Week 41
October 17, 2016
Columbia University
North West Central Park
Train In/Out: Fairfield, CT
Miles walked: 7
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with m.Zuiko 12-40mm PRO, m.Zuiko 8mm fisheye
Headed to Columbia University today. I didn't know much about the area, didn't even research, just thought I would head out and see what I found. The majority of the university is in just a few square blocks. I'm sure housing and office buildings sprawl around but it seemed like the main part of the campus was around 116th street between Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue. I also wanted to see the north west corner of Central Park since I had never been up that high in the park before. Turned out there was not much there...but that's part of the journey!
Onward.
At the entrance to the "mall" area at Columbia.
Clearly this school is a dive. ;)
Low Library - although it hasn't been a library since 1934. It's now the university's admin building. Looked like it had a rotunda so I went in.
Rotunda in Low Library. It was nice, not crazy amazing to me. Nothing much else to see inside since it's now offices.
The view coming out of Low Library looking across to Butler Library which is the real library on campus. It's awesome that this is in the middle of Manhattan. I've found so many beautiful places during my time on this project.
Sleeping beauty.
Butler Libary in the background, information about Falun Dafa in front.. I have seen displays, etc, in other parts of the city about Falun Dafa. Not a light topic and I really didn't explore it today because I am very sensitive to violent situations and have to shield myself from too much information. I took one picture of an information sign. Not a subject for the faint of heart so feel free to just scroll by the next image, or stop and read it if it interests you.
Another college doggy. A mover and a shaker, this was the best I could get of him. Owner was super nice and tried to get him to sit still. Slightly blurry but I did want to show you the hand stitched vest.
Butler Library. Needed a student I.D. to get in. #fail
Heading over to Riverside Park. Took me a moment to read this sign - I think MY subconcious first told me it said "Self Concious" (probably because I am a lot of the time) and then I carefully read it again. Clever.
Example of the architecture in the area.
Subway ran above ground here and then went underground below where I was standing. Thought it was a nice shot looking straight out with vanishing lines. I met another photographer here, he was setup with a small tripod. Really nice guy. Does photography just to relax. Younger guy, maybe mid 20's. I love how you can meet another photographer and you have this bond in a way. You can chat for a minute and they just "get it" with the hobby / exploration.
Subway zooming by. Got a little blur, wish I got more blur but I had places to go, stuff to see, so I did not hang around to try again...
Riverside Church which was very very tall.
Elaborate but not nearly as elaborate as the church in Harlem from Week 38.
Beautiful wooden revolving door. This church was open and the people inside welcomed me to look around, unlike the churches just a bit north in Harlem which were all locked.
Architecture reminded me of Grand Central. There is a lot of this architecture style in the city. If I wasn't feeling lazy right now, I would go look up what it's called. If you know, leave me a note in the Comment Box below. :)
Under construction and more plain than I expected given how grand it appeared from the outside.
They had this ribbon art installation in the church, you can see another one in the background to the left, and several in the reflection.
Headed over to Riverside Park which is on the west side of Manhattan parallel to Columbia. If you drive into Manhattan from Connecticut, you will drive along this park on Rt. 9 (or 9A?) I believe. I haven't driven into the city in many years (love Metro North!). Don't use me for GPS. Speaking of GPS, if you haven't tried WAZE on your iPhone for navigation, you simply must check it out. I love it.
Tennis court hidden in the trees of Riverside Park.
Highway is down below to the right. In this park, you don't have access to the water or much of a view. Looked a bit boring for Magic Mondays so I headed back up to walk towards Central Park.
Why hello #peopleleavingdrinks. You score a solid A, especially coordinating the cup with the hiding place.
One last shot peeking into the mall area at Columbia. Liked the reflection.
So I've posted a few of these "Litter Only" garbage cans over the weeks. They always crack me up because Litter Only - No Household Trash means stuff like Slurpy Cups, a piece of paper, gum wrappers, something in your pocket. I personally don't walk around with cracked 2 x 4 boards, but hey, I shouldn't judge. ;) My favorite image I posted with this theme was the very large cactus thrown in one of these Litter Only baskets. Starting to reflect on some fun 52MM memories.
More architecture in the area. No grand staircases on these brownstones like in the area a little north in Harlem, but pretty buildings.
Welcome to Interestings Things...you would not have made it with the brown box alone. But the colorful Snack Pack box pushed you just over the edge. Congrats.
I coudln't help but notice the clown dress. Interesting time to wear such a dress given the clowns scaring people issue across the country.
Walked by the Church of St. John the Divine. I took a tour of this church on Week 2. Seems like a lifetime ago...and just yesterday at the same time.
The North West entrance to Central Park. I've never been up to the top of the park before. I thought maybe there would be a band, maybe some banners and balloons to welcome me. Nada. ;)
A little sunburst in the tree.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I was here once before but I was on the other side; the path around is 1.58 miles. Sun was starting to set. There's not a lot going in in this part of the park. I was getting tired but I did want to do a little evening photography. Decided to head down to Lincoln Center. It's been a goal of mine for the project to photograph Lincoln Center lit up at night. And what the heck, it was only 25 blocks south (ugh).
This was clearly not a homless man but indeed a very tired business man on a Monday evening.
Came across this situation which had just happened. Bike meets Highlander meets UPS truck. All 3 were involved and damaged. The woman standing to the right of the Highlander was yelling at the bike lady in the yellow shirt. Clearly the bike and car had hit and obviously no matter whose fault it was, the safety of the people is the biggest concern but Highlander lady was losing it. I think she was actually in shock and reacted emotionally by yelling at the bike lady defending herself. The woman on the far left had stopped to ask bike lady if she was OK because clearly the Highlander lady was off her rocker for the moment. I felt bad about their situation.
Yeah. I'm surprised bike lady was able to stand up.
And ironically, just a few feet away was this sign. Zoinks.
As close as I've come in a few years to watching the news. ABC7 is across the street from Lincoln Center and you can watch them doing the news from the sidewalk.
Dear People Who Leave Bagels: It's week 41, it's a bit late for me to start a new page for you. But I thank you for the suggestion.
Lincoln Center. The fountain is like a ring of fire. Happy with this image. :)
The fountain is very animated, it changes height going up and down, completely off and then starts again. It was nice.
Of course this is the decor in my subway car. What a coincidence, and I'm telling you, it was done so well it truly felt like it was in 3D and a camera was sitting there.
xo
And that's a wrap for Week 41. I think I'm going to freak out a little when I'm down to single digits of visits left.
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
~MC
