Pictures From The Equinox

I was having a busy day last Thursday, the first day of spring. I caught a few pictures of the morning light.

The light sparkled, but I had only time for one picture on the subway platform. 

Equinox was a little before 1pm, by then the sky was clouded over. I was at my sister's house and we went down to her garden. The plants were poised to start budding.

More snow is predicted for tonight, probably the sloppy spring variety. 

Update: Nope, the storm just missed us, only cold and wind for nyc.

Equinox: Missing the Point of the Sun Triangle

For years, I have wanted to visit the Sun Triangle sculpture on the equinox. It was designed by a geophysicist named Athelstan Spilhaus and it is supposed to line up with the sun at noon. The sculpture is an the Avenue of the Americas right across from Rockefeller Center. It is in front of one of those brutal skyscrapers that loom along the avenue. I have never managed to get there at noon, or the equinox was cloudy. This year everything fell into place.

Equinox light is usually pretty harsh and midday is blindingly bright. On Sunday, though, the light was actually quite pretty.

The stained glass panels at the Myrtle Avenue station were illuminated which is rare. Most of the time they are inky black as there is very little direct sun on the station.

I probably should have done a little google search before rushing off. I was not sure what would line up with the sun. I thought I would figure it out when I got there. But it was not obvious. I was misled by the oval maps of the northern and southern hemisphere near the sculpture. I figured that the triangular shadow would line up with the southern hemisphere in the fall and the norther hemisphere in the spring representing the sun passing the equator. 

I was wrong. In fact the longest side points to the sun at the spring and fall equinoxes, the steepest side points to the sun at the summer solstice and the shortest side points to the sun at the winter solstice. The maps are a red herring. I would not have been able to enjoy the moment in any case as the sunken plaza was closed off for Sunday.

I could go back at the solstice, but I am not sure I will. It is not as exciting as Manhattanhenge, unfortunately.

Equinox Askew

The season shifted towards autumn rather abruptly. Last week I was planning on putting out some plants.  Then the air turned cool and windy. I felt it was too late in the season to do plant installations. It was probably for the better as a rowdy storm blew through with high winds and heavy rain and took the last traces of summer away.

I brought the plants inside and made some more cuttings. I will wait for spring. Then I hope to have more plants from the cuttings and can really green up the abandoned bicycles of the city.

I like equinox light because it is so clear and sharp. It is a bit harsh for photographs though. It softens at sunrise and again at sunset, I watch the colors melting together as I work in the kitchen. I always seem to end up in the kitchen, chopping something, watching the light in the street.

Today the sharp edges of the light pleased me. I wandered through Soho and was not horrified by the rampant commercialization and luxury explosion that goes on there. It was early in the day and the tourists were not ambling yet.

There is a really cool shop that sells tile. They have mannequins wearing tile mosaics in their windows. I have never really paid attention to the shop, but today it caught my eye.

I have been so disorganized. I feel as if I have to arrange my work better. I need to work on my dream images and eventually find a way to present them. My posts may be a little spotty as I try to get myself together.

Equinox

Some moss with crazy hairs sprouting on top...

I had great plans for an equinox bonfire, with Guy Fawkes watching while draped in ivy, but they were foiled by the departure of my daughter.  On Tuesday, she moved to San Francisco leaving a trail of Febreeze scented dust bunnies. So I celebrated the vernal equinox with a round of spring cleaning.
 

The cats instantly took possession of the space, no doubt thinking that I set it up for them.
 

The neighbor's apricot tree is in bloom.

Its petals drift softly down like the snow we never got this winter.
 

My bulbs are coming up.
 

My rose bush has sent out healthy red leaves.
 

Voltaire has been lording it over the garden, often sitting on the compost can like a throne.
 

Coco is more cautious. While her pose is somewhat ordinary here, I like how she has tucked all of her fat away.

Autumn Equinox

I had hoped to burn a little summer spirit for the equinox, maybe a sunflower, but the forecast was for torrential rain. It seemed appropriate, and I decided to photograph the falling rain to contrast with the vernal equinox.

In the morning the subway was shrouded with fog. But before I could get back, the rain came. It was all I could do to keep from being washed away. I came home sodden, with squishy shoes as the rain eased off but never quite ended.

