Rodman Gun and Verrazano Narrows Bridge, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Continuing work on a series of photographs of Civil War monuments and statues I took the R train to the end of the line. This is Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a prosperous part of the city I’d never visited before. At the foot of 4th Avenue is John Paul Jones park adjacent to Fort Hamilton, a historic army base. In the park is a surviving Rodman Gun, a massive cast iron cannon used to defend New York Harbor.

Rodman Gun

I was there for for almost two hours waiting for a stubborn ridge of clouds to slip by, and then had less than a half hour to catch the last slanting sunlight. I did a couple of pictures with the Verrazano Bridge in the background, a couple closeups of the cannon and cannonballs. A few dog walkers strolled by. Lots of bicyclists and joggers cruised by. A group of beer drinking homeless occupied a bench nearby. Some kids arrived and began climbing the cannon, but I had already packed up my 4×5 camera. I snapped a few shots with my digital camera. The whole excursion to Bay Ridge took more than five hours.