Wide angle scuttle
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After riding the T light rail through the city center of Pittsburgh, as detailed yesterday, a humble narrator decided to affix a wide angle lens to the camera for the start of what I had planned on being a longish walk. The lens was 16mm, before you ask. This was one of the days where I leave the heavy zoom lenses at home, and head out with a ‘bag of primes.’
Prime lenses are fixed at certain focal lengths, as opposed to zooms which allow for multiple focal lengths. I had my 85mm, 50mm, 35mm in the bag, and the 16mm which the camera was wearing during this part of the day. I also had a tripod with me, but didn’t need or use it in this section of my afternoon. Before the day was done, I’d rotate throughout the collection.
It was warm in Pittsburgh, about 75 degrees, and characteristically humid. The weather report will figure into my tale from later in the day, but at this juncture everything was just swell.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As often mentioned, I’m fascinated by the parabolic and arcing shapes created by highway ‘on and off’ ramps, an urban feature which Pittsburgh has no shortage of. This particular bit of infrastructure pictured above and below offers vehicle traffic egress to the Fort Duquesne Bridge, which connects the north shore of the Allegheny River to the so called ‘golden triangle’ of Downtown. They also overfly the massive parking lots which surround the sportsball stadiums.
Now, for a mundane variety of reasons I had largely spent the two weeks prior to this doing absolutely nothing, outside of HQ. All the reasons are salubrious, but those 14 days of sitting around would bite me hard later in the day. I’m not used to being ‘still’ for too long, and thereby my lower back and legs were quite stiff, and it took me almost a mile to find a comfortable rythym for the walk.
I was determined, however, to get in a decent workout of about ten miles. If only…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless of intention, I was enjoying the 16mm wide angle shooting, which is something I’m still getting acclimatized to using. I made a right turn, heading southwards towards the Allegheny waterfront and its welcoming trail. The plan was pretty simple, which was to walk the trail all the back about three and change miles, cross a bridge, and then double back on the other side.
Best laid plans…
Back next week with more at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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