“New Jersey”

Overpass

Some more views of the NJ Turnpike Overpass from Laurel Hill Park, below

A Bridge Too Far

Top image taken with the Fuji X-T3 and the 18-55 zoom; the 2nd with the X-T2 and the 55-200 zoom. The latter makes a very nice 13×19″ print.

Islands in the Stream

This scene is more impressive seen from higher where the islands of reeds separate out more distinctly.

Night Game at the End of the World

Presidential Patch

The President grows his hair organically (no offense).

This graffiti’d crag is always a dramatic sight from the turnpike. According to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, “it is said that in the 1890s Laurel Hill inspired an advertising executive passing by the structure on a commuter train to create the Prudential Insurance “Piece of the Rock” slogan and Rock of Gibraltar logo.”

Laurel Hill

While the web-site touts the panoramic views,

The 70-acre Hudson County park features … panoramic views of the Hackensack River and the vast Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area. An expanse of 200-foot-high cliffs provides a stunning backdrop,

it also warns that, “for safety reasons, the cliffs are currently off-limits to the public.”

Two Types of Trees

One more for last week’s series on tree-like structures.

Intrepid Photographer

The lengths I’ll go to to get the shot. (Photo by Gillian Haggerty.)

New Year, New Project

For over 20 years I have been making trips from New York, via the Lincoln Tunnel and the New Jersey Turnpike, to visit my in-laws in South Jersey. Each trip I look out the window as we pass, what I now know are, the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers with Newark Bay and the Meadowlands, from high on an overpass, at beautiful wetlands traced with the arteries of human industry and commerce and think about photographing the beauty below me. But where to begin? Where exactly am I on the Turnpike? How can I get these aerial vistas other than from a speeding train or car?

This year, finally, as my wife drove, I used Google maps to slap down a marker as we passed. Back home after Christmas, I investigated the area on Google maps. There are various parks in the vicinity, on the shores of the rivers and I decided to check them out. Last weekend I booked a Zip Car and we spent an afternoon in the Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus.

I’m very pleased with the results of my first foray and will be posting them over the next week or so as I travel for business. Some of these images may not be strong enough on their own – I’ll attempt to curate them to work together in small groups. I’m pleased enough with this initial set to think of putting together an exhibition of some kind after visiting the area some more.

Lower Manhattan from *under* the New Jersey Turnpike

More Trees

Continuing this morning’s theme, here are some more tree-like structures in landscapes (click any of them to see larger).

Human-Made Trees

Driving home through New Jersey, it struck me that we humans build an awful lot of structures that grow up tall and spread out branches like trees. Here, a small selection…

(click any image to see them all full-sized)