bmattock
Veteran
On Friday night, I drove to Rocky Mount, NC to catch the Silver Meteor Amtrak to Penn Station, NYC. I took with me a Yashica Lynx 14 and an Olympus 35 RC, a dozen rolls of B&W film, and a change of clothes.
It was supposed to have been in at around 1 a.m. on Saturday, which would have put me in at 10:30 a.m., but it was seriously delayed - they told us later it hit a car in Georgia and killed a lot of people. I can find no record of that via Google, so who knows? Anyway, we got in at 4:30 p.m. at Penn Station and was already losing the light.
I walked up to 56th between 5th and 6th - America House, a Jesuit residence. My uncle is a priest, he works for America Magazine, and he had offered me a place to stay for the night. He used to be president of Fordham for about 30 years, some folks have heard of him. I got settled in and had a nap, then I headed down to Times Square with the Lynx and a couple rolls of Tri-X I rated at EI 1250. Took some shots, nothing spectacular. Got a souvenir portrait taken by a guy with a Polaroid 150 who was taking souvenir shots in front of Oprah's place, he was a cool guy and we talked cameras for awhile.
Met another guy hanging around outside Oprah's with a 4x5 Speed Graphic with a Polaroid back and a Vivitar flash bracket. I thought he was shooting souvenir shots also, but when I tried to talk to him, he told me he was paparazzi. Wow.
I walked back to America House and went to bed at about 11:30.
Got up early Sunday and walked down 56th to Park Avenue, then over to 1st and down to the UN. Took a bunch of shots along the way, mostly with Arista.EDU Ultra 100 (Fomapan) and some old Ilford Delta 100 and Efke KB 100 I wanted to shoot up (it was past expired). Then I walked over to Union Square, down to Washington Square, through several ethnic neighborhoods and Greenwich Village, but I got no farther south than Washington Park, by then it was after 2 p.m. and I had to head back to Penn Station for my 3:15 train back home.
The only trouble I had was with a cop in Washington Square. I was trying to take his picture and he told me not to because he didn't give me permission. We had a short friendly conversation in which he told me that I needed his permission to take his photo, and I told him that as a public official in a public setting, I had every right to take his picture, and although I was happy to accede to his request, I was not going to obey what amounted to an unlawful order. We had a tense couple of moments, but with his partner's intervention, we worked it out - if not to everyone's satisfaction, at least without an arrest being made or any shillelagh law.
I walked up 5th Avenue to Broadway, and then followed Broadway up to 34th Street, where I found Madison Square Garden and of course, Penn Station underneath. Grabbed my train with seconds to spare and headed home. Got in last night around 1:00 a.m.
I have a bunch of film to process and scan - hope I have something worthwhile. In the meantime, though, I am putting together an annual scrapbook for the Knights of Columbus (I'm DGK of my local council) and I have to get it done this week, so it take precedence.
Amtrak is a lot of fun, and a great way to travel. If it had been on time Friday night, it would have been even better. As it is, I'm tired and sore all over. But I got a lot of good exercise and met some neat folks. Fun all around. I recommend it.
Will post photos soon. If they don't suck, that is.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
It was supposed to have been in at around 1 a.m. on Saturday, which would have put me in at 10:30 a.m., but it was seriously delayed - they told us later it hit a car in Georgia and killed a lot of people. I can find no record of that via Google, so who knows? Anyway, we got in at 4:30 p.m. at Penn Station and was already losing the light.
I walked up to 56th between 5th and 6th - America House, a Jesuit residence. My uncle is a priest, he works for America Magazine, and he had offered me a place to stay for the night. He used to be president of Fordham for about 30 years, some folks have heard of him. I got settled in and had a nap, then I headed down to Times Square with the Lynx and a couple rolls of Tri-X I rated at EI 1250. Took some shots, nothing spectacular. Got a souvenir portrait taken by a guy with a Polaroid 150 who was taking souvenir shots in front of Oprah's place, he was a cool guy and we talked cameras for awhile.
Met another guy hanging around outside Oprah's with a 4x5 Speed Graphic with a Polaroid back and a Vivitar flash bracket. I thought he was shooting souvenir shots also, but when I tried to talk to him, he told me he was paparazzi. Wow.
I walked back to America House and went to bed at about 11:30.
Got up early Sunday and walked down 56th to Park Avenue, then over to 1st and down to the UN. Took a bunch of shots along the way, mostly with Arista.EDU Ultra 100 (Fomapan) and some old Ilford Delta 100 and Efke KB 100 I wanted to shoot up (it was past expired). Then I walked over to Union Square, down to Washington Square, through several ethnic neighborhoods and Greenwich Village, but I got no farther south than Washington Park, by then it was after 2 p.m. and I had to head back to Penn Station for my 3:15 train back home.
The only trouble I had was with a cop in Washington Square. I was trying to take his picture and he told me not to because he didn't give me permission. We had a short friendly conversation in which he told me that I needed his permission to take his photo, and I told him that as a public official in a public setting, I had every right to take his picture, and although I was happy to accede to his request, I was not going to obey what amounted to an unlawful order. We had a tense couple of moments, but with his partner's intervention, we worked it out - if not to everyone's satisfaction, at least without an arrest being made or any shillelagh law.
I walked up 5th Avenue to Broadway, and then followed Broadway up to 34th Street, where I found Madison Square Garden and of course, Penn Station underneath. Grabbed my train with seconds to spare and headed home. Got in last night around 1:00 a.m.
I have a bunch of film to process and scan - hope I have something worthwhile. In the meantime, though, I am putting together an annual scrapbook for the Knights of Columbus (I'm DGK of my local council) and I have to get it done this week, so it take precedence.
Amtrak is a lot of fun, and a great way to travel. If it had been on time Friday night, it would have been even better. As it is, I'm tired and sore all over. But I got a lot of good exercise and met some neat folks. Fun all around. I recommend it.
Will post photos soon. If they don't suck, that is.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
