"West End Stairs"
"West End Stairs 1"
I'd been eyeing this staircase for a while, as I'd head up to the train platform in Seaford. On Monday I had my camera with me again, and I got to the station with enough time to shoot this image, as well as a number of others. I'll post the best of them over the coming days.
There's something about stairs that have always captured my eye. Part of it may be genetic: My father was a draftsman, and his specialty was staircases. He had worked on the plans for many buildings in Manhattan, including the new Bank of America tower on 42nd and 6th. Once, about 5 years ago, he was saying how he could really use some pictures of a certain part of that structure. It was part of the loading dock, if I remember correctly. So I talked my way in to the site, took some shots of what he wanted and emailed them to him. At the time, I had thoughts that maybe this could lead to a sort of side job, for me; but there wasn't all that much need for it.
I've designed, and built, one staircase so far. It had a landing, complete with built-in benches, one step below the level of my rear deck, and off to the west side of it. From there it descended to my floating dock. Unfortunately, it was damaged in a monster nor'easter we had last March, when the rear two pilings (of the four I'm chained off to) snapped, and my staircase swung into and crushed part of my neighbors' spiral staircase. I had to dismantle it, eliminate the landing and benches, and re-position it to the rear of my deck. I also had to have the railing of my neighbors' steel stairs repaired.
When I first purchased my home, even before moving in, I made a pretty unique, two-piece, front boarding ramp to my house barge. It's made of triple 2"x8" stringers, with 2"x6" decking; it's attached near my front door at the bow, hinged in the middle using dock hardware, and the section on land has four home-made wooden wheels. This allows the ramp to slide back and forth, to accommodate the changing elevation due to the tides, instead of having one of the ends stick up above either the bow or bulkhead. I had to build it strong, as one of the things I moved in was a piano - as well as a full-sized refridgearator, a washer and dryer, and a large radial arm saw.
View Larger Map
In this satellite photo you can see my front ramp, at top left; my deck, staircase, floating dock and boat are towards the bottom right corner. You can also seeing the skeletal remains of the landing, in between my house barge and my neighbors'.
Links:
"West End Staircase" Fine Art prints and framing.
"West End Stairs 1" Fine Art prints, matting and framing.
Pictures of, and much more about, last March's Nor'easter - and many other infamous storms!
This last link was a real find, for any of you weather afficianados out there!
Camera Data
Canon
Canon EOS 5D
1/25 second
F/4.0
32 mm
50
Mar 14, 2011, 12:07:39 PM
Adobe Photoshop CS Windows
49mm
Canon EOS 5D
1/25 second
F/4.0
32 mm
50
Mar 14, 2011, 12:07:39 PM
Adobe Photoshop CS Windows
49mm
