Up, down, all around
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My plan for a ‘long walk’ on this particular day was to force myself into a state of continuous motion for around four hours, so after riding the T from the suburb of Dormont and into the City of Pittsburgh, a humble narrator started kicking his feet around.
My original route was altered by construction on the T which saw it not stopping where I had intended to go, but who cares about that? I soon found myself at a municipal staircase leading up the ‘Boulevard of the Allies,’ which in turn would lead me to a crossing of the Monongahela River over the Liberty Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was only the second time I’ve walked this path, one which I declare as being pretty cool. A recent addition to my kit has been a fishing hat that I bought at Costco for $12. The burning thermonuclear eye of god itself is a baleful entity here in the Pittsburgh area, and on relatively clear summer days it’s a malignant force. I needed something with a bit more cover than a baseball cap, and found my personal desires answered at a warehouse store found, in a shopping mall, that sits on land that used to be occupied by what once was the nation’s largest steel mill. I never felt more American.
It’s funny. My entire life has been defined by the NYC ‘thing’ where you’ve got a knapsack with you when you leave the house in the morning, which contains every thing in it you’re going to need until returning home at night. I’m still adjusting to having a car to stuff gear into, and that it’s ok to bring an extra heavy tripod with me because why not? The NYC experience saw me working feverishly to shave a half pound, or even a few ounces, of weight out of my camera bag, and carefully considering putting one lens or another into my camera bag based on how much the thing weighs rather than what it does.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m actually pretty happy with the shot above, captured from the Liberty Bridge. Fairly frustrated was a humble narrator, however, as everywhere that one scuttled to in search of a neat freight rail photo opportunity was utterly empty of such traffic. As is always the case, when I’d walk away from the POV spot, you’d hear a train horn blowing and feel the rumble of it passing. Uggh. Frustrating.
One scuttled about for a while, pushing forward, and eventually – after the four hours of forced marching were over – headed back to the T and home to Dormont about 6 miles south of this spot and on the other side of a mountain. Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 
really nice color in that first staircase, which I sure as fuck couldn’t climb,
Greetings from the REAL Pennsylvnia….. Chester County and Lincoln University
>
Hal Weiner
July 27, 2023 at 2:45 pm
Pittsburgh spells Pennsylvania correctly, so there you go. The steps are ludicrous here, man, you should see the hill I I’ve on.
Mitch Waxman
July 27, 2023 at 2:57 pm
you’re lucky I can see this at all….. had cateract surgery ( BIG MISTAKE) now vision shit and the MD wants me to see some opTOMETRIST lady who you can’t get an appt with until October. Lotsa luck with that.
>
Hal Weiner
July 27, 2023 at 3:11 pm