For this transect, I took a photo every 10 feet or so for several blocks moving south along the Hudson River waterfront in Manhattan, much of which was under construction. I used this transect because of the changes in the character of spaces along the river changes several times throughout. Additionally, the World Trade Center tower serves as a reference point as we moved gradually closer towards it. The waterfront is a highly trafficked area with both walking and biking lanes, and is clearly a popular exercise route for New Yorkers. It is mainly hardscape, with planted areas sprinkled in, and an assortment of cafes and riverside bars for people to enjoy. Although it was not my favorite site of the day, and much of it is still incomplete and impeded by construction sites, I think that the transition from north to south makes for an interesting section on the waterfront.

It might be over the top, but I feel the idea of going through a space in transect is profound. Throughout the year, it has hugely impacted the way I think about and experience a place. Often a photograph seeks to capture a single image that focuses on an outstanding feature or engulfs many elements of a site. Transect photos are interesting because they typically have no focus. Their purpose is almost mathematical; it is to document a surrounding. Additionally, transects are a collection of photos, rather than a single one. As a result several “lackluster” photos come together to create something that is pretty cool.
I chose Governors Island because I knew the design was all about taking a person through a transitional experience. The pictures begin where West 8 completely takes over in the design of the island but looking back I think it would have been ideal to have documented the experience from the dock on Manhattan all the way to the summit of the mount to document the true transition.
I thought a transect like this might have value in a firm to show the transition of the park. Landscape designs often require phasing and Governors Island is at an interesting point right now, where it is usable and enjoyable but still has some work to be done.
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This series of photos was taken at about one photo per second during approach and docking on the ferry from Governor's Island to Manhattan, an a bit of the disembark. Due to the speed alteration during approach and the process of docking, the early photos showed more ferry movement, which then slowed, stopped, and the movement restarted as we started walking off the ferry. The processes along this transect were not linear, nor spatially even, but the chronological process was metered. I think it is worth noting that different processes can occur on a site which have variances in their speed, and so therefore will have different times of progression, during the same task.

​This transect takes you through the journey of Governors Island. This is not only a journey through space but through time as well. The journey begins at the Governors Island ferry station and the first compilation of images is the journey the boat takes to get across the harbor. This ferry ride was very quick, but to me it symbolizes the history of the island. For millions of years no one was on this island, it was used by Native Americans as a fishing village during the summer. During the colonization of America the island changed hands many times as a strategic military position. Presently the island is no longer used as a military fort but it is still populated and well used. Governor’s Island has seen many phases of its transition. Starting as a military stronghold it was designed with protection and defense in mind. As its use shifted to one of public recreation, elements of play, relaxation, and art have been added to the island. This creates a completely different experience than its historical one. This transect shows how the experience changes as you take the ferry from Manhattan to Governor’s Island. Tragically my phone died very soon after I made it into the new West 8 designed addition to the Island. Although this is not ideal it kind of symbolizes how the island’s future is still being changed and worked on, as it is still not completed all the phasing of the new construction on the island. So as West 8 and other firms add and change the island the experience and narrative of the space expresses itself differently. 

The photo-transect tried to show what people experience when they jog along the waterfront space in the new York city. The route starts from Whitney museum, progresses by a series of waterfront public spaces and ends with the teardrop park. Each frame was taken in every 90 feet with the height of 5 feet, so we can know what people see and how they feel during jogging.
 
There are two important elements for jogging, and the first one is the weather. In the afternoon in summer, jogging people receive a large amount of sunlight, so they need shading to avoid the solar radiation. Existing buildings provide shading but that is not enough, especially in in the west side of the Manhattan. Thus, we can see how trees were planted in order to create shading spaces in the middle of the route for people. Furthermore, the temperature is high in the afternoon, it affects people’s strength and comfort during jogging, so people might need some space to adjust their body condition. When I walked form the route by the concrete building to the waterfront, I could feel the breeze blows from water surface, giving me strength for jogging.
 
The another one is the visual stimulation. The obvious visual object in the end of the route can guide me during jogging, giving me a sense of direction and goal. Also, the constantly changing view can grab my attention, helping me to forget how much distances I left.
          

The first gif shows what an average, even though they are not, couple would do on the walk through battery park. We see how people around them are exercising while some prefer to take in the scenery and the beauty the park has to offer. the park is self is mean to be active; rather than the spaces visited prior it encourages movement and activity. As we see in the first gif the people surrounding Martin and Lori, many people are jogging or walking. The park does provide space to rest, but it seems rather temporary and meant to only be a short stop. the second gif is a focal point i noticed and decided to take pictures of. As it shows many people in the gif do not seem to care about the lights above them, even though they were there to be admired. It shows that people who walk or move without realizing the beauty around them fail to really understand the space they are currently in. If one walked with purpose, they most likely fail to notice their surroundings when compared to someone who walks for pleasure or without care. The last is a video, which sadly didn't download correctly to the drive and now has low film quality, shows Richard from the farthest point of pier 46 to the street. As wee see the Road itself feels disconnected because their was not straight path directly leading it to the pier. The park is giving a more calm mood and the walk in this case felt more relaxed. The video really just shows a progression through the pier to the street. 

Today began from where we left off at Roosevelt Island. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Monument definitely turned out to be an experience that I did not expect with the effect of walking up a staircase that reveals the monument. The floating head of FDR combined with the pathway to it being along the end of the island created an amazing experience overall. Lastly my favorite moment throughout this monument is located at the back of it where it frames the surrounding East River, including two miniature islands. The trip from here takes an immediate transition from the East River to alongside the Hudson River. Walking almost a third of the waterfront turned out to be a wonderful experience despite the 90 degree temperature. From Pier 62 all the way down to the Governors Island Ferry Terminal, these sites were experienced by how they were able to screen the weather conditions of today. To my surprise most of the parks did an excellent job at providing a tree canopy or structural cover from the heat. The one big exception was probably the new development at Governors Island, where the trees are still relatively young and still growing to their adult sizes.

To go into detail on the series of images above, we stopped at the Chelsea Market for lunch during our walk along the Hudson River. The images above help capture that experience via a transect through the site. There are a total of 38 images and each one was taken 10 footsteps forward from the previous image. Overall it does a good job at capturing the amount of people moving through the space as well as the atmosphere of the market itself.

Like a spatial section, the photo transect assembles a series of images in a linear fashion to represent movement through space. Images representing movement forward are typically assembled from the bottom towards the top. Transect can represent any length of time, but the images usually represent a specific interval of time (for example, each photo represents 10 second, or 100 feet). The image below (detail of a larger drawing) represents a series of transects taken at different speeds across a site: because each image represents 30 seconds, the more densely packed columns represents a slower progression of walking through the site, while the ones at the left were taken driving in a car at higher speeds. Consider presenting these images in GIF or slideshow form.

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