After The Storm

Breezy Point, 11//16/12

December 12, 2012 -

On October 29th, New York City's waterfront was permanently transformed by Hurricane Sandy. During its enormous storm surge, neighborhoods throughout the city were flooded and destroyed. Houses were flattened, floated from their foundations, or pushed into the middle of streets and marshes. Since the storm, I've documented the damage done to many of the areas affected by the hurricane, talking with residents and publishing a series of photo essays at the website Curbed. No matter what type of neighborhood the storm visited, the damage was severe, from the mansions of Belle Harbor and Manhattan Beach, to the gated communities of Breezy Point and Sea Gate, to working class neighborhoods in Staten Island like New Dorp Beach, Fox Beach and Midland Beach, and marginalized neighborhoods like Edgemere and Far Rockaway.

Many of the unique neighborhoods documented on this website over the past 5 years were devastated by the storm. In Brooklyn, Coney Island was entirely submerged, creating enormous damage to homes and property. Alongside the damage in Sea Gate and Manhattan Beach, the hidden world beneath the boardwalk (Coney Island - Under the Boardwalk, March 2009) was largely filled with sand and debris, while the bungalows of Brighton Beach (Brighton Beach Bungalows, March 2010) were flooded, jeopardizing the future of an already endangered community. Businesses and studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Brooklyn Navy Yard photo essays, 2007-2010) were destroyed, while the Superfunded waters of the Gowanus Canal (Gowanus Canal: Toxic Playground, October 2011) and the Newtown Creek (Newtown Creek: Brooklyn Shores, February 2011) overflowed their banks and filled bordering neighborhoods with toxic pollution. Floyd Bennett Field (Camping at Floyd Bennett Field, July 2012), was transformed from a quiet campsite and recreation area into a full scale military operation, with hundreds of trucks, ambulances, tents and humvees positioned to move into the Rockaways.

South Edgemere, 11/1/12

Like Coney Island, the Rockaways were also completely submerged, with water coming in from both the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay. At the eastern end of the peninsula, in the seaside sections of Far Rockaway (Far Rockaway: Abandoned Bungalows, June 2009) and on the shoreline in northern Edgemere (The North Edgemere Shore, October 2010), nearly every house was flooded, putting an enormous strain on two neighborhoods which had already been struggling to survive. In southern Edgemere (The South Edgemere Wasteland, September 2010), the iconic wooden boardwalk was lifted by the storm surge and pushed far inland. At the 59th street marina, home of The Boatel (Sleeping in the Sommerville Basin, July 2011), dozens of boats were left in a crushed jumble onshore, leaving the marina's future uncertain.  In Hammels (Hammels Wye, December 2010), many more boats were destroyed. The western section of the Rockaways fared the worst, however, with fires and floods destroying many homes in Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor and Breezy Point.

Staten Island's entire east coast was decimated by a storm surge that rushed inland through marshy areas that border many of its coastal neighborhoods. Blocks from the ocean, homes were pushed off their boundaries, crumbling and submerging into the reeds. Parts of Midland Beach and Fox Beach were wiped off the map, while the bungalows in New Dorp Beach (New Dorp Bungalows, February 2011) were hard hit and the century-old bungalow community of Cedar Grove Beach was left with only two structures remaining. Further south, the freshwater pond at Wolfes Pond Park (Urban Camping in Staten Island, June 2011) was breached by the sea, which crushed several nearby landmarks.

The following 35 photographs are presented chronologically, beginning on the morning after the storm. They were selected from approximately 3,900 photographs which were taken over the past six weeks. These photographs provide only a small glimpse into some of the neighborhoods damaged by the storm. Publishing every one of the millions of photographs that have been taken since the storm passed would not begin to tell the whole story of how New York City's waterfront has been transformed. The cleanup is ongoing and will continue for many months, but has largely moved indoors and out of sight, like an invisible internal hemorrhage that leaves only a few bruises on the skin. In the months to come, the larger toll of the storm will begin to emerge, as homes are demolished or abandoned and businesses go bankrupt. Throughout the city, the same refrain has been repeated by many residents: the waterfront will never be the same.

