What your seeing here is the older Con-Ed station that is in contrast to the methane wells on the Fresh Kills landfill. Inspired by another local photographer to get up and see this new project I decided to take the tour. What project am I talking about? Why the Fresh Kills Park restoration project of course. You may know or remember Fresh Kills as being the largest landfill in the world at one time and it only recently closed in 2001. Being the world largest may be a real feat some may say, but it was a real scar to the residents of the borough Staten Island. This dump was by no means small on any scale. It was originally created by the developer Robert Moses. Thankfully even when it was created in 1948 the infrastructure came along with it for the future. The site was designed specifically to hold the 150million tons of trash it contains plus 20+ more years. Thankfully those extra 20+yrs weren’t carried out and we have what is a great project for the future of all visitors to Fresh Kills.
The former landfill is set to become a 2200 acre park. A park that is both recreational and dedicated to wildlife. Some recreational areas will include: mountain biking, non-motor water sports, soccer fields, comfort stations (composting), equestrian trails, jogging/hiking trails, and baseball fields to name a few. The bigger excitement for me is of course wildlife. The best part is that nature is already getting a hold of the habitat before the park is even close to being completed. Although in 18 months 100 acres or so will be open to the public, the vast majority is still under construction. The great part is that the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge ties right into the park. This is going to be the 2nd largest park in all of NYC. Yes, bigger then central park 
Just on our tour alone you can see turkey vultures soaring high, red-tailed hawks searching for prey amongst the fields, and even a male buck ran up the slope as we drove by. Unfortunately we were kept in the vehicle for most of the tour, but it was truly exciting to see an initiative that will hopefully continue on its current path to not just build recreational for the public, but with conservation in mind as well.
Lots of infrastructure for this immense location still remains. The Dept. of Sanitation here still operates shipping out Staten Islands trash down to a processing plant down in South Carolina via freight train. Fresh Kills is decomposing and putting off vast amounts of methane pumped up by these wells you see in many of the photographs. This methane is a bi-product from all the natural decomposition that is done by Nature itself. The city makes around 12million dollars a year selling all that methane back to the power companies. The supply will lessen over time, but it will continue to be captured. The entire site is capped with this heavy gauged plastic that is constantly monitored. A substance called Leachate is something that has to be collected in large numbers everyday and shipped out as well to neutralize it for reintroduction into the ecosystem. Leachate is a fancy term for the run off from the trash that is produced over time. Its composition will vary depending on the landfills age and its contents. Cakes are made of the solid material that may be contained and is then put in a different landfill. Unfortunately there isn’t a new use for the Leachate cakes at the moment. However I am told the cakes aren’t harmful and will decompose over time.
When I mention the scar on Staten Island; the reason for this is just how close the landfill was in proximity to commercial and residential districts. As close as this may feel there are other portions of the park that have residential districts only a few hundred feet from its borders. Of course part of this blame relies on the developers who decided it would be a bright idea to keep building without remorse and keep sticking more and more into a once untouched habitat (or at least strike a fair balance.) New facilities for the park is aiming to harness the power of renewable energy. Not just methane run off (as it will decrease significantly with time), but options such as geothermal, wind, and solar. The big issue with wind however is that these mounds are decreasing in size by approximately 1mm a year. The typical wind mills are very large (an awesome beautiful site if you have had the chance to see them) and will sink into the ground. Not good after all the monetary investment you might imagine. Solar is currently being looked into as there are vast areas of open space. Very unique to NYC if you have ever visited; ha ha. My suggestion would be to use solar as shade, like parking lots or overhangs serving a dual purpose.
Infrastructure such as the comfort stations are also going to be LEED certified. A building standard that makes large efforts to be sustainable and have the lightest impact on the earth in which it resides.
The views are nothing short of spectacular. From the top of south mound you can see the city skyline in the top left of the image and the College of Staten Island tower on the top right. Something I don’t have a 360 degree panorama to show you is that you can actually see parts of all the four bridges connecting to Staten Island. Including the parachute jump in Coney Island!
Looking up into the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge you can see the open wetlands that are home to many wading birds and migratory species. The grasses are shorter because I happened to arrive on the trip soon after they mowed the grasses for the year. The haze held up just enough to get a clear shot of the Bayonne Bridge. I think this shot says it all. Where nature meets man and for the few times in the history of man it may happen; Nature will be the victor running unopposed.
The photography side of things:
When I reserved my seat for this tour I was unsure how to approach the trip. I knew I may be in a cramped tour bus (I was, but everyone was a good sport) and that the use of a tripod just wouldn’t work. Checking the forecast for a sunny day helped boost my confidences there. I then wanted to bring my wildlife lens since I knew there can be all sorts of great animals to find. However I would be without a tripod and I don’t think the general public has an interest in watching me photograph some birds they don’t know the name of. So I set a plan and a goal for myself. One to two lenses is all I would be working with. I used a Tamrac Model 5405 Shoulder bag to carry everything.
Contents of my bag:
- Nikon D300
- Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
- Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro
- SB-800 flash unit
- Polarizer for my landscape lens
- di-GPS Pro
- Extra Memory Cards
- Extra Battery
- Microfiber
- Sigg bottle to hold my water
That’s about it. I felt these two lenses would cover just about anything I would run into. You might be asking why I would grab my macro lens, but it probably isn’t for the reason you think. It wasn’t for critters, but to compress the field of view. In the first, second, and fourth images I used the telephoto lens. Using a wide angle proved to be an issue for many of my photographs. When shooting wide your subject in the distance gets small and your fore-object gains too much attention. By compacting the scene I tied both together to help better tell the story. If you get a chance to try it out you might just say wow. That’s what I did when I saw how the scene took on a whole new look. Using a prime was a fun exercise as well as it made my feet do the zooming. Thankfully I didn’t have to walk too far though.
Post production was pretty simple. I edited my levels and set a black point for a few where I knew I could grab a definite black. That’s it. If your curious about the numbers such as shutter speed and aperture I don’t have it off the top of my head to be honest (I know where to find it too since it’s digital 
.) When I’m shooting I work from Aperture priority. Depth of field if my creative tool 98% of the time and the shutter speed follows along. Working from matrix metering and exposing up or down depending on the scene takes care of the rest. it may sound like I’m leaving something out. but I guarantee you I’m not.
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