around Inwood

Guzman Food Market

Violators Will Be Immobilized

Meters

Smirnoff

From Saturday, left for upstate before I could upload anything.

Keep Out of Context

SS United States Propeller

This mammoth (22 ft) propeller, one of 4 that made the SS US the fastest passenger ship ever (according to the plaque), is oddly located in a parking lot for the Intrepid Museum.

Sunflower on the Hudson

Riverside Park South this morning.

Water Lily in Rain

I know, there aren't enough flower pictures in the world, but I was at the Botanical Gardens today and what are you gonna do? It rained the whole time and was not a particularly productive outing. I almost posted this one as B&W but finally decided on the color. I'll regret it soon enough - eh, what the heck, I'll just post both.

NY State Pavilion

Just a short stroll from the Unisphere, these are the observation towers from the World's Fair, part of the NY State Pavilion complex, which is now essentially in ruins, a shell of its former self. It's hard for me to imagine it in the original form.

One of the neighborhood regulars chatted with me about it, said they were going to tear it all down a few years ago - what a shame that would be. It's also a shame that they can't make better use of the structure, the open interior would be an interesting outdoor theater space, and it is after all right next to the Queens Theater, which was built recently in the spirit of the World's Fair architecture:

But as of now the old pavilion is simply gated up and overgrown with weeds and stray cats.

Unisphere

At Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York. Left over from the 1964 World's Fair. My first real visit to this park, I think I'll be going back soon...

I also took pics of the NY State Pavilion, which I'll post at a later time. But today I was just kind of awestruck at the structure, and I think the shots reflect that "wow, isn't this cool" kind of superficial treatment.

Henry Hudson Parkway

This is from a few weeks ago. We had another dreary cloudy rainy day. By the time I'm free to go for a walk it's too dark to get much going.  This is the Henry Hudson Parkway as it goes under the ramp to the George Washington Bridge. I know what I like about this shot now, which I couldn't put my finger on before, but I'll wait to see if anyone else mentions it.

Cloisters Museum

From a couple of days ago.

Adirondack Chairs

A revisiting of last summer's assignment to pick one mundane subject and take 20 pictures. I picked these 4 to post.

Inwood Park & Salt Marsh

Low tide created some interesting patterns with the water and the mud. Also revealed a child's scooter. I imagine a certain degree of sadness over that one.

The tennis and basketball courts are being renovated. Not yet open or complete, the colors are about as deep as they will ever be. I had to shoot through the chain-link fence, so my ability to get a good angle was limited.

Utility

Really just an exercise in composition, perspective, and light. Sometimes (often, actually) when I can't see anything new or unusual to shoot, I take pictures of familiar things with an eye toward just getting it right, hoping that when I do see something new or unusual, I'll be prepared to take the picture. Critiques welcome, did I get these right?

A different look in B&W, horizontal:

Pine

Symmetry again. I thought this one was going to be black & white, but the tones didn't work out.