Archive for August 2023
On we sweep
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, older office and commercial buildings in Pittsburgh which were built before Willis Carrier invented what modernity calls ‘air conditioning’ (at a lithograph company at Newtown Creek back in Brooklyn, I would mention) sport an abundance of windows. Pittsburgh has a famously humid climate, sited as it is at the delta formed by the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers (whose combined waters then become the Ohio River), and back in the old days your only comfort during the ‘hot’ could be found in cross ventilation.
This section of Downtown seems to be where the courts and governmental offices are found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The funny thing about this particular tourist bus ride is that over the last 8 or 9 months, I’ve walked many of the individual legs of this route while exploring. Instinct is as important to me as the camera, and I’ll often say to myself “that’s important” when encountering a thing or a place and crack out a shot without really knowing what I’m looking at. Later on, I’ll find out that a building was owned by a supervillain like Henry Clay Frick, as in the shot above.
The tour bus continued on…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The double decker bus got onto one of the highways found on the south side of Pittsburgh’s ‘golden triangle,’ and we were soon passing by the Birmingham Bridge which spans the Monongahela River. Another pathway I’ve scuttled down is found directly below this spot, the Eliza Furnace Trail, which has become one of my favorites for a longish walk.
Back tomorrow with more.
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“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.
What the Ravens may see
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Riding on a tourist double decker bus was actually kind of fun. One has been appreciating the esthetics of Pittsburgh while driving about, but for obvious reasons – largely not recording them. The bus allowed me to roll about freely, and enjoy the visual advantages of being about 15-20 feet above the street. I was shooting fast, as the bus was moving with traffic at anywhere between 25 and 45mph. It’s nice when someone else is driving, and I get to just ‘do my thing.’
We were heading from the Strip District towards Downtown Pittsburgh. Downtown has a decent collection of tower office and commercial buildings, which are of several different vintages. Older buildings in Pittsburgh have lots and lots of windows, having been built prior to the introduction of air conditioning in a famously humid climate. Post AC buildings in Pittsburgh are sealed up in glassine envelopes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For this part of the ride, I decided that I wanted to abstract things a bit and started looking up a whole lot. The streets in the downtown area are fairly well populated, and we passed a couple of small concerts in public parks as well as mobs of people heading north who were all dressed the same. I suspect that this ritual garb clad crowd were heading to some local sports ball stadium, for one of the weekly tourneys offered by the athleticists.
Me? I was dressed in the normal manner, and also wearing my $12 Costco fishing hat to shield away the radiates of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself from the noggin. I had a bottle of water with me, but it was a summer’s day and a humble narrator was baking in the heat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Philip Johnson’s PPG center, HQ of Pittsburgh Plate Glass – pictured above – the mirror box one with the castellated looking peaks on it. There’s been a lot of hullabaloo about this section of Pittsburgh in the interval since I’ve relocated here, an area referred to as the Business District by some, the Cultural District by others. The local powers that be are concerned about the effect that a fairly noisome homeless shelter has had on their bottom lines, and thereby have been pushing the government types to excise the haggard population that’s served by the shelter, which they perceive as having impacted their businesses. Fascinating, the way that the bosses think.
These powers that be, of course, are corporate landlords who believe that the reason their office buildings are emptying out is because of the homeless situation, rather than that there are better/cheaper options for your business to locate itself in the surrounding counties, which aren’t in a crowded downtown metro area, or that they’re maybe charging too much per square foot for the space. Also, corporate taxes are quite a bit lower in the surrounding counties than they are in Pittsburgh, but it’s definitely the homeless who are the problem.
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 views from Valaskjálf
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with what I saw during a recent double decker tourist bus excursion in Pittsburgh, in todays post. As mentioned yesterday, the bus I was riding on had a preordained route which it rides through, one which is designed to hit several areas of interest in the metro area. It crossed the Allegheny River, heading south, and then towards the convention center, using one of the Three Sister’s Bridges. As it happens, this was the Andy Warhol Bridge which we were riding over.
A humble narrator was randomly pointing the camera around, and working the dials in a very quick fashion. It’s a good exercise, photography wise, this sort of thing. A lot like when I used to ride the Staten Island and NYC Ferries looking for random stuff in NY Harbor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For instance – as the bus turned off the bridge, the scene above popped at me. I had about 5 seconds to recognize, compose, and click the shutter while the vehicle I was in was moving at about 15-20 mph. Try this sort of thing sometime, photo peeps. Breaks you out of the same old/same old way that you do things.
Not something I’d normally shoot for Newtown Pentacle, the scene above, but when I spotted that ‘How’s it going’ ad on the bus shelter – woof. Ka-click.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The route progressed into the Strip District, and St. Stanislaus Kostka R. C. Church and headed more or less eastwards.
Regarding the gobblety gook in the title: part of my continuing treatise on obscure terms associated with Odin and the spiritual side of Proto Germanic and Scandinavian antiquity, Valaskjálf was the Asgardian Palace in which Odin placed his ‘Hlidskjalf’ or ‘High Seat’ from which he could look down on and observe the worlds of both Midgard (men) and Jotunheim (monsters).
