3
Ravenswood Generating Station ("Big Allis"), Queens, NYC, 2024 (fedia.io)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/photography@fedia.io
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Ravenswood Generating Station ("Big Allis"), Queens, NYC, 2024.

All the pixels, none of the air pollution, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53732990785/

#photography

A large industrial building on a waterfront. Four large smokestacks, numerous pipes, elevators, and other apparatus are visible on the exterior.
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

Known locally as "Big Allis" (after Allis-Chalmers, the manufacturer of the largest of the four generators in the plant), Ravenswood is fired by both natural gas (now the primary fuel) and oil, and also has the capability (rarely used, as far as I know) to burn coal.

Ravenswood has been linked to a spike in asthma and other respiratory disorders among local residents. There is pressure to decommission the generators and replace them with battery banks to store renewable energy from upstate.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    For industrial subjects especially, I usually end up preferring the most straightforward and boring perspective I can find that just lets the subject speak for itself. The masters of this approach were Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose "Basic Forms" work richly repays your attention if you like this kind of stuff. https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Bernd_and_Hilla_Becher/

    (They would have undoubtedly gone for an overcast day to capture Big Allis, but I liked the clouds.)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    @mattblaze@federate.social Thank you for all of the interesting details and link. I love photography and taking pictures, but I often feel as though I just got lucky. While this is a level of skill I can only ever aspire to at this point in life

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •