October 12, 2004: Roosevelt Island North
Even at 8pm, Roosevelt Island felt lonely and deserted. I made my way up the east side of the island, passing by endless, terrifying apartment blocks. Along the path by the water, one lone kid rode his bike up and down, up and down. After passing by a terrifying dead zone and the back of the hospital, I found the Lighthouse Park at the very top of the island. A few fishermen were still casting lines in the dark and smoking cigars. On the way down the west side of the island, I hurried- I didn't want to be there and I wanted to get home. [Related: back in June, Sam and I explored Roosevelt Island South.]
Comments
Awesome looking set.
Wow, Jake, these are fantastic. I love the second one.
1 and 2 are other worldly, the blue capture in 6 is art and you certainly know what your doing with bright lights at night. Great series!
That second one is going to give me nightmares...
is there a way to get those annoying halo circles like in #6 on the left side of the photo. i hate when that happens. that's some source of light reflecting within the lens, right?
the halos are reflections from inside the camera body. light bounces in, usually from a very oblique angle, and bounces around, producing the halos. you get it worse using bigger lenses. in this case, i was shooting with the tilt/shift, which is a huge lens- it often catches light from outside the frame, so you have to be pretty careful.
I grew up in Queens during the fifties. That park on the Queens side near the 59th Street Bridge is vivid in my memory. I stood at the metal rail overlooking the East River, gazing at Welfare Island, as it was formerly called. The place was spooky, mysterious, and rife with local lore. I remember hearing that it had an insane asylum. Back then, there was very little on the island but for brittle, grey trees. A whole two miles worth of Grey Gardens. I am certain that it was and is an abode of evil spirits. Ergo, the eerie feeling of terror and loneliness someone else reported in this site as they walked the island at 8 p.m. Of course it was inevitble that the island would be exploited. I spent many hours pondering that island through the eyes of a wide eyed seven year old. It did not bode well in my spirit but was nonetheless fascinating. I have not been in that park on the river by the bridge for over four decades.
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