Stephen Wilkes: Coney Island Boardwalk

The Riegelmann Boardwalk, known simply as the Coney Island Boardwalk, is located along the southern shore of the Coney Island peninsula adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.

The boardwalk, built in 1923, stretches for 2.51 miles from West 37th Street at the border of Coney Island and Sea Gate to Brighton 14th Street in Brighton Beach.

Many of its most famous amusement parks no longer exist, but the boardwalk still hosts the Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster and the Wonder Wheel Ferris wheel, as well as the New York Aquarium. The more recent MCU Park is home of the minor-league Brooklyn Cyclonesbaseball team.

Riegelmann Boardwalk, December 2008

The Riegelmann Boardwalk has a steel and concrete foundation supporting wood planking for the walkway. Restroom facilities, benches and waterfountains are located along its length. As of October 2010, the city has been renovating the boardwalk: parts will receive new wood planking over concrete supports, and parts will be replaced with concrete entirely, for lower maintenance cost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island_boardwalk

Wilkes says that he photographs a scene continuously for up to 15 hours. “A select group of images are then digitally blended into one photograph, capturing the changing of time in a single frame.” In regard to the Coney Island photo, Wilkes said: “We will be launching a really cool time lapse video from that particular shoot, which will also be in the gallery exhibition.” The “Day to Night” series includes images of Times Square, the High Line and Central Park, among others, and will be on view at ClampArt Gallery in Chelsea from September 8 through October 29, 2011

Wilkes said his favorite photo of the series is the one of Coney Island: "The perspective is from floating above the boardwalk. The amusement park is night, the beach is day, and it’s full of activity. The level of detail — I’m working with a large-format camera, and it’s exciting that people can see the detail online, but in person, you can see it 60 inches big, and the photos look like windows, and you can actually see into people’s windows…"

http://amusingthezillion.com/2011/09/07/photography-floating-above-the-coney-island-boardwalk/