Posted on Apr.15, 2012, under Travel

(Nikon D800, 28-300mm at 250mm, Exposure 1/250 sec @ f/11, ISO 250)

Anyone who knows history, or who has been reading any papers lately knows that this is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ ship, Titanic. I’m visiting New York, and while I’m here I got the chance to see a bit of Titanic history in person. The ship was originally supposed to dock in New York city at Pier 59. Of course, the ship sank before it reached New York. The Cunard ship Carpathia managed to pick up the survivors and when they arrived at New York, they first visited Pier 59 to drop off the lifeboats and then returned to Pier 54 to drop off the passengers. Both Pier 54 and 59 were demolished years ago, Pier 59 is now just a bunch of stumps sticking out of the water, but Pier 54 at least still has this iron gate marking it’s entrance. If you look carefully, you can see writing which says Cunard and White Star Line. The liners merged after the Titanic disaster.

I took this shot from the High Line in New York City, and wonderful linear park which repurposes an old elevated subway line. My goal in processing the image was to help bring out the details of the lettering on the metal, as well as give the image a bit of an old time feeling. I used a combination of Color Efex Pro 4 and Silver Efex Pro 2 to do most of the work.

Certainly love to hear your thoughts on this, or if you have any more bits of history about the Pier.

Thanks!

Copyright ©2012 James W. Howe – All rights reserved.

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4 Comments

  • Dana says:
    Pier 54 in New York City is a former Cunard Line pier that is associated with the 1912 RMS Titanic and 1915 RMS Lusitania maritime disasters. It is now part of Hudson River Park.
  • Great image, James and thanks for the brief history lesson too – always helps to understand what you are looking at and if it has some historical significance. I really like the processing to create the final image. Your choices here have produced an excellent old-time look which takes the viewer back to the time the tragedy happened.
    Mark Summerfield recently posted…Jackson’s Mill, West Virginia (Part 1)
  • Anna Maria Culmone says:
    Thank you for posting these images…..I truly don’t think the gate should be demolished. It should be declared a historical landmark and included into the park as a monument after some restoration…..I think it would mean a lot to the descendents of the survivors as well as the descendents of the longshoremen who were there to welcome and assist the survivors…My grandfather was one of the longshoremen who witnessed their arrival at the pier that sad day as my grandfather described it to me when he was inhis 90’s…..It was the 9/11 of his generation…The gate should be left there as a memorial to those who perished that day…

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