William asked if we could go to a place with fast current, tall buildings, and not much wind,
to test a special camera mount he made for shooting video on the water.
It’s not easy to find a place with all those things, but if you are looking for no wind, it’s best to get up early.
We set out into the Hutchinson River just after sunrise.
Time seemed to stop as we floated quietly through the reflected landscape.
People often ask me, “What’s the most unusual thing you have ever seen out there?”
It is always hard to say; nothing seems normal when you wake up at 4 am.
This was really strange, though. When we paddled closer to the steam, the water was almost too hot to touch.
Up close, we could see a hot spring coming out of the rocks.
At high tide, the water must cool the spring so that it doesn’t steam. But at low low tide, a hot spring is revealed on the Bronx coast!
Charles photographed life around the spring while William set up his cameras.
“My work is all smoke and mirrors.” William joked.
The camera rig is amazing; it will take two videos at the same time, each image framed infinity by the other. The video will surround the viewer when played back in the gallery.
William had tested it in a pool, but this was to be it’s first shot in the wild.
A tidal eddy moved the camera in slow circles.
We paddled around the other side of a small island, so that the camera could be by itself.
We paddled slowly, but I could tell William was anxious.
When it floated back into view, the rig was spinning beautifully in the tide.
“The video looks great!” said William.
With the test complete, we decide to paddle up river.
The Hutchinson seemed like a microcosm of city evolution.
The pure design of Coop City,
gave way to deconstruction.
Later on, Charles pointed out the difference in traveling up river rather than down,
with time unfolding strangely, like Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkenss’.
This is Charles’ photograph of a heron. He will use these for drawings of the New York City waterfront.
His project started with an interest in the Newtown Creek, a kind of satirical look at our disjointed contemporary life. But then I think his fascination with the waterfront took over.
There is something Conradian too, about the parallel reality of the river, a story within a story.
Being here is a commitment to a strange disjointed reality, and getting up early.
When we got back home, William sent us images from the first test.
You can see William Lamson’s current show at Fergus McCaffrey through July, but look out for how this project develops next year!
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