Week 21
May 31, 2016
Queens
Midtown
Train In/Out: Fairfield, CT
Miles walked: 8.7
Subway: 7
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1, m.Zuiko 17mm f1.8, m.Zuiko 8mm fisheye PRO, m.Zuiko 12-40mm PRO
I will spare you details about the huge tantrum I threw on Memorial Day because I believed the weather forecast which called for torrential rain on Monday therefore I postponed my trip to the city to Tuesday...and then it turned out to be a nice day on Monday. I was CRABBY! Ah well, live and learn. Onward with a Magic Monday on a Tuesday...my husband joined me on this trip.
I spy with my little eyes...yeah, a mousetrap on the counter near the napkins at the pizza place we stopped at before starting the journey to Queens. At least they're honest about it. It didn't freak me out, figured better that than actual mice running around the restaurant and them not caring. But there was something funny I noticed when I got home and looked at my pictures of the pizza place...
Do you see it? This cracked me up.
If you are following my journey, then you'll remember this guy from last week who was doing an art project on the door of a place across the street from the 5th Street library. Here's Tripp's finished product:
Headed for the 7 subway to take us over to Queens. First time seeing a Platform Controller. The Platform Controller program is newer, started in 2015. It’s aim is to reduce “dwell time”, meaning the time a subway train is not moving in a subway station as passengers unload and load onto the cars. She used a halogen flashlight to signal someone. See, now you learned something new today! :)
View from the 7 train as we headed to Queens. Different from Manhattan with the trains running above ground. Shot through the subway glass so a little unclear and there are some reflections (not the good kind).
I don't know how people sleep living here.
Mets-Willets Point Station (Flushing) where we got off.
Citi Field is right at this subway stop.
A lot of subway cars sleep here.
Destination #1 for the day, Flushing Meadows Corona Park. This is where the World's Fair was held in 1939 and 1964. And home of the Unisphere, something I've been fascinated with since I was a child but I've never seen it in person. I remember my Mom belonged to a health club when I was really little and I think it had a mini version of the Unisphere outside the building. I was really young so I could be wrong, but maybe that's where my fascination came from.
The Queens Museum was the pavilion for the fair in 1939.
The Unisphere is behind me as I took this photo.
The Unisphere begged me to take pictures of it with my fisheye lens. I was very excited to see it in person. It lived up to my expectations but I wish the fountains had been running. We asked a guy and he said they only turn them on for holidays (probably the day before! grrr...).
There was a family of red shouldered hawks nesting about 2/3 of the way up in the sphere (you can't see them here). I could see the babies sitting in the nest from the other side of the sphere. I didn't have a zoom lens to get any pictures worth posting of the hawks, though.
Last one. It was very photogenic.
The old observatory towers at the New York State pavilion.
The New York State Pavillion "tent of tomorrow". The upper part was restored a couple of years ago but a maintenance worker we ran into said the rest of it is falling apart. The Pavilion is the subject of a documentary film titled Modern Ruin: A World's Fair Pavilion produced by filmmaker and teacher Matthew Silva
There was a skate park nearby. The person in the middle is a girl, she was good!
The grounds were huge but not well cared for, you can see the grass (really grass/weeds) on the right needs to be mowed.
Unisphere is in the background. It's pretty interesting to Google the World's Fair NYC 1964, lots of old images come up!
There was a woman with her kids nearby. Lots of trash around the park which was disappointing.
Rocket Thrower.
I used to see brides all the time. Now I see clever license plates.
Heading back to the subway station, passed a construction worker using the AT&T charger station which stood kind of in the middle of nowhere. I had noticed it when we were entering the park. Funny to see someone actually using it when the park was basically deserted.
The park is huge and definitely worth another visit. There's the museum, a zoo and a couple of lakes, none of which we saw today (except the museum from the outside). It was in the low 80's and super sunny and not much shade. We were a tad sunburned from a beach day Saturday, so not really up for more sun today. I will go back on a cooler fall day to explore more. I was glad my husband was with me, but it felt safe enough to go back on my own sometime.
They REALLY needed to get a room.
Back in Manhattan, loved the dress.
Guess he saved it for Tuesday? Or wore it two days in a row...
Walking the 20 blocks south on 5th Avenue towards the Flatiron District.
