New York B&H Train

[Calzone]

I work on east 72d Street, and yesterday I took the brand new "Q" train (Second Avenue Subway) to B&H to buy some 13x19 Canson Platine Fibre Rag. The experience is now I have a personal subway train that is especially designed as an express train to B&H from my workplace. LOL.

At East 72d Street there is a bank of elevators on one corner and a very long esculator on the other, but what is so strange is the lack of filth, trash, and decay because everything is brand new. On the platform it felt surreal and when I made a remark that it just did not seem right this woman replied give it a week or two and those nasty elements that are part of our filthy city will become embedded.

Also note that this section (Second Avenue) seems to be climate controlled. I await the unintended consequences like the rent increases...

Anyways for me the "Q" train is now the B&H train, and if I get the chance I will mention it to Mayor DeBlasio that we should change the name of the train to B&H Express.

Cal

 

[KoNickon]

Yours is the first account I've read of the now-real Second Ave. subway. I am not sure what the Q train's route is, but I'll have to see. Sounds like you can slip down to B&H and be back before anyone knows you're gone!

Yes, I am sure the new line will drive up the rents in the area, as if they weren't high enough already.

 

[stompyq]

I thought it went down to 59th and 2nd? Does it really go down to 34th? (which would be awesome!). I was at the 63th st F station last week. It's a little unnerving to be on a clean subway platform.

 

[pschauss]

I just looked at my subway app. It's still a bit of a hike from 6th and 34Th over to 9th avenue.

 

[charjohncarter]

Nice write up, thanks for the mild humor.

 

[Calzone]

I just looked at my subway app. It's still a bit of a hike from 6th and 34Th over to 9th avenue.

P,

It is still a bit of a hike for sure, but realize otherwise I would have a hike to 63rd and Lex for the 6 train (the most overcrowded subway train in NYC, that is said to carry as many passengers in a day as the entire Washington D.C. mass Transit system).

Then I would have to transfer at 51st Street to the "E" train which is no bargain.

At 68th Street I saw two men get out one day to have a street fight on the platform. Although these guys were huge, neither really knew how to fight NYC style from the 70's which is kinda end any fight with a clear winner in a few seconds. Just a few punches were thrown and eventually one guy got back on the 6 to head uptown.

I also saw an old woman get off the train to attack some guy that tried to body slam himself into an already full car. This woman repeatedly punched the perp in the face as guys like me gather around to put him down if he raised a finger. Eventually some hands extended from the full subway car to pull the old woman into the train to break up the one-sided assault.

Anyways rush hour on the 6 train is no fun uptown. On a funny note my friend Mike and I saw the subway doors trying to close several times, and what was holding up the train was the bubble section of two women's butts that got pinched by the subway doors every time we heard bing-bing.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I thought it went down to 59th and 2nd? Does it really go down to 34th? (which would be awesome!). I was at the 63th st F station last week. It's a little unnerving to be on a clean subway platform.

Pro-Mone,

The huge advantage is an express train from the Eastside to 42d Street on the Westside, and getting to a Westside hub in a speedy manor without a transfer.

For me an Eastsider this is welcomed.

Cal

 

[robert blu]

...
I also saw an old woman get off the train to attack some guy that tried to body slam himself into an already full car. This woman repeatedly punched the perp in the face as guys like me gather around to put him down if he raised a finger. Eventually some hands extended from the full subway car to pull the old woman into the train to break up the one sided assault.

Cal

So many things happening in NYC 🙂 Nice to know you have "your" train now!
Have a great year, ciao

robert

 

[Calzone]

So many things happening in NYC 🙂 Nice to know you have "your" train now!
Have a great year, ciao

robert

Robert,

I wish I had some shots of the old woman giving shots to the man who initially assaulted her. I'm pretty sure if that guy lifted a finger that he would of gotten a huge beating. The guys standing around all had mothers. LOL.

Perhaps guys who didn't like or love their mothers would of given that guy a good beating as good measure.

Anyways this is not the 1970's. People don't know how to street fight anymore. LOL. BTW this was at 68th and Lex in a good part of town. LOL.

Garry Winogrand kinda staked out between Macy's on 34th Street and 59th Street on the Westside. One does not have to go far, and it is a matter of staking out an area. New York really is not that big, but there are a lot of people, and that is where the "entertainment value" comes in.

Cal

 

[rhl-oregon]

I imagine this is too obvious, nevertheless:

Some photog with a Leica Q has the opportunity right now to stake this territory for their own in Winogrand fashion, or WeeGee if you prefer.

