Tag: Bridge

Williamsburg Bridge

From the Queensboro Bridge, Loren’s friend Jack drove us down to the Williamsburg Bridge. The bridge is a suspension bridge across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE).

This 2227m, eight lanes bridge has two train tracks carrying the ”J” train, "M" train, and "Z" lines of the New York City Subway. There is also a path for pedestrians and bicycles. The bridge was constructed by architect, Henry Hornbostel, and designer Leffert L. Buck. It was open on December 19, 1903. That was 115 years ago!

This bridge was more challenging to photograph from the vantage point at the foot of the bridge. I walked under and around the bridge trying to get a decent image of the length of the bridge. The support pillars of the bridge are surrounded by a fence with metal spikes at the top. I stood on one of the metal barriers to get a better shot.

Williamsburg Bridge — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/8.0, ISO400), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams
Williamsburg Bridge — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/9.0, ISO400), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams
Williamsburg Bridge — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/8.0, ISO400), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams
Williamsburg Bridge — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (42.7 mm, f/9.0, ISO400), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams

Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge

From the George Washington Bridge, we drove over to the other side of Manhattan to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. The bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, is located between 59th and 60th Streets in Manhattan. Construction of the bridge was completed in 1909. Designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Queensboro Bridge is a double-decker bridge that carries 9 lanes of traffic and is the first entry point into the Manhattan course of New York City Marathon.

Loren took us to a relatively unknown spot, Sutton Place Park North, which has a connection to the Woody Allen film Manhattan.

The film’s most memorable image is the one from the poster with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton sitting on a bench at sunrise on the banks of the East River, silhouetted against the sky.Tammy.

This is the smallest park I have ever visited. I tipped my hat to the Woody Allen film (which I have not seen) and processed this in black and white, but I have included colour versions using the Classic Chrome Film Simulation.

Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1⁄80 sec at f/22 | ISO 200

By the time we arrived, the sun had faded behind the clouds. There is a red railing that runs the length of the bridge. Despite being one of the more colourful bridges we toured, I could not find a way to pull out the colour.

Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge at Sutton Place Park
Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm | 1⁄45 sec at f/22 | ISO 200
ferry under the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge at Sutton Place Park
Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm | 1⁄500 sec at f/8.0 | ISO 200
Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge at Sutton Place Park
Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm | 1⁄680 sec at f/10 | ISO 200

I was lucky enough to catch a few photographs of the Roosevelt Island gondola passing overhead. This is an aerial tramway that runs parallel to the bridge and spans the East River. It connects Roosevelt Island to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Opened in 1976, The tramway is the first commuter aerial tramway in North America.

Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge at Sutton Place Park
Alice Aycock Pavillion | Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 55 mm | 1⁄950 sec at f/13 | ISO 200
Alice Aycock Pavillion | Saturday 12 January, 2019 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ 16 mm | 1⁄140 sec at f/10 | ISO 200

George Washington Bridge and The Little Red Lighthouse

This past weekend I attended a New York City Bridges Photography Workshop with Loren Fisher and a group of photographers from New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. The New Jersey group met at the Bridgewater Train Station. Loren drove to Penn Station where we picked a photographer from Weehawken, then we zipped over to Grand Central Staton to pickup photographers from Greenwich and Manhattan.

Our first stop was in Fort Washington Park where our group photographed the George Washington Bridge GWB and The Little Red Lighthouse under the watchful eye of a Port Authority guard who insisted that we exclude the east support pillar in any of our photographs. Just to be sure we behaved, an NYC police patrol car was on the scene. Fort Washington Park runs along a section of the Hudson River from 72nd Street to 158th street.

Under construction from 1927-1932 by Swiss engineer, Othmar Ammann, the 1,450 m GWB is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River. The bridge connects the Washington Heights neighbourhood of Manhattan with the borough of Fort Lee in New Jersey. The GWB has 8 lanes on the upper deck with 6 lanes on the lower deck and transport over 103 million vehicles per year between.

George Washington Bridge and The Little Red Lighthouse — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (16 mm, f/6.4, ISO200), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams

The forty-foot Little Red Lighthouse was originally built as the North Hook Beacon at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where it stood until 1917 when it became obsolete. The Lighthouse was moved to its current location in 1921 by the United States Coast Guard as part of a project to improve Hudson River navigational aids, and originally had a battery-powered lamp and a fog bell. It was operated by a part-time lighthouse keeper. In 1948, the lighthouse was decommissioned by the Coast Guard. The lights from the George Washington Bridge provided better lighting.

George Washington Bridge and The Little Red Lighthouse — FujiFilm X-T2 + Fujifilm XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR @ (30.2 mm, f/8.0, ISO200), Copyright 2019-01-12 Khürt L. Williams