Waterfalls 2 [Sky Watch Friday]

  Time to move out of the city and into the region surrounding Rochester, NY. Western and Central NY abound with parks, lakes and waterfalls. Previously, I have posted images of some local waterfalls and now I nwant to add new ones. Depending on the specific location, a waterfall may be observable simply from the street/parking lot or it may require a considerable hike to get to. The images posted here fall into the easily accessible group. The Ludlowville Falls [ca. 40 feet high] can be shot right from a corner of the parking area.

A relatively easy descent along a narrow path led almost to the base of the falls, where a lone fisherman grappled with his tangled line.  This panorama was not generated by 'stitching' multiple images together. Rather, I cropped the original image to generate a 5:1 aspect ratio.

Ithaca Falls [150 feet high] required only a brief walk from the parking area.  

Rochester Subway System Remnant [Sky Watch Friday]

 These shots come from my recent [and first] visit to what is left of the old Rochester subway. In 1918, the Erie Canal was re-routed to bypass downtown Rochester, and in 1919 the abandoned canal was bought to serve as the core of a subway system. The subway was built below, and its roof was turned into what is now Broad Street. Construction was completed and operations began in 1927. Only two miles were in the tunnel, the rest of the route in open cut. The term "subway" did not refer to the tunnel, but rather to the route being grade-separated and operated as rapid transit. The segment over the Genesee River [shown below] utilized the former Erie Canal: Second Genesee Aqueduct.

A substantial portion of the subway was replaced by an auto expressway in 1956; and, in 1976 the City of Rochester elected to fill the cut to eliminate the numerous bridges. Today the subway sits abandoned amid controversy.  Rochester officials want to do something with the tunnels because it costs an estimated $1.2 million in repairs and shoring up every year to maintain them. Among the proposals put forward are: (a) use some of the tunnels in a new rapid transit system; (b) transform the Broad Street Aqueduct into an underground walkway connecting the Rochester Riverside Convention Center with the Blue Cross Arena. A component of this walkway would include a Rochester Transportation Museum; (c) filling the remaining subway tunnel with water, re-routing the Erie Canal and restoring the aqueduct to its original purpose. I don't have a strong opinion on the alternatives, but (b) seems appealing. 

A Rochester Icon at Sunset [Sky Watch Friday]

   One of Rochester’s other iconic buildings/architectural features is the statue of Mercury. In my Nov. 29, 2012 posting, I gave some historical background on the statue.  It is 21 feet tall and was made out of riveted copper plates in 1881.  When completed, it was installed atop a factory smokestack and quickly became a hallmark of the city skyline. However, in 1951, the factory was demolished and the statue was placed in storage. In 1973, it found its current home atop the Aqueduct Building, only one block north of its original location. This shot was taken on the night of the ‘super moon’ in June. Scroll down for additional images made on that evening.

'Super moon' over Rochester [Sky Watch Friday]

      On the night of the ‘super moon’, local photographers turned out in force for a shoot along the Genesee River. In the top image, I took advantage of Rochester’s ‘Freddie-Sue’ Bridge [scroll down to earlier postings], to frame the moon. Although the sky was fairly clear, I lacked a really powerful telephoto lens to capture much detail of the moon’s craters. Still, I love my 18-135mm lens since it is so versatile [actually, it is functionally a 29-216mm because of the sensor], so I don’t have to change lenses.  

Freddie-Sue Bridge continued [Sky Watch Friday]

   I have to admit that the ‘Freddie-Sue’ Bridge is my favorite structure in Rochester. For those of you who are seeing images of it for the first time, scrolling further [as well as delving into my Archive] will show why it is so fascinating. It doesn’t have the complexity of, say, the Brooklyn Bridge, but there is something light, airy and graceful about it. And, having easy access to it offers many opportunities to photograph it at all times of the day and from different perspectives. These two images were shot from the same general area on different occasions [I did not try to shoot from identical spots].