Cal, I know you're not (yet) a Q-typ, but consider rebranding or adding another marque to your brand: change your name/handle to "Qal," and this chunk of ridable human estate becomes the Qal-zone, and soon everybody on the train is hoping to get a piece of their street fight or oldlady indignation or train-stopping bootyliciousness in front of your lens.

I doubt you need a manager, but I'll be your spiritual advisor ;-) I can do that from Oregon with say Quarterly checkins over lunch anywhere a block or two off the line.

Oh, and if Cal ain't wanting this gig, I'm available to spiritually advise whoever has the, um, sufficient hormonal drive to take it on. But you need to show a Leica Q preferably already chromed-in, and you probably need to be willing to wear tighty whities and a cowboy hat at the outset, at least, to orient the subjects without having to yell Lookit the camera, yo!

 

[Prest_400]

Cal, I know you're not (yet) a Q-typ, but consider rebranding or adding another marque to your brand: change your name/handle to "Qal," and this chunk of ridable human estate becomes the Qal-zone, and soon everybody on the train is hoping to get a piece of their street fight or oldlady indignation or train-stopping bootyliciousness in front of your lens.

My bad, you totally got me laughing loud at the Qal and Qal-zone. Good humor in town. Before that, it is the one of the uptown 6 train and the Badonkadonk holding it up. 😛

Many good memories of NYC. There are cheap flights at the end of the month and I advised my MD Davinci friend to take the plunge and go. He wants me in with "if you go, I go".
Curiously the area of Manhattan I haven't explored much is the mmidtown Eastern side, maybe the lack of the 2nd ave line did it. I only got as far as UN at 47th E st. Indeed it was quite a feat to cover as much as I did in such a short stay.

In Barcelona we have an unfinished automated Metro line "L9", it's like an Asian (Japan-Korea) futurist train but without the people. 😀

 

[Calzone]

Oh the adventures in NYC.

On New Year's Eve my fashion blogger gal and I took the subway to Coney Island to shoot for her blog.

Kinda crazy because as odd looking as I am, imagine me with a woman all fashioned out. I am carrying a Leica SL with a 50 Lux-R which is kinda a big rig, and because I'm a one man entourage for a fashion blogger I also have a knapsack with a wardrobe change, my gal's Instax camera I bought her for Christmas, and hair and markup supplies. So I basically am an entire crew of hair, makeup and assistant being bossed around by a woman.

Anyways we kinda stood out as not being locals, and on top of that Coney Island is kinda deserted. The Dunkin Donuts by the subway terminal we wanted to patronize, but all the tables and seats were sadly taken by sleeping homeless people.

We ended up going to McDonald's because we could get seats and a table.

Anyways I already am marking my territory. Unlike Winogrand I can be seen all over the city. I was walking on the Prom-in-odd along the East River, minding my own business, when I hear someone yell from a car on the FDR, "Cal," being yelled.

An IT specialist fixing my work computer asked me if I lived in Harlem, and when I told him I live in Spanish Harlem he told me that, "I thought you lived in Harlem proper because I see you there all the time."

Cal

 

[rhl-oregon]

I'm confessing before all 4 people reading this thread that I have been struggling day and night with whether to commit to an MM 246, or see what January 18 brings; but I have half a mind now to come to NYC next month and ask Cal to ride the Q with me to B&H to pick up a Q, and then help me (along with his fashionista Maggie) create my Doctor Q identity, and maybe hijack the monthly RFF lunch crew to be my Q Posse. We might get at least one Sunday Style Page out of it with Bill Cunningham out of the picture before I wake up and go back to being a grieving widower in Oregon....

 

[Stephen G]

The Q is great
It's made me reconsider my usage of M
Looking to see what is announced 1/18
May push me to SL-with-M lenses

Oh and the Q train is great too, lots of nice subway art
https://www.flickr.com/photos/xx573v3xx/albums/72157676869142192

 

[rhl-oregon]

Good, Stephen, you take on Doctor Q. Or not. But maybe I'll look you up when I come between March and June.

I just realized that when visit next, I ought to patronize my own neglected Q-cameras--the Merrill Quattro DPQ2, and the SD Quattro I bought from our own Nanthor. Not to mention my GR (with a little engraving and paint, I can make it a QR.)

