Astoria Park in Winter | February Photo from the 2026 Queens Wall Calendar

February Featured photo in my 2026 Queens Wall Calendar—a photography calendar that highlights Queens neighborhoods month by month.

A serene winter photograph captures snow-covered park benches in Astoria Park, Queens, capturing the quiet beauty that settles over the city after a peaceful snowfall. It’s the kind of winter moment that makes you pause—soft light, fresh snow, and the calm of the park along the East River.

Astoria Park has been part of Queens life for more than a century: the City acquired this East River waterfront land and opened it as a public park in 1913—it was first known as William J. Gaynor Park (and also “East River Park”) before being officially renamed Astoria Park later that same year, reflecting the neighborhood it serves. The park’s name ties back to Astoria, Queens, which was named in honor of John Jacob Astor in the 1800s.

This photo is featured in my 2026 Calendar “Queens: The World’s Borough”. Grab yours here: https://annathorne.com/shop/2026calendar

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The Historic Gantry Plaza State Park

The iconic gantries of Gantry Plaza State Park stand tall against the East River skyline — a historic reminder of Long Island City’s industrial past, now reimagined as one of Queens’ most scenic waterfront parks. Once used to load and unload rail barges serving the nearby Pepsi-Cola bottling plant, these restored structures connect today’s skyline views with the neighborhood’s waterfront.

This photo is featured in my 2026 Calendar “Queens: The World’s Borough”. Grab yours here: https://annathorne.com/shop/2026calendar

To Flow

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It’s easy to flow when there’s no rubble to block the way, but life often comes with snags. Rather than wishing for an easier path, sharpen your mental tools that will prepare you to overcome life’s inevitable obstacles. Most suffering is created in the mind, so when we improve the quality of our thoughts, we improve the quality of our life.

The Art of Perception

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It is not the subject that I find interesting, but the way in which a common scene acts as a canvas for my perception to transform beyond its common state of being, and consequently my ordinary state of feeling and seeing. I prefer discovery over creation. Photography is the only art form where perception itself becomes the driving force. There is no pencil to paper, no molding of clay, it is the purely intangible act of visual perception that creates the image. The act of photographing offers me a way out of common life and habitual thought patterns, it frees me from myself. For me, photographing in this way, it becomes a spiritual act. It is an intimate state of coming back to the divine and beautiful nature of life itself.

The Quiet Poetry of Snow and Spirit

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Photographs taken in Astoria Park, Feb., 2025

The gentle presence of snow is at once calming to the body and enlivening to the spirit. Being from the south, I still — after several years living up north — find snowfall to be a particularly special occurrence. To see a park that was once familiar transformed by a beautiful soft blanket that covers everything the eye can see, it’s easy to compare this visual endlessness with the nature of ones spirit: The spirit does not demand recognition and yet its presence is felt easily when one is quiet; The nature of spirit is lighter than a feather and yet its powerful affect touches every moment of the soul. Walking through the snow, everything becomes softened not only visually, even the sound of distant conversations and cars going by becomes a gentle, dreamlike melody. Times like this remind me once more that your highest self is not found through force but surrender. To move softly through the world, to move within ones own very self, is poetry too pure for articulation.

Empty Mind, Clear Heart

Only in inner silence can we begin to recognize the beauty all around us. Too often our minds are loud with thoughts of what has happened or what is to come. If we can find a moment to pause in the space between past and future, we can transform from our common state of doing into the peaceful state of being. In being there is perfect stillness and endless beauty.

It Demands And Yet Never Breaks A Whisper

I have strayed too far for my soul to follow. There is a fog settling in, so I must travel through darkness to find it once more. I took that small light for granted, assuming it was okay with gathering dust - but it is not. It demands attention. It demands and yet never breaks a whisper.

Photo taken at Shenandoah National Park, Virginia in December 2024.

The Universe

The universe, in response to my unrelenting quest, revealed its true nature to me. Only that I cannot convey its perfection by any means, as it exists beyond the limitations of language, or any other form of expression. And it is this very impossibility that lies at the heart of every photograph and every piece of writing I have created since this unveiling. The chance to express even a momentary glimpse of that eternal, perfect realm is enough to fuel my soul through this life and into whatever may arise after.

To Feel Anything

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The golden hue of sunrise bathes me, cleanses me, purifies me. It tells me to relax, to feel, to become more softly attentive. Today is a new day and I am thankful to be alive.

“To feel anything
deranges you. To be seen
feeling anything strips you
naked. In the grip of it
pleasure or pain doesn’t
matter. You think what
will they do what new
power will they acquire if
they see me naked like
this. If they see you
feeling. You have no idea
what. It’s not about them.
To be seen is the penalty.”

- Anne Carson

Acadia National Park

Experimental film shot in Maine // Somehow the unknown results of film captures that immaterial feeling, that internal state of being experienced in a given space, unexpectedly exposing a nostalgic whisper only the soul can recognize.

Walking Thoughts

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Found this beautiful scene on a crisp, sunny Sunday Morning walk. Love my neighborhood of Astoria, Queens!

“You cannot expand your truth until you first understand your truth.”

“Ideals, when utilized to their greatest extent, are to be goals that lift you higher, not expectations that weigh you down.”

2025 Astoria Queens Calendar Is Here!

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This twelve-month calendar features beautiful photographs taken throughout the vibrant neighborhood of Astoria, Queens in New York City! From the dazzling Fourth of July fireworks display at Astoria Park and picturesque winter scenes to our beloved Neptune Diner, this calendar beautifully captures the heart and charm of Astoria.

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Astoria Queens 2025 Calendar

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Astoria Queens 2025 Calendar 〰️

 

You can checkout the calendar online at my Etsy site as well by following this link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1813931675/2025-calendar-of-astoria-queens-new-york?ref=listings_manager_grid

grit + emergence

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One World Trade Center

From mid-afternoon to twilight, photographs of the One World Trade Center form different points of view.