(I have never had much success in titleing work, but Rich has done it and it'll work).
"I'm quite interested in the fact that you live one hour from NYC, and yet apparently in the country. Your photos to date have had a rural flavour, which I like. But I'd like to get a sense of the city from the outside. A photo that shows in some way the edge, the transition from country to city. Partly from my curiosity about NYC, partly from a sense of it being a mythical city in my mind, so far removed from the photos that you are showing. Also my memory of America (Florida) is that the cities don't end, that there is no sense of clear dividing line. If there isn't a line could you construct one using a camera? This may be in terms of the division for you. I'm quite interested in your journey to you studio in the Philadelphia. Maybe there is opportunity there to capture this photo on your daily journey."-. Rich Galpin
(by the way, find Rich's website, it is very worthwhile)
So, I decided to give it a try. I had restricted the previous days to just one photo for the day. Today I will try to be more comprehensive for Rich, and look at my trip to the studio. It is my first day there after my return from a week long show in New York City and an extended holiday weekend.
The first part of my trip is on to roads surrounded by farm and woodland. This is maintained as an illusion driving along Route 295 south. Many highways here in New Jersey have a woodland barricade preventing any clue of what exists not 100 meters away. A kind of physical transition from the motion and all the auditory and visual associated, to the static.
When I get off the highway, I encounter a retail mecca. If there is anytime I stop on my way to Philadelphia, it would be here to be serviced by a computer, hardware, book or pet store. I generally do not like to shop by final destination, but rather 'passing by and picking something up'. Seems I do more considered shopping by catalog.
Here is the gas station I get gas. Gasoline is much less expensive in New Jersey than Pennsylvania, and this is the last station that I have a credit card before the border. One of the attendants was very interested when I was photographing a building next to the station and has been keeping me apprised of his interest in attending a local college for a course in the medium. I didn't need gas today, I hope that the sign is not refering to his replacement.
My approach to Philadelphia is determined here. This intersection leads to two bridges. The southern one, The Betsy Ross Bridge, takes me into the center of the city. I generally use it to pick up my partner, she lives by the historical Betsy Ross House. I mentioned her name twice, it may be the most you will ever hear it. She is a small side note in American history books, the woman who allegedly sewn the first flag of the US. I could comment on the neglect in literature for women of historical significance , Betsy Ross may not be the best example..
The Tacony Palmyra bridge further north is a detour to get welding gases and drop off anodizing, a process I hope to eventually to do in-house. This bridge is a drawbridge and I had a very interesting look at a large tanker ship from the top during a twenty minute wait.
This is the entrance to the bridge. It is a toll bridge, and today marks the one time a month to renew the pass. I am trying to calculate a formula where I should pay full price for x days to gain full advantage of weekends, when I don't use the bridge. I have managed to buy 3 passes for 3.75 months as of now, this was helped by the trip to NYC. I don't think it has much to do with being frugal, since I contradict any aspect of this in more impulsive buying, but rather a diversion to the drive.
My first glimpse of the urban center of Philadelphia.from the bridge. This is the geographical transition into Philadelphia. The Delaware River is the boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bridges remove the feeling of actually being in a place, kind of a sterile observation deck. It's not really a place, but a connection between two places.
I am now riding Route 95, a road which runs north-south along the eastern seaboard, from top of Maine to the bottom of Florida. It passes through or near the major eastern cities of Boston(6hrs), New York(2hrs), Philadelphia, Baltimore(1.5hrs) and Washington(3hrs) This was once the responsibility of Route 1, but numerous interruptions made it less efficient travel. Philadelphia was on the Route 95 'black list' once because of a series of traffic lights near the airport, the only ones through the extent of the highway. This was a many year detour to avoid lengths of roadwork plagued by failed construction methods, concrete from illegitimate sources I heard. Adjoining states would not put Philadelphia on their mileage signs. There is little interruption for the flow of traffic except during rush hour now.
I am north heading towards the central urban area, in five minutes I will be there. If I turned around it would take me twenty minutes to reach city limits, I could continue another fifteen and still be in Philadelphia.
I crossed through center city to the Germantown (northwest) section of the city to arrive at my studio. Lived and worked here for about 6 years-moving out now. It was an electronics manufacturing facility in the 1920's, changed to a carpet retailer, then a for a clothing chain, and now an artist cooperative. The oldest tree in the city is in a small park on the back right of the building.
I have framed out the used car lot on the left, the small market/gas station behind, and the post office on the right. You can't hear the gunshots at night, the birds on my feeder during the day.