 

[ChrisPlatt]

My B&H train(s)

My B&H train(s)

When I lived in western Nassau I regularly hopped on the LIRR or drove to B&H on a Sunday,
when I could find free parking. After we got flooded in Sandy I moved to Rockaway.
Now I live right by the A train. It takes forever but stops at Penn Station, one block from B&H.
Sadly though IMO for a film photographer it's no longer really worth that long trip.

Chris

 

[Calzone]

I'm confessing before all 4 people reading this thread that I have been struggling day and night with whether to commit to an MM 246, or see what January 18 brings; but I have half a mind now to come to NYC next month and ask Cal to ride the Q with me to B&H to pick up a Q, and then help me (along with his fashionista Maggie) create my Doctor Q identity, and maybe hijack the monthly RFF lunch crew to be my Q Posse. We might get at least one Sunday Style Page out of it with Bill Cunningham out of the picture before I wake up and go back to being a grieving widower in Oregon....

Robert,

I have plenty of vacation time in my bank. I just need advanced notice to take off some time so I can plan an adventure that you need when you come into NYC.

Don't stress over getting a camera because it is a good thing, but careful consideration is required because of the cost. When I took the B&H Express train it always takes some time because I know so many people and I don't want to be rude. On this day I went to the used department and mostly talked with Brent who is a film die-hard who has a darkroom and wet prints. In conversation Brent says there are only three cameras that interest him and they are the Monochrom, the SL, and the "Q."

Because it was so close to my birthday, almost 59, I kinda mention that I presently own two out of the three, and that ultimately I eventually want a "Q." I felt I had to humbly explain that I am just a regular guy, and perhaps I spent money now that I could use when I'm in my late 80's, but I would rather exploit my still youthful energy while I am fully alive and can be fearless rather than frail.

Interesting how this thread keeps coming back to the "Q." Anyways another great camera, but if only Leica made a B&W version. Also I have been promoting the idea of a SLM (SL Monochrom).

I do not know if you are a cyclist. If so we can plan on a bike and shoot. If you are concerned about not being fit, I can ride my single speed, and I can offer you a geared titanium bike that is very speedy because it weighs very little. I have mucho film cameras so lending you say a F3 ensures not endangering a Leica.

The population of NYC is now 8.6 million, and the last time I saw you it was perhaps 8.2 million. So much has changed. Look up Newtown Creek which is an interesting area. I will take you off the beaten path. If it is the weekend we could do the free IKEA Water Taxi to get from the South Street Seaport to Red Hook and walk to downtown Brooklyn.

We can also go ghetto if you want, but I tend to go early in the morning and break-off before three. The Bronx is not that big. Anyways let me know how big an adventure you want, and I'll do my best to make sure you have an experience of a lifetime.

Also know that by the time of your trip I should have back my Monochrom with the sensor replaced. You can shoot it for a day, we can down load, and perhaps even print.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

The Q is great
It's made me reconsider my usage of M
Looking to see what is announced 1/18
May push me to SL-with-M lenses

Oh and the Q train is great too, lots of nice subway art
https://www.flickr.com/photos/xx573v3xx/albums/72157676869142192

My SL is a great camera. No need for a SLR. The processor borrowed from the Leica "S" makes remarkably clean files. Believe it or not it is not so hard to fill the buffer with 33 raw files. In usage I have done it a few times. I actually have a need for the speed. Also know that the high ISO performance is amazing. Because the files are so clean, even at high ISO.

The criticisms are true, kinda big, and native lenses are monsterous in size. I love "R" glass on the SL. I mostly use a 28 Cron, 35 Lux-R 3 cam, and a 50 Lux-R "E60." The AF 50 Lux is almost as big and heavy as the 24-90 zoom. I already pre-ordered the AF 50 Lux.

What might be mentioned on 18 January. Give it up. I want the smut. LOL.

Cal

 

[Stephen G]

1/18 seems like the date for the new M announcement

In my mind there's sort of 3 possible paths -
- Low - Back to basics and a focus on size/weight reduction vs M240, maybe remove video option

- High - Push the limits and improve sensor/SL-EVF/4k video/etc vs the M240. Give the people using M lenses on SL something to think about.

- Mid - Slightly bettered M240.. with OK/not-great EVF/video/etc. The lowest effort update. No drastic change.

I'm hoping for Low or High, though rumors are pointing mostly @ Mid.
Mid means I end up with an SL in the near term.

 

[helen.HH]

My B&H express is the 7 train ...last stop
leaves You 2 blocks from Photo Vilkage ~ B&H

depends whether I an east or west ... if i do the shuttle then hop the 7

will try tge Q soooooon