AquaLangs

For ‘ship spotters’ (cousins of the uber-geeky train-spotters or nerdy bird watchers), the January 2008 meeting of Cunard’s three Queens at the mouth if the Hudson river was a worthy gathering. At the time, Cunard’s fleet of ocean liners (not to be confused with cruise ships) consisted of the Queen Mary II, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth II. Each was on a different itinerary; seldom in the same region with one another. So for all three to be in New York,  with the QE2 on one of her final voyages before her eventual retirement, was a unique nautical confluence. I joined a large unorganized gathering in Battery Park, eager to witness the event on a cold and drizzly winter night. Several photographers were present too, on land and in the air. I had hoped to get a permit to photograph from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as all three ships were scheduled to pass underneath it, neatly in line as they sailed out to sea in different directions.

The QM2 was constructed with the Verrazano Bridge as a major design factor, as the ship’s height is restricted by the clearance under the bridge. To appease the principles of Archimedes, the ship’s stack has a hinge that flips it back like the lid of a Zippo lighter, allowing for passage under the bridge. I thought it would be rather awesome to get a shot from overhead, but unfortunately, with my press-pass-carrying days long behind, my influence with city hall to obtain permits was very limited, so I was stuck in a crowd hugging the rails in Battery Park.

So with that in mind, viewing this photo one might ask, “where are the ships?” Well there were some embarkation delays so the carefully orchestrated lineup of liners didn’t quite pan out as planned. All three steamed out in the harbor in a huff not allowing for anyone on the ground to capture all three ships in any single frame. But, I did snap this fireboat escorting the Queens through the fireworks display. The shot I wish I took can be seen here.

I often enjoy the challenges of photographing at night without a tripod, relying on steady hands, careful breathing, or makeshift platforms. Sodium vapor street lights are brutal on a camera’s auto white balance and are often difficult, if not impossible to correct in post. As such, I rather let go of my quest for color perfection and intentionally let the sickly purple and orange hues shine.

In the wee hours of the morning on a work night, I was woken up by a ship’s fog horn. I live off Riverside Drive in Manhattan, alongside the Hudson River and near the George Washington Bridge. Up until that night, I had never heard any of the many vessels that traverse this waterway blast their emergency horns. I rushed to my rooftop on this unusually warm November night and found that the mild weather had caused the Hudson to fog over reminiscent of San Fransisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. So I grabbed my camera, tripod and a light coat, then headed out…

I once heard a fellow artist challenge another by asking for the names of three famous living sculptors not including Richard Serra. Like most people when asked, she had no answer.

That is why my chisels are rusting away in a storage unit…

As the world shrinks and more of us are granted greater access to this planet’s nooks and crannies, one finds that nearly every major city has a Chinatown district or neighborhood. As a result, I have found that I have to suffix any mention of my own Chinatown with the locale of New York City.