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Photography: Floating Above the Coney Island Boardwalk

Posted in Events, Photography, tagged ClampArt, Coney Island, New York City, Stephen Wilkes on September 7, 2011| 4 Comments »

Coney Island Boardwalk, Day to Night. Photo © Stephen Wilkes. Click on image for larger view

On a sunny Saturday in July, we noticed a photographer with a large format camera perched in a cherry picker above the Boardwalk at West 12th Street. The Coney Island Rumor Mill had no idea what the photo shoot was for, but it was an unusual sight and we snapped a few photos. Our first guess was that Google had sent someone to do panoramic photos of Coney Island, but as the hours went by it became clear he was shooting from a fixed perspective all day and into the night.

Yesterday we realized the mystery photographer was Stephen Wilkes after coming across his stunning “Day to Night” photo of Coney Island’s beach, boardwalk and amusement rides. “That was indeed me in the cherry picker on July 16th,” wrote Wilkes in an email. “A perfect Saturday on Coney Island.”

Stephen Wilkes Photographing Coney Island. July 16, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita

Wilkes says that he photographs a scene continuously for up to 15 hours. “A select group of images are then digitally blended into one photograph, capturing the changing of time in a single frame.” In regard to the Coney Island photo, Wilkes told ATZ: “We will be launching a really cool time lapse video from that particular shoot, which will also be in the gallery exhibition.” The “Day to Night” series includes images of Times Square, the High Line and Central Park, among others, and will be on view at ClampArt Gallery in Chelsea from September 8 through October 29.

In an interview with Jen Doll in the Village Voice, Wilkes said his favorite photo of the series is the one of Coney Island:

The perspective is from floating above the boardwalk. The amusement park is night, the beach is day, and it’s full of activity. The level of detail — I’m working with a large-format camera, and it’s exciting that people can see the detail online, but in person, you can see it 60 inches big, and the photos look like windows, and you can actually see into people’s windows…

Stephen Wilkes Photographing Coney Island. July 16, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita

“Stephen Wilkes: Day to Night,” September 8-October 29, 2011. ClampArt, 521-531 West 25th Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY 10001, 646-230-0020. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11-6. Opening reception: Thursday, September 8, 6-8pm

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Photo of the Day: Notice to All Park Users Effective May 23

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged New York City, no smoking, Photography, smoking ban on May 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Notice to All Park Users... May 23, 2011. Photo © me-myself-i/Tricia Vita via flickr

“Notice to All Park Users…Effective May 23, 2011, smoking will not be allowed within the park. Thank you for your cooperation.” This solitary warning posted in a vitrine at the Parks Department’s restrooms on the Coney Island Boardwalk has been up for quite a few weeks. The citywide smoking ban at parks, beaches and plazas went into effect on Monday and the beach officially opens this weekend. The Wall Street Journal reported that Parks is in the process of putting up thousands of permanent signs and launching a media campaign to alert people to the new law.

If the ban is enforced, we expect to see smokers step off the Boardwalk onto the sidewalks of West 10th and 12th Streets just to have a cigarette. We also expect to see some interesting pix of people having a surreptitious smoke in Coney Island this summer, despite the ban.

Thor’s Coney Island: Crack of Dawn Demo Work Attracts Scrutiny

Posted in Coney Island Redevelopment, tagged asbestos abatement, demolition, DEP, Department of Environmental Protection, New York City, Photography, Thor Equities on August 19, 2010| 9 Comments »

At the Crack of Dawn, Work on Henderson Building, 5:30 am, August 18, 2010

This morning at 5:30 am, Thor Equities work crew continued demo and asbestos abatement work on the doomed Henderson Building across from Nathan’s in good old Coney Island. A few courageous photographers ventured out to document the worksite, despite the fact that one was threatened by a worker who tried to grab his camera on Tuesday. Now it’s safety in numbers! The above photo of the Bowery side of the Henderson Building arrived via email just after 6 am. We asked the photographer: what were they doing to the awnings? The answer was “they were tearing them down.” This appears to be the case if you look at the photo below taken 3-1/2 hours later of the same scene. Unfortunately the DOB has to see the violations happening and photographic evidence seems to count for nothing.

Since photos of Thor’s workers hammering away at the Henderson Building were posted on Monday, Coney Island’s Community Board 13 has questioned the Dept of Buildings (no permits have been issued for demolition) and Dept of Environmental Protection (a permit for asbestos abatement has been issued, though it was not displayed at the worksite). It appears that public scrutiny has led the crew to beef up their asbestos safety procedures. In the first photo, for example, there’s a sheet of material covering the sidewalk, which was not the case on Monday.

One photographer writes: “Took some photos today, Thursday 8/19/10, at 9 am, most taken from the Boardwalk side. They are working on the theater, south side of building. Looks like they are using a staircase to bring stuff up to the roof. All the workers are in air tight suits, see the yellow boots. They are laying out white plastic sheets on the roof and dumping stuff into the white sheets, tying up the sheets and stacking the rolls.” Okay DEP, we would like to know if the City is doing “Ambient air monitoring” to measure airborne asbestos fiber concentrations in the general vicinity of the worksite. Unlike the DOB website, the DEP site provides no information to the public on permits that have been issued. Readers may want to take a look at the DEP’s “New Asbestos Rules & Regulations, effective June 6, 2010.”

Before we go anywhere near Surf and Stillwell, we plan to take a cue from the workers and suit up in protective clothing. The yellow boots could become a new fashion statement in Coney Island–Lola Star take note! In the meantime, ATZ recommends the Asbestos Safety Kit which we found online for only $43.95 and includes the following items:
• Tyvek® disposable suit with integral hood and boots
• Sleeve covers (1 pair) (White).
• Latex gloves (2 pair)
• Goggles, chemical resistant with indirect vents.(1)
• Respirator (1) (half mask)
• HEPA cartridges (2)
• 6 mil poly bags 3’ x 5’ (4) bags/kit with asbestos warning (not shown)