Then I chose this picture of amaranth as my equinox image. I am so proud of them for coming back strong after being transplanted and outshining the plants in front of my house

I had hoped that the plants in front would grow the spikey things on top, but they didn't.

My other autumn tribute is to these weeds growing in a pothole on the aptly named Greene Avenue, all thanks to the seemingly eternal rain. Although today has been relatively dry, we probably will not see the sun until the end of next week. Holes will form in the streets and weeds will grow in them.

Las Fallas

As I mentioned in my last post, I made an effigy of winter to burn on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph which is called Las Fallas in Valencia. I took pictures of the spirit before, since there would be no chance after.
 

I left the newspaper base in its natural state. Crumpled newspaper seemed to evoke winter in New York. This spirit was all about the decay of winter.

In the traditional celebration the Fallas are paraded around town before they are burned. They are wildly elaborate. Mine was going straight onto the fire, so I kept the details simple.

My sister and her husband came over to watch. They are photographers too, we had lots of pictures.

 photo by Kip peticolas

The night was windy and cold, with a supermoon in the sky.

The spirit caught on fire easily.

The wind blew the spirit off the flames.

photo by kip peticolas

The beloved placed it back on the flames with his bare hands.

photo by Kip Peticolas

 Then the spirit seemed to settle into the flames and let the spring take over.

photo by Kip Peticolas

photo by Richard Megna

photo by Richard Megna

photo by Kip Peticolas

At the end, the young son poked at the blaze to make sure that winter was really gone. 

Equinox Light

The vernal equinox was on Saturday. I read about the Fallas Festival in Valencia where they burn pyres in honor of St. Joseph on March 19 (they claim it's for Saint Joseph but this sounds like another pagan celebration to me).  I thought it would be fun to build a spirit of winter and burn it in the courtyard.  But the weekend was so heartbreakingly beautiful that I spent most of it outside and my lofty plans fell by the wayside. Maybe next spring.

I did manage to take some pictures of the cuttings I am planning to use in a green guerilla project.

They are just beginning to sprout roots.  I had wanted to do something for Earth Day, but I think these plants need a little longer.

 Here is some of the pretty equinox light.

Equinox Snow

The weather is often strange on the first day of spring; icy cold or windy or snowing. Today's unexpected snow showers ruined my plan of photographing the midday sun shining through the window of St. Mark's of the Bowery. It is the only church in Manhattan that faces south and the sun makes its noon appearance in the window on the equinoxes. Well maybe I will have better light in September.

I went to St. Mark's anyway on the off chance that the sun might pierce the clouds. No luck though, in fact a rather dark one moved in. I stood in front of the church and pointed my camera where I thought the sun might be.

Then I turned toward the church and felt like a point in a triangle with the sun and the window.

I didn't go inside because I didn't want to photograph without the sun.


The crocuses are starting to poke through which is nice and springlike.

The other day I came across this little plastic flower squished into Third Avenue in Brooklyn. It was the first sign of spring.

Equinox Images

I had such grand plans for the autumnal equinox. I was going to photograph the midday sun at Stuyvesant Place, the Manhattan street which runs true east to west. I found some streets in Dumbo that almost line up east to west and I thought I could catch the sunset in alignment with the streets. Well, I am not a big fan of the midday sun, it is not the prettiest light. So I pinned my hopes on the sunset alignment. Unfortunately, clouds rolled in during the afternoon. Then just around 6pm, the sun broke through the clouds. I sped off to Dumbo. As I walked down the hill I saw beautiful glinting light on the most unattractive buildings. I hurried on, but the sun slipped behind a cloud again. It was so frustrating. So I went to the water's edge to capture the colors in the sky.


So there it is, the equinox puffy cloud over the Brooklyn Bridge


I also photographed the Eliasson waterfall underneath. The waterfalls had been a disappointment. So distant surrounded by protective fencing, they reminded me of all the barriers to the rivers of the city. I struggled to photograph them, they always looked boring. It was frustrating how such a cool idea could look so bland in reality. One night riding my bike over the Manhattan Bridge, the nearby waterfall was magical. Otherwise it was just the same-old same-old.

So I was surprised to find a view worth photographing at last, on the equinox.