Tag: Van Cortlandt Park

May 09 2010

Changing Seasons: Van Cortlandt Park Photos

Cross-posted at Firefly and deleted from DailyKos.

I have posted fourteen Van Cortlandt Park photo diaries at DKos and a few might think I’m posting photos over and over. These photos from yesterday may look the same but sadly after a harsh winter there are many trees missing from my favorite walk.

But my favorite for photos and probably the most abused tree in the park still stands. This is Van Cortlandt Park (last stop on the Broadway local) in transition from spring to summer.

I had not taken my lakeside walk and forest stroll there for over two weeks, a long time for me. Surprised by how rapidly the transition from spring to summer views occurred the forest is shady and the last of spring flowers can be seen floating on the surface of the lake. Everything went so green and lush so quickly.

Below the fold is another photo walking tour of my favorite slice of nature in New York City. Just a walk in the park.  

Feb 19 2010

Van Cortlandt Park After the Snow

Good evening this is my second installment in an attempt to get a regular series started called Friday Evening Photoblogging. Cross-posted at Progressive Blue, La Vita Locavore and Firefly Dreaming, it is based but different from a posting from last week at DKos.

I often write about and I’m very much in love with the undeveloped parts of Van Cortlandt Park. It is the fourth largest park in New York City and just a few blocks from my apartment. I guess the most popular diary so far was called Just a Walk in the Park, Van Cortlandt Park.

Few Manhattanites know of the beauty of this 1,146 acre park located in the Bronx but this New York City oasis should be of special interest to visitors from drier areas of the nation. The green will just blow you away.

You won’t find much green in this diary that focuses on photographic composition but I found a little color to make it interesting. In this photo the underpass leads to the Van Cortland marsh where the story ends. An old bridge from the the abandoned “Old Putt” and an oak tree that likes to hold a few leaves each winter improves the composition.

“Old Putt” is the affectionate nickname that hikers and cross country bikers have given to the New York and Putnam Railroad. The right of way for the railroad bed is a trail that runs the length of the park and passes through almost every type of ecosystem that can be found in the northeast.

Below the fold are the best of the 465 pictures I took last Thursday. Most of them on the Van Cortlandt Lake and surrounding wetlands of the Bronx park. Mostly they are photos of geese but I experimented with ways to defeat the the most annoying property of snow, monochromatic and way too bright.