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Hlidskjalf in Pittsburgh
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent afternoon’s desire for diversion saw a humble narrator purchasing a ticket for one of those double decker tourist buses. There’s two versions of the service available here in Pittsburgh – one is a ‘hop on/hop off’ dealie with designated stops, the other is a ‘just the tour’ option which means you stay in your seat for about 90 minutes. As I’ve never actually done one of these tours, I figured on giving it a try. My ticket saw me boarding the thing for the last scheduled outing of the day, for the ‘just the tour’ option.
The bus’s route meanders through Pittsburgh, hitting several major attractions and areas where you can expect to find lots of restaurants and bars. Me? I was onboard to wave the camera around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a fairly difficult thing to get shots from a moving vehicle, and especially so when that vehicle is riding on a highway or other high speed road. I used the same technique which has been mentioned in the past, in connection with my ‘from Amtrak’ series, which is ISO 6400 at F8, and a shutter speed of between 1/5000th and 1/8000th of a second. The trick is to focus your shot on where you’re going to be rather than where you are, just like in a video game. The other trick is to just keep on shooting and not worry about exposure too much, since as long as you’re in the ball park you can always push it a bit in post.
That’s the West End Bridge, if you’re curious.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As opined above, the tourist double decker bus makes several predetermined stops for its ‘hop on/hop off’ customers, including ones nearby the stadiums on the North Side. That’s the entrance to PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates sports ball company. My complete and utter lack of interest in this sort of thing is a bit of a handicap, socially speaking, I will admit.
What’s that crazy Norse word in the title mean? Hlidskjalf is the throne found at the top of the world in Asgard, a “high chair” from which Odin kept an eye on mundane things. One couldn’t help but look around for ravens or wolves following me around when I was sitting on the double decker bus. I was digging the depersonalized perspective from this outing, some 20 feet or so over the ground plane, and the different point of view from the one that I normally have.
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.
Rodef Shalom
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found a humble narrator on a tour of Pittsburgh’s Rodef Shalom Synagogue. The photo above was gathered back during the winter, as for one reason or another (mainly, it was raining), a similar shot of the entire building wasn’t gathered during on the day of the tour, which was offered by the Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit.
For the history, and origin story, of this amazing religious building located in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section (nearby UPITT and Carnegie Mellon) click here for the story as directly offered by the congregation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start, my fascination with this building was whetted first by its capacity – it’s designed to seat 1,300 people! Secondly, it’s more or less where the ‘Reform’ tradition of Judaism was codified. Thirdly, it’s one of Henry Hornbostel’s many landmarks, along with the Manhattan Bridge back home on the East River.
Our guide described several contributors to the building with familiar names which rang bells in this ex New Yorker’s ears. Guastivino Tile, terra cotta works in New Jersey’s Red Bank… it felt like I was hearing a lecture about Queensboro Bridge, or the original City Hall Subway Station, as all those names were spoken.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, the first thing I did after arriving was to have a chat with the security guard and let him know I was a part of the next ticketed group. Next, I walked the perimeter of the property and got a few outside shots. Pictured above is a biblical garden, wherein all of the plantings are vegetable speciations specifically mentioned in the what the Goyem would call the ‘Old Testament,’ but which we members of the English speaking member of the tribe simply call ‘The Bible.’
As to why I checked in with the guard… The Tree of Life mass shooting has forced synagogues (and mosques) in Pittsburgh to take security very seriously. Many cameras, emergency police call buttons, and armed guards are now a part of visiting a Shul here. That sucks. Thereby, if what you’re doing could be considered suspicious, it’s best to let the powers that be know that you’re not getting up to any malarkey.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Doors Open tour got started and the Synagogue’s archivist, dubbed Martha, spoke about the history of the congregation(s) who occupy the building. As mentioned, the place is cavernous. There’s a pipe organ, which is something I personally have never seen in a Shul.
Exceptional craftsmanship is apparent in the Rodef Shalom congregation room. The woodworking and fineness of the pew’s carpentry, in particular, grabbed my notice. The founders of this organization were from the south of what is now Germany, and their number included several people who worked as Cowboys at mid 19th century Pittsburgh’s local stock yards.
My familial forebears were part of the second and third waves of Jewish immigrants to this country, who hailed from the Slavic part of Europe and stayed in New York after finding work in the Garment Industry. The Pittsburgh founders of this institution spoke German and were likely citizens of the Austro Hungarian or Turkish Empires, whereas my ancestors spoke Yiddish, Polish, and Russian.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last time that I saw anything this grandiose in the ‘Jewish Catalog’ of Religious Buildings was at NYC’s Eldridge Street Synagogue. For a more local comparison to another Pittsburgh Synagogue check out this post about Poale Zedeck, which was visited on another Doors Open Pittsburgh tour back during the spring of this year.
This shot is from what used to be the ‘Ladies Section,’ which is set up on a balcony. Martha the archivist mentioned that there are three congregations identified with the modern institution. The actual Rodef Sholom one, an LGBTQ one, and one of the displaced congregant communities who used to be based at Tree of Life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s also a surfeit of stained glass. That one pictured above is set into the ‘oculus’ ring where the arches that form the dome meet. Floor to ceiling windows with elaborately rendered biblical allegory woven into colored glass is also present. I’d love to get back in here sometime with a tripod, and the whole kit, to do a series of studied photos.
Guess it’s the right place to pray for that to come true, huh?
Back next week.
“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 