O.K., I have to admit that I have a "thing" for infrastructure. All previous comments aside about including power poles and such in the composition of a photograph, I have a visual fascination with things like the catenary and power lines supplying electricity to the New Jersey Transit's trains. So while waiting for a train in Edison, NJ, I took a few photos like this:
On a historical note, the reason why the North East Corridor is electrified is because of the Pennsylvania Railroad and its Sub-Aqueous North River Tunnels. Opening in 1910, the Tunnels under the North (or Hudson) River were, and still are, the only heavy rail access from the New Jersey side of the river into Manhattan. The PRR built them, and their Pennsylvania Station, to allow continuous service from the West into New York City, and then on under the East River and up to Boston.
Pennsylvania Station in 1910
The whole thing was electrified to prevent the buildup of smoke from the commonly used steam engines - which would have no exhaust from the tunneling under the rivers. Today, Amtrak and New Jersey Transit use those two tunnels under the Hudson, with Amtrak switching from diesel power to electric on its trains when needed. The Pennsylvanian that I rode between Manhattan and Pittsburgh changed engines in Philadelphia.
Getting back to this trip: I also enjoy taking photographs from NJ Transit's trains. There are views that cannot be "had" much any other way save from that right-of-way:
NE Corridor trackage and the Passaic River. Across the river is a North-eastern thumb of Newark in the vicinity of Blanchard St.
Running under the New Jersey Turnpike, with adjacent NJ Transit train.
The Croxton Intermodal Terminal, with power station in the distance; Jersey City
After running through the North River Tunnel, NJ Transit terminates at what is still called Penn Station, though only some of the original structure still exists, sadly, mostly at platform level where passengers climb stairs that are now over 100 years old. On the street, Manhattan suddenly looms.
Way up on the rooftops of stand the towers that have helped supply water to residents of the buildings. It's surprising how many of these there still are, like these just across 31st Street from Penn Station:
I know I'm no Dreiser, and I don't fancy myself a "street photographer" either, but I do enjoy standing on a street corner sometimes and just taking the odd shot. It occurred to me a few years ago that most street photographers are taking pictures of people - and taking pictures of people is just not something I do. But occasionally --
Street scenes at the corner of 7th Ave and 39th Street
Typically, I'm doing the thing that people just don't do in New York: "looking up." Oh, such a tourist! But - that's where the great old architectural detail is! All to often, the street level details have been obscured or obliterated in favor of today's plastic signage. So, I have to point the camera up a few stories to get something like this:
Bryant Park, behind the Main Library, occupies space formerly taken by one of the city's reservoirs. It is something of a Midtown oasis, with books from the library available to read, Bocci courts, grassy lawn, lots of trees, and coffee for sale on the corner of 6th and 42nd, which may explain why I liked going through here.
When my mother visited New Jersey in 2008, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum was closed as the ship was in drydock for repairs. She asked me to visit in 2014, which I did.
Not of the largest class of aircraft carriers built during the Second World War, the Intrepid is still pretty impressive. With aircraft - and a Space Shuttle! - parked on the flight deck, and several of the decks open for viewing, visitors can at least get some passing notion of life on a ship like this, and an overview of its history.
The shuttle Enterprise is housed in the angular construct at the aft end of the ship (to the left in this view) For a little scale, of the two boys standing at the rail to the right is about 5 feet tall. His father is taking his photographs with the ship in the background. (Composite image)
Seeing a very large ship in the Hudson, of course, is not enough. It's the Hudson River! Or North River if you prefer, but still, a pretty storied body of water. After a couple hundred years of the river being a dumping ground and a gateway to commerce with the rest of the world, the Hudson and its waterfront have undergone a sea change ('scuse the pun). The water quality is the best it's been in decades, and most of the waterfront is accessible for recreation now. Many of the remaining piers are like parks, with views of the river and across it, as well as back at the City. Near the Intrepid is a pier like that, Pier 84, with open spaces and trees (trees on a pier!) and a view toward Jersey which this day included an incoming line of thunderstorms that would soon have this touristy photographer soaked:
The next pier downstream, 83, I thought might have been the site of the 42nd Street Ferry, where Dreiser and Booth embarked for points West. However, looking at a satellite view of this stretch of the waterfront, I'm now more inclined to believe that the ferry either docked right at the foot of 42nd, or that Pier 82 would have continued straight off of 42nd St, and is now absent. It doesn't help that the water-boundary of Manhattan has been in a near-perpetual state of flux since the Dutch settled here 400 years ago. What appears here between Piers 81 and 83 now and how it appeared a century ago could be vastly differing.
Anyway, here's Pier 83:
Pier 82 where are you? I mean it could have been there. Likewise, there might have been a ferry terminal that more directly allowed traffic access from the street to the boat. Something I'll have to look up somewhere.
Times Square is usually an area to be avoided, as far as I'm concerned, unless there is a pressing reason to go there. To take in a movie, perhaps, or to make a purchase from the TKTS Booth for a show. I braved the Square a couple of times - there's a joke there somewhere - and did get a ticket to see Roundabout Theatre Co's Cabaret revival (wow!) but also to take a photo for a comparison. Bumbling about on-line, I came across a photograph of 42nd Street in 1977, and recognized it from my own walks down that bit of pavement (even a drive down that street in a 26' Penske moving van, but that's another story), and I thought to capture a contemporary view for the contrast. Viz:
Above: the year Star Wars premiered. The first Star Wars, mind you, and in 2014, below:
Yes, I know that, like so many popular streets in Manhattan, the 42nd Street/Times Square area has been replete with enormous, bright signs since - well since almost ever, and yet, what "graces" these buildings now is all show and no poetry. Or maybe it's just me.
And finally, I just had to take a photo of this place:
Really - it just states what it is and what it purveys. That's truth in advertising, thank you.