One for the Interesting Things... page. :)
This makes the cut because my husband and I were talking about Shake Shack on the train into NYC today and he basically said this exact thing, that Shake Shack was a fancy version of fast-food. Weird to see an article saying that a few hours later.
This looks like you need a lot of patience to craft. Don't sign me up.
I should have asked him exactly what "I write about you" means...
And now that I'm looking at him again, he looks a lot like the guy who was feeding pigeons a few weeks ago that I took a picture of. Have I gone into NYC so many times that I'm starting to get to know the homeless?
They were together. The guy was directing the woman a bit, telling her to lean over to smell the flowers. Some kind of casual photo shoot since all he had was a phone. But check out her heels! I would kill myself walking around in those.
So they added some bling in Madison Square Park.
Seriously...it's called Big Bling! https://www.madisonsquarepark.org/view-do/calendar/mad-sq-art-martin-puryear
It's selfie time!
Told ya, still selfie time (they're in front of the Flatiron Building, too).
If you're following my journey then you know that I occasionally try panning which is to create an image with a blurred background and a moving subject frozen and super sharp. More fails today. I was too close to the road for one reason. I need to scope out a perfect spot to practice, this was not it. TBD.
Decided to sit on a bench for a few minutes in Madison Square Park, so I shot a few pics of whatever came by.
"Honey, what color should we wear tomorrow?"
This was my favorite one from the park bench. It was a busy afternoon, got lucky to get him alone.
I love the little dog on the far right. I think he's thinking "is that a small pack of Husky dogs?" Yes, yes it is.
Second destination of the day, 230 Fifth. Since my project is "legal" now, being that it's Week "21", I thought it would be fun to go to a rooftop bar. I've been researching rooftop bars because it seems to be one of the only ways for me to find rooftops to take pictures from.
Got carded in the lobby. I wasn't special, he was carding everyone. Headed for the pink elevator.
I love a good reflection (more coming later in the day). This bar looked promising, I adore palm trees! I suppose because I associate them with vacation.
Nice. :)
Beautiful place but they had a tall fence up all along the perimeter and signs saying to not stand on the benches along the fence, so it was not ideal for photography. But the chardonnay was excellent.
Shhh...I stood on a bench for a moment.
On the far right you can just make out the Chrysler Building with the silver needle top...that's next door to Grand Central, so about 20 blocks north.
They grow their own mint!
Loved the tie.
Down a level this is the nightclub. I'm not a nightclub kind of girl so I would never come at night. But cool to photograph during the day. Nice ceiling reflection!
And on the way out they give you a postcard. We got two, maybe I will send one to a 52 Magic Mondays fan.
Decided to walk the 20 blocks back up to Grand Central along 6th avenue.
This was an interesting area, like a cheap Jewelry District? Looking in the window, this store gave me anxiety. Wayyyyy too much stuff. The older I get, the less I like to shop and I really can't handle displays with gobs of items. I always wonder where it all goes. Do ALL those cheap earrings get sold? Who's making all this stuff, horribly treated children in China? It's all just too much.
This I did not understand. I thought Brazilian usually meant less hair. ;) And what the heck is Buy n Fly?
He did not care for the carved animals at all.
More of the little animals for sale? And sorry about the awkward shot with the elephant. Didn't notice at the time.
Blue Man.
Made our way up to the Times Square area. This is my favorite window. I took an awesome reflection photo back in Week 6 of a man with a mohawk in a suit. It almost won an award with Olympus but didn't qualify because I didn't have a model release from Mohawk Man (I thought his phone obscurred his face enough but unfortunately Olympus didn't agree and I totally understood). This shot wasn't great, but I did like the ice cream truck in the background.
Here's that photo from Week 6.
Favorite of the day! She walked right up to the window to take a look at the display. Thank you!
Of course I said "what the heck is that?" Any my husband, of course, knew what it was (a refrigeration compressor). Oh yes, of course.
I watched the dog jump up for a hug. So sweet.
He had a great sound!
Bryant Park was hopping! Lots of people practicing juggling, laying in the grass, sitting at tables. It was nice.
Pretty in Pink!
Please leave me a quick note below to say hello; so nice to know I'm not "alone" out there when I hear that people enjoy looking through the pages.
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
~MC
