Let there be light(s)

House light – New Orleans

It would be an exaggeration to describe lamps and lights along streets, houses and parks as my “muse“, but I do seem to take a lot of photos of them! I’m drawn to their shapes (which can be sinuous or angular), their symmetry in rows or clusters, and of course the way the light plays on them.

(click any image to view full size)

promendade lamps – Barbate (Spain)

platform lights – Leura train station (Australia)

street light – Sydney

street lights in the snow – London

street lights – New Orleans

street light – New York City (or is this a cctv?)

park lights – Philadelphia

park lights – Santa Fe

Thames embankment lights – London

street lamps – Budapest

lights by the opera house – Sydney

house lights – Philadelphia

Ice ice baby

A “log pile” of slowly melting ice.

I took these photos for Leanne Cole’s 3 June Monochrome Madness with the theme of water. I intended to post them then, but I was on holiday at the time and I forgot. I was reminded of them when I saw this week’s Monochrome Madness post. Oh well, better late than never!

(Leanne’s next theme is “things beginning with K” — I’m working on kiwifuit, or maybe kalamata olives; check back next week to find out which.)

A “log pile” of slowly melting ice.

A “log pile” of slowly melting ice.

(Apologies to Vanilla Ice for nicking the name of his song for my post’s title. I’m certainly not a hip hop fan, but I do like “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, which features in “Ice ice baby”.)

Travel Album: New York City (1)

69th Street Transfer Bridge

A walk in Riverside Park, Manhattan

Riverside Park runs for 4 miles (6.4 km) on the west side of Manhattan, from 72nd to 158th Streets. Since 1875, it’s offered somewhere for New Yorkers to escape the city and relax. Part of the land on which the park is built was originally used for railroads.
The photo above is what’s left of the 69th Street Transfer Bridge — a dock for car floats which allowed the transfer of railroad cars from the rail line to car floats that crossed the Hudson River to New Jersey. It may seem an odd subject to open a post about a park, but it looms over the park and is a reminder of the area’s history. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Hover mouse over image for caption; click to open gallery and view full size.

A shady set of stairs.

Rules of the road.

These walkers are obeying the “keep right” rule (Note the transfer bridge looming in the background.)

Ivy-clad arches supporting the Joe DiMaggio Highway/West Side Highway (NY 9A).

There’s no escaping the ubiquitous New York fire hydrant.

The park is a great spot for chilling out.

Find two trees and sling a hammock.

Plenty of benches for reading …

… or just admiring the view.

Warm sun and cold beer — what more do you need on a lazy Saturday afternoon?

I couldn’t understand why he left the beer on the path. Or why they were all open!

Refreshments are also available in a more, shall we say, structured manner.

Reminders of the area’s industrial history are everywhere.

This aerial shot shows the 69th Street Transfer Bridge and the rebuilt Pier 1 beside it, plus the rotting remains of old structures.

A Canada Goose preens beside an old pier.

A mix of old and new commercial structures here.

It won’t be long before this mooring point is gone.

The park looks across the Hudson River to New Jersey.

A dramatic sky breaks over the New Jersey shoreline.

In the 1980s Donald Trump owned the 57 acres of land just south of Riverside Park that had been the Penn Central freight rail yard. His Riverside South development of towering apartment buildings also extended the park south to 59th Street.

Walking up from the river, under the Joe DiMaggio Hwy, to Riverside Boulevard.

Some of the buildings comprising Riverside South.

If you enjoyed this walk along part of Manhattan’s Riverside Park, head over to Jo’s Monday Walk to see where other people have been walking.

For other bloggers’ travel adventures on a Monday, check out Monday Escapes.

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Facts and figures about Riverside Park taken from:
nycgovparks.org/parks/riverside-park/history
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Park_(Manhattan)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Central_Railroad_69th_Street_Transfer_Bridge

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Flying rainbows

Rainbow lorrikeet looking for food in a palm tree.

Rainbow lorrikeets can be a real pain when a flock of the screeching, squabbling little guys settle outside your bedroom window at 5am, but there’s no denying they are cheeky, colourful characters.

Rainbow lorrikeet looking for food in a palm tree.

Click here to see another post with rainbow lorrikeeets

Bench Series: Arty | Grand Canyon

Bench, south rim of the Grand Canyon.

I seem to have become infected with Jude’s enthusiasm for benches. On my recent holiday in Canada and the US, I found myself zeroing in on benches. “Ooh, that’s a cool bench!” I would think. Snap snap. For Jude’s June theme of “arty benches“, I’ve chosen a bench on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Above is the original; below are a selection of Photoshopped alternatives. Do you have a favourite?

1 – hue adjustments

2 – rough pastels

3 – B&W – I don’t remember what I did, but I like this!

4 – crystallize

5 – Old Fashioned: duotone sepia, plus film grain and Gaussian blur

6 – cutout

7 – find edges

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Lizard display

Lizard in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans

I photographed this lizard this morning while on a walking tour of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans. His sudden appearance on a family tomb had a few of us reaching for our cameras, and you can imagine my surprise when he displayed that vivid red and yellow throat flap!

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Travel Album: On the Way: Sydney to San Francisco over the Pacific Ocean

The setting sun throws the engine cowling into harsh relief.

On 23 May I flew from Sydney to San Francisco, on the way to Toronto. I didn’t get much sleep over the Pacific, but the stunning sunset and sunrise at 33,000ft made up for it — almost. 😉

As the sky darkens, a single bright star is visible above the band of intense sunset colour.

Reflections in the engine cowling:

Beginning of sunset: the cloud tops are tinged with pink, and the fuselage is reflected in the engine cowlingl.

Sunrise: the fuselage and the rising sun are reflected in the engine cowling.

Sunrise:

The horizon is delicate shades of blue and pink, and the rising sun makes metal points on the wing glow as if they were lights.

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