Gowanus Canal, 10/30/12
 


Gowanus Canal, 10/30/12



Red Hook, 10/30/12
 


Red Hook, 10/30/12




Williamsburg, 10/31/12




South Edgemere, 11/1/12



South Edgemere, 11/1/12




North Edgemere, 11/1/12




Hammels, 11/1/12




Rockaway Park, 11/1/12



Belle Harbor, 11/1/12



Stapleton, 11/03/12



Midland Beach, 11/03/12



Midland Beach, 11/03/12



New Dorp Beach, 11/03/12



New Dorp Beach, 11/03/12



Cedar Grove Beach, 11/03/12



Great Kills, 11/03/12



Great Kills, 11/03/12



Sea Gate, 11/11/12



Sea Gate, 11/11/12



Sea Gate, 11/11/12



Manhattan Beach, 11/11/12



Manhattan Beach, 11/11/12



Fort Tilden, 11/16/12



Breezy Point, 11/16/12



Breezy Point, 11/16/12



Breezy Point, 11/16/12



Breezy Point, 11/16/12



Jacob Riis Park, 11/16/12



Jacob Riis Park, 11/16/12 
 


Wolfes Pond, 12/3/12



Fox Beach, 12/3/12



Fox Beach, 12/3/12
 


Fox Beach, 12/3/12

Hurricane Sandy Photo Essays


November 20, 2012 -

Three weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy landed in New York, causing enormous devastation to the city's waterfront. Many of the unique neighborhoods documented on this website in the past five years were flooded or destroyed by the storm.

During the past three weeks, the website Curbed published a series of my photo essays documenting the storm's impact. This ongoing series includes post-storm surveys of damage in Gowanus, Red Hook and Dumbo (10/30/12), the Far Rockaways (11/2/12), Staten Island (11/5/12) and the cleanup in the Rockaways (11/19/12). These photo essays are part of my ongoing column for Curbed, titled Camera Obscura.

A longer photo essay examining the storm's impact - titled After The Storm - was published on this website in December 2012.


The Newtown Creek Armada


On September 9th, 2012, The Newtown Creek Armada was launched into the waters of the Newtown Creek.  The Newtown Creek Armada is an art installation that invites the public to explore the past, present and future of this contaminated New York City waterway. The Newtown Creek, a Superfund site bordering Brooklyn and Queens, is one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. Visitors to The Armada will pilot a fleet of artist-made, miniature, remote-controlled boats along the surface of the creek while documenting the hidden world of its waters using waterproof cameras and microphones. 

The Newtown Creek Armada
is a collaboration between artists Laura Chipley, Nathan Kensinger, and Sarah Nelson Wright, and is presented in partnership with North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition (nbART) and with support from the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the North Brooklyn Boat Club (NBBC). It has received grants from the Hudson River Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, In Our Backyards (ioby), Macktez, and Feast Brooklyn. It has been made possible through the support of many community organizations and individuals.

The Armada took place on weekend dates throughout September, 2012 at the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, a public park operated by the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treament Plant. For details on the installation, visit newtowncreekarmada.org


Camping at Floyd Bennett Field


July 4, 2012 - This photo essay is part of an ongoing series about camping within the 5 boroughs of New York City. The series so far includes camping at Wolfe's Pond Park and a portrait of Pouch Camp in Staten Island, a trip to the Boatel in Queens, and a one year pass to a shanty timeshare in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

Floyd Bennett Field is an abandoned airport at the southern end of Brooklyn, with empty runways and aircraft hangars, crumbling power stations, a hollowed-out police precinct, and a constantly changing collection of boat wrecks. Built on landfill poured into the marshes of Jamaica Bay, this was once New York City's only municipal airport. It now resembles a wide open wilderness, with an excess of concrete. It is also New York City's only public campground.

As part of the National Park Service's Gateway National Recreation Area, Floyd Bennett Field has recently renovated and upgraded much of its facilities, including expanding its campgrounds last summer to include space for over 50 campsites and RVs. The newly remodeled campsites are surrounded by a dense stand of trees and feel isolated from the city, despite a constant stream of jets flying to JFK overhead and the nearby views of the Empire State Building. The closest neighbors are the colonies of rabbits and raccoons that live in the woods nearby. At night, a surprising amount of stars are visible.

Night Sky


Passage to Camp

Besides unlimited firewood, camping at Floyd Bennett provides visitors the opportunity to explore this ruined airport at their leisure.  Bordered by empty runways, the camping area is next door to a unrestored, derelict aircraft hangar filled with antique planes that are slowly being renovated.  The nearby shoreline of Jamaica Bay is populated by a collection of wrecked boats and early morning fishermen.  Longer hikes from the campground lead to an abandoned Job Corps campus and to the perpetually polluted beaches of Dead Horse Bay. As New York City's only campsite, Floyd Bennett provides an appropriately unvarnished experience of the urban waterfront, where man-made "nature" co-exists with copious industrial ruins and the visible effects of centuries of pollution.

---
For more information on camping at Floyd Bennett, visit the National Park Service website. For more photo essays from the area, visit Floyd Bennett Airfield (2008) and Dead Horse Bay (2008).

Day Camp



Empty Runway



Aircraft Hangar



Disassembled Plane



Aircraft Section



Boat Wrecks in the Morning



Abandoned Campus



Gateway Job Corps



Laundry Room



Abandoned Powerhouse



Powerhouse View



Dead Horse Bay Beach



Dead Horse