Monday, February 11, 2008

Archive Film: Roosevelt Island



Roosevelt Island is one of the hidden gems of New York City. It's a small island nestled between Queens and Manhattan and can only be reached by an aerial Tram that parallels the Queensboro Bridge. Mystery surrounds it. Half of the island is sealed off from the public -- the ruins of a derelict psychiatric colony from the turn of the century. This film isn't about that though -- it's about my love affair with it's Tram.

I used to spend lots of time in New York wandering around with an old film camera. I'm happy to be able to give them new life here on the internet. This is from my personal archive, enjoy!

In current news I'm finishing up another project for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for their Invasive Species program. It's been an interesting process -- most of the work was done in the research phase where I gathered all my source images from a variety of research groups in the lower 48. It took a long time. For example, can you tell me where to get underwater images of a New Zealand Mud Snail? What about an escaped farmed Atlantic Salmon?

I thought so.

2 comments:

ROOSEVELT ISLANDER said...

Interesting film of Roosevelt Island Tram. When was it taken and do you have any more footage of the Tram?
The Tram is not the only way to get on and off Roosevelt Island since there is a subway now and bridge from Queens. I write a blog about Roosevelt Island called Roosevelt Islander. If you are interested here is a link.
http://rooseveltislander.blogspot.com/I have current videos of Tram trip as well as much information about Roosevelt island.
Also here is link to another Roosevelt Island Blog. Who would have thought Roosevelt Island would have 2 bloggers.
http://rooseveltisland360.blogspot.com/

Kevin Co said...

It's been a long time for me since I've been there... maybe 2002? The footage here is pretty much the best of what I had shot then.

You're lucky to live in such a cool part of NYC! I always thought that Roosevelt Island would be an excellent place to live. I'm glad you dropped by with some more info and links. Feel free to link or embed the video to your site!