New York State Pavilion Open Gate on Opening Day 50th Anniversary

Springtime in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 100ISO, 40mm

Wednesday I posted photos from April 22nd of this year through the wide angle lens (World's Fair Wide Angle Wednesday). Today, I am adding some of the photos that were captured through my shorty forty (EF 40mm f/2.8 STM), and one from an old zoom lens I inherited (EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM). 

There is a Long Island Railroad station that serves Flushing-Meadows. It opened for the first World's Fair in 1939. When I first moved to Queens, it was the Shea Stadium stop, but now it is called Mets-Willets Point. This station is only operational during the US Open, and during Mets home games. Since the fall, the LIRR has been utilizing tracks 3 through 4 as a parking lot for some of the trains during the afternoons. 

Red Bird in the wild
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/10, 1/500sec, 100ISO, 40mm

I spotted a Red Bird (9343) in the Corona Yard, the storage facility for the MTA's New York City Transit's 7 Trains. Though referred to as Red Birds, the R33 World's Fair cars were originally light turquoise and white. This car was delivered by the St. Louis Car Company in October of 1963. These cars were taken out of revenue service in November of 2003, so I did get a chance to ride the Red Birds after I moved to NYC. Some of them now serve as artificial reefs down the Atlantic Cost, a few are being preserved, and some, such as this one, serve as work cars.

Also visible in that photograph are the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the US Open is held, and the Unisphere, and the Observation Towers of the New York State Pavilion. The larger stadium is Arthur Ashe Stadium, which is the world's largest tennis specific stadium. It opened in 1997. The smaller stadium is Louis Armstrong Stadium, named after the jazz musician who lived close by in Corona, Queens. It served as the main stadium from 1978 until 1997 when Arthur Ashe Stadium opened.

Silver, silver, black and yellow
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 100ISO, 40mm

I walked further south making my way to the Pavilion and took a quick shot of a work train at rest. It is never a good sign when you see one of these barreling through a station at night, so I prefer to observe a work train in these conditions.

Unisphere looking North towards Arthur Ashe Stadium in Springtime
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/9, 1/250sec, 125ISO, 40mm

The Unisphere is one of the most iconic images of Queens, if not New York City as well. It was built on top of the Perisphere's foundation from the previous World's Fair, and was a gift from United States Steel Corporation. It features three rings, one to represent the orbit of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space (Russian Cosmonaut), John Glenn, the first American in space, and Telstar, the first active communications satellite. 

Dry Unisphere and Queens Museum
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 320ISO, 40mm

The Unisphere is located just outside of the Queens Museum, where I spent some of the time waiting. The thing is massive! The people in the above photograph give you a sense of the scale. It is 140' tall, and weighs 700,000lbs with a 100ton inverted tripod. 

LGA, Riker's Island, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, College Point from the "air"
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/80sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

As I wrote previously, the Panorama of the City of New York is where I spent some of my time waiting. The following are some more detail shots, since they weren't taken with the wide angle lens. 

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park from the South looking North
Canon 60D, EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM, f/4.5, 1/320sec, 6400ISO, 40mm

When the Fair closed, the Panorama remained open to the public, and the map was updated regularly until 1970. It wasn't updated from 1970 until 1992, when 60,000 structures were added. Beginning in 2009, the Museum decided to try to keep it updated more regularly. People and organizations can donate money to adopt an accurate scale model of their building. The first updated model was the Mets' CitiField, which replaced Shea Stadium in 2009.

Downtown Manhattan
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/3.5, 1/125sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

One of the buildings that no longer exist in the skyline, the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, still remain on the map. They will be replaced when construction at the site is finished and the new buildings are complete, rather than a hole in the map.

Waiting...
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/5, 1/320sec, 125ISO, 40mm

After heading back to the gates of the Tent of Tomorrow, I waited outside for our number to be called. Hardhats were required once inside. I noticed they had placed blue decorative balls ontop of the rods just above the entrance, as it looked 50 years prior. And a flag was hung there as well.

Towers through the Tent
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1000sec, 125ISO, 40mm

I finally made it inside! We were told we had 10 minutes, so I tried to make the most of it, capturing some images with my shorty forty and switching to the wide angle lens. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.

West Entrance with Texaco
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 125ISO, 40mm

They had restored some of the signage, such as the Texaco sign.

 

Planters
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 125ISO, 40mm

And the Restaurant sign as well...

Stitched Together
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 125ISO, 40mm

I took several photos and used Microsoft's Image Composite Editor to create this large image above. 15 images were combined to create the final product.

My time was up, I left and headed back to the LIRR to head home to Northeastern Queens. As I passed the Unisphere, I turned around and captured one final image of the Pavilion. One final image that day, as I have returned multiple times since April to the park and always seem to photograph it. 

