May 19, 2004: Gowanus 1
Mike and I went down to the Gowanus Canal last Thursday to make a definitive survey. We started at the north end, and made our way down the west side of the canal until we got to the docks in Red Hook. Afterwards, we doubled back and followed the east side of the canal until we got back to the beginning. Along the way, we met an assortment of characters, including crazed homeless people, 16 year-old St. Anne's graffiti artists, and Steve Buscemi. [Related: Mike's Gowanus 1, 2, 3, some day shots, Gowanus in winter, bridges of Gowanus, Gowanus Neon, Gowanus history, more history, Gowanus Canoe Club, canoe trip]
The first shot looks amazing.
for real, Steve Buscemi? I looooove him....
What's that blue smear in #1?
that's the screen on the back of your camera! nice work, bro!
also, because some people have asked about it today, some notes on the changes i made to the bluejake design:
1. single entry on the main page: because of server load (the old page was more than 1mb), because i want people to focus on that day's pictures without distraction, because i think it focuses me as a photographer.
2. the previously section at the bottom: because i like the idea of having access to the last 75 entries with one click from the main page, and watching as the entry slowly moves down the list. because i felt like in the old design the previous posts were lost to most readers.
3. max of 7 pictures per day, instead of 10 or 12- because 7 is about the most i can do and maintain the standard of quality i want. in the future, i might even go down to 5.
Suck! Sorry about that. Good thing I didn't have my ipod and cell phone out too. Actually, it could be fun to juggle cell phone, ipod and camera in front of one of your 15-second exposures and see what happens.
Re the redesign, 75 feels way too busy the way it's arranged now. If you want 75, maybe arrange them in a grid or multi-column list?
I tend to aim for 6 or 7 photos per entry -- it's a good number -- but occasionally I'll go over if the material justifies it. For example, for Gowanus I had 24 photos I liked, which lent itself nicely to three entries of 8 apiece.
Bluejake, I stumbled onto your site last evening when hunting photos of the Queen Mary 2. As a resident of 45 Pineapple St. (corner of Pineapple and Hicks) from 1952 to 1955, I have been fascinated by your superb photos of the neighborhoods I used to hike through over 50 years ago. I particularly enjoyed your Gowanus galleries. Reminded me of the first Thomas Wolfe's comment on "...the symphonic stink of the Gowanus Canal..."
Thanks. Keep up the good work.
M. Holtz