Title
Triboro in Hue of Sunset and Smog
Artist
Terrance DePietro
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
The patina of a sunset, in summer, in the early sixties, even on a cloudless day in NYC, was always made more profuse by the smog that filled the boros and even beyond!
As the bridge-lights would answer the set sun, all the sky would linger in twilight, in those days, before drifting blue; and it was due in fact to the intensity of the smog that clung in consequence to the modern paradigm.
We would ride our bikes on the westward footpath to the crest in the bridge - back then there were no measures to restrain one's view; it fact no one would have thought such to be necessary. Below us the park was outlined by the streetlights, themselves turning on; and they, in pointillist fashion, were strings of cool or warm light depending on being boulevard or other.
Between the ark of the horizon below and our perch on high, lie a single row of trees periodically laced with streetlights and at their foot a low concrete barrier defining the river's edge. Looking west as we did the East River was yet crimson and any ships were silhouettes laying strings of waves to trail off to either side, with suds between.
Beyond the river was Manhattan and its streets were marked to view by the fading light of day and its own bands of white dots, increasing in number with each passing moment. The buildings themselves were not very tall, tenement size for the most, the skyscrapers being reserved to midtown off at the left, as far as the eye could see.
On one such adventure, with my trusty Pentax, I turned my back on the standard twilight motif, and in a rare occasion found the bridge more appealing - perhaps it was the rareness of a roll of color film for my camera that had me looking for 'more'! And the year was 1964.
12oct20 -tdp
Copyright protected, 2020, Terrance DePietro, all rights, image and writing, expressly reserved.
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October 12th, 2020
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Comments (8)
Merritt Glover
This is really special color and shape. Stunning work!
Terrance DePietro replied:
Thank you Merritt, this image dates back to the '60s, and a younger version of myself - the color is a sunset with NYC-smog. Your visit is much appreciated.
Cynthia Guinn
Wonderful image! l/f
Terrance DePietro replied:
Well thank you Cynthia; hope you enjoyed the story as well. Have a wonderful day! -tdp
Robert Yaeger
Cool image, great lines!
Terrance DePietro replied:
Thank you Robert; this is one of the older color images that have survived the life journey, lol. Happy to see that it is appreciated. -tdp
VIVA Anderson
Love this, Terrance, in coincidence with your wonderful description. You have re-visualized, spoken, to me, who used to be taken across this mighty bridge, when a child in NYC, at just this glorious moment of time/evening, and I'd sit, alone in the back seat of Dad's Studebaker, and the very rhythm of these struts, the sound of the tires on the paving, the quiet shuuushhh of traffic, THAT light......was the beginning of awareness for me, and remains my earliest memory of the time, the place, when I Woke .........to this life, the future, the past. Thank you, my Friend...yet again, I celebrate all you saw, felt, shared.. only now being evoked again.....the Wonder !............The year? 1949!........VIVA (on many adventures into 'town' to Carnegie Hall, to hear the famous violinists of the day: Heifetz,et alia.Then, later, out of Queens, across to Bernstein, live/alive!
Terrance DePietro replied:
So happy to accommodate a memoir to your past and present adventure VIVA. Pity the best of my early works was lost; the Triboro was known by us, the tribes of neighborhood kids of Astoria and LIC. We knew it from its towering cement base all the way to the red light-beacon at the very top. Yes we knew it inside and out. And all you describe of the sounds and cadence of the tires are joined with my own memories of the acoustics that resonated under the bridge at full height, and all the way to its lowness of street level - at different points the reverberations were like an echo chamber and many a group would 'hit harmony' singing the songs of the day beneath the Triboro! Doo Wap lived large back in Astoria Park! Thank you VIVA!
Richard Bryce and Family
Terrific, Terrance! Amazing description.
Terrance DePietro replied:
Thank you for the comment Richard; and once again, for taking the time to read the description... I do tend to make use of that part of the display, hopefully using it well. Appreciate your visit very much. -tdp
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