running the brooklyn half-marathon

May 27th, 2010 | Posted by Jill in events | on the road | parks and museums - (4 Comments)

Today’s guest post comes from the lovely Lucy Aboytes, who ran the Brooklyn half-marathon this past weekend. She brought a camera along with her to document the course, while her boyfriend, photographer Vitaliy Piltser shot some awesome photographs from the sidelines! Check out their joint post below and congrats to all who raced in the half!

Many thanks to Lucy and Vitaliy for contributing this photo essay; can’t wait to see more from them!

——————–

Half marathons, at 13.1-miles, are quickly becoming my favorite distance to run, but it is especially great, and such a treat to run it in Brooklyn. Saturday’s race began with cheerful greetings from Brooklyn President, Marty Markowitz, the President of the NY Road Runners, Mary Wittenberg, and Councilman Domenic Recchia, Jr., who ran the race and finished at a respectable 2:58. The course took us from a double loop in Prospect Park to the tree-lined Ocean Parkway and on to a finish at the iconic Coney Island Boardwalk. The winners were Belay Kassa at 1:08:02, and Kelly Chin at 1:19:51 followed by more than 7,000 fabulous runners. I shot the race from the road (with a very light point & shoot), while Vitaliy caught the scenes from the sidelines.

First off: Warming up inside Prospect Park before the race!

Remember: Hydration is important.

hydrate.

Out of the park and on to tackle the road…

Sprinting down the boardwalk toward the finish line!


While hundreds turn out to support the runners…

… and give kisses at the finish line.

Evidence of one awesome race…who’s ready to go again!?!

more love for the subway

February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jill in on the road | south slope | subway - (1 Comments)

One recent evening, I decided to strap on my hiking boots and go out in the snow to enjoy the brisk night air. I took one of my film cameras and a tripod, expecting a nice, relaxing walk. However, Brooklyn had something a bit different in mind. As I was waiting for a long exposure to finish for the shot below, a man came running up to me.

express tracks

“Are you a photographer?” he asked urgently, hands full of grocery bags. Uh, do you see my tripod, man? “You gotta go over there! There’s been an accident!” He pointed to the north side of the Prospect Expressway, where I could see lights flashing from the highway down below. I finished up the shot, collapsed the tripod, and ran to the fence where he’d pointed.

the accident

I watched as the first of many fire trucks arrived on the scene. I could see straight down into the car that had ricocheted off the median in the west-bound lane; there was a young woman in the driver’s seat, moving slightly. No firefighter approached the car until they shut down traffic, and cars continued to speed by the smoking fender.

the accident

Finally, the rescue workers approached the car, spoke brief words of reassurance, and prepared her a gurney for the ambulance. She was speaking and the firefighters were smiling as they safely loaded her up for the hospital.

the accident

I, on the other hand, was running out of film, but managed to snag a shot of the traffic backup before hiking home. Let’s hear it for the MTA. I love the subway.

the accident