Remnants of the World's Fair in Spring
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 320ISO, 40mm

Bayside Day Opening Reception

Little Bay Sunset
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/1250s, 320ISO, 40mm

As I stated in a previous post, my photograph of a local business owner was featured on the Bayside Historical Society's Website and would be on display in the Bayside Day exhibition. Friday was the opening reception for the exhibition, and I attended with my wife and daughter. Somehow, I got my times mixed up, so like a true New Yorker, we were fashionably late. 

Even though we were running late, I had to stop and grab a picture of the sunset. I was a little disappointed that the opening reception was on the 11th of July, as that was one of the last two days of Manhattanhenge, when the sun aligns with the east-west streets of Manhattan. I always seem to be working when it happens, or like last year, the weather was rainy. For the record, I was too drained on Saturday after a day at the beach to venture out for the second day.

2nd Floor
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/60s, 1600ISO, 40mm

We were greeted at the door by Executive Director. She gave my daughter a little tiara so she could be a princess in the Castle, the term for the old Officer's Club where the Historical Society now calls home. She also had the upstairs ballroom opened so that my daughter could dance around if she wanted, and I was interested in exploring the Castle myself. We will have to return to look more in depth as there is a third floor that we did not see on this trip.

My work on display
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 40mm

It was very cool to see one of my photographs physically displayed outside my house in a size larger than 8"x10", and on canvas. Made me want to have more of my photos printed and displayed, at least within my home.

Camera House Flyer
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/60s, 3200ISO, 40mm

We took some time to look at some of the other displays, from the hats that were worn during the different eras of Fort Totten's existence, to the current exhibition on the construction of the Clearview Expressway and Throg's Neck Bridge. I didn't have the luxury of time that I wanted to fully explore all of the exhibits, but was impressed with what I did see. I cannot wait to return!

Little Bay Nightfall
Canon 60D, EF40mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/80s, 3200ISO, 40mm

As we left, I had to take one more picture of Little Bay with the Throg's Neck Bridge after sunset.

Wide Angle Wednesday, Fort Totten Explored

Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/10, 1/100s, 100ISO, 16mm

 This past weekend, the New York City Parks Department hosted a Tunnel Tour of Fort Totten. This is a tour that is rarely held, so I was excited to have the opportunity to attend.  The tour consisted of two parts, exploring some of the old Endicott System which consisted of 5 disappearing guns, and a chance to enter the old Main Magazine, where gunpowder was stored for the cannons on the battery.

Due to a larger than expected turnout, the tour was split into two groups; my group explored the Endicott section first.  Though the disappearing guns are long gone there are some remnants of the support structures for them, such as the munitions elevators, power panels, and rails.

Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/80s, 100ISO, 16mm

I was with my wife and toddler on this tour. I was not able to get the shots I really wanted to get, or had imaged obtaining before I arrived, due to a daughter demanding to be carried and the large amount of attendees. Most of the people that attended had never ventured to Fort Totten before, but my family are frequent visitors. In fact, we just found out that our daughter made the lottery and will be taking swim lessons at the pool that is in the old parade grounds of the Fort!

Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/40s, 640ISO, 11mm

I would love to go back to the Endicott section with less people, but I'm also not the type to break into areas, so that will probably not happen. We were told that there have been many film shoots in this area, as it is a perfect distressed prison setting. White Collar on USA is one of the shows that has done a fair amount of shooting not only in the Endicott area, but in Fort Totten in general.

Power Plant
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4.5, 1/25s, 3200ISO, 11mm

Shooting in manual, I had to anticipate what settings I would need depending on the lighting. Some of the tunnels were almost in complete darkness, with my cell phone flash serving as a flashlight. Outside in the bright daylight, it was between 1:00p and 2:00p, some of the harshest lighting conditions to shoot. Because of the amount of people, we almost were rushed from one area to another. I had to dial in some rough settings before encountering the subject.

Power Panel
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4.5, 1/25s, 3200ISO, 11mm

Having shot in Manual mode for awhile, it wasn't that difficult for me to dial in my settings. One of the most important things is knowing the layout of your camera. Just like driving a car, you want to be able to change things without having to remove your eyes from the viewfinder.

The second part of my tour was a dark, dark place, the Main Magazine. The park rangers only had one working lantern, and by that time my cell phone was dead. None of my shots turned out that great unfortunately. I was unable to setup my tripod and do a long exposure, and I was polite and didn't blind people with my flash. 

Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/5, 1/160s, 125ISO, 16mm

The rangers told us about a system of mirrors that was utilized since open flames would have been a very bad idea in a room full of gunpowder. Some soldiers would count their steps and walk through that area in complete darkness. 

Waterside Battery
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/800s, 160ISO, 11mm

I was very glad I had the opportunity to attend this rare behind the fence tour of Fort Totten. Best part was, it was free! I recommend a visit to Fort Totten to anyone visiting northeast Queens. In October, the rangers host a Haunted Lantern Tour, which is a haunted house that is in the old battery. My family and our good friend Amy went last year, and it actually is one of the better haunted houses we've been to, and free!