More Rhythms

I can’t miss the more visible rhythms sometimes like tides and seasons, but I find it more satifying to notice more subtle ones unveiled by taking photos, studying them, and blogging.

 

 

From the observation deck 70 stories above Rockefeller Center, I notice a common rhythm on the river: loaded and empty. Fuel weighs down the barge going north while the farther one returns for a refill.

 

This Kills-bound barge, paper netted down by New York’s strongest to ensure its arrival at the recycling plant, is filled with more paper than 20 recycling trucks, according to Elizabeth Royte’s fantastic Garbage Land.

Then it returns Manhattan-bound empty, looking somewhat different with so much freeboard exposed.

This barge transports dredged materials from the Newark Bay channel to be emptied at sea so that Panamax carriers can arrive at Ports Newark and Elizabeth full of “stuff.”

In my life, when things happen–pleasant or not, climatological, romantic, or many other sorts– and these things are repeated, I search for rhythmic patterns. The voice in my head says, “So this happened last week and now this week again, does this mean it’ll happen next week too? Am I going to be frustrated if I see rhythms where there are none, if these events are just a fluke? Am I missing the biggest patterns right in front of me, the most profound rhythms? I feel full now. When will I next feel empty?”

All photos by Will Van Dorp.