Archive for October 2023
Allegheny, north shore
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having woken up prior to sunrise and popping off a few shots from the West End Overlook, a humble narrator was hoping to visit the Mr. Rogers monument along the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s north side. Unfortunately, a crew of laborers were performing some sort of maintenance there and the thing was roped off. I had already fed the parking meter, so the Mobile Oppression Platform was happily ensconced and thereby I set off along the river trail.
That’s the Fort Duquesne Bridge, Pittsburgh’s famous ‘bridge to nowhere’ pictured above, with the office buildings of downtown Pittsburgh behind it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There seems to be a whole ‘scene’ here, revolving around pleasure boats navigating down the rivers and tying off along the waterfront. I’m sure there’s some form of governance, fees, all that. Saying that, boats can tie up to cleats and bollards and people overnight on them. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.
It’s nice to live in a place where such things are ‘normal,’ and treated in a business like fashion. NYC identifies things people like to do, and then taxes the activity into oblivion and or criminalizes it. Can’t leave your house or attend a gathering without the ‘Reverend in Blue’ administering every single human interaction there, or having some bureaucratic entity doing its best to monetize you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This odd thing caught my eye. Theory #1 is that somebody found these keys and automobile ‘FOB’ on the sidewalk and stuck them into the tree to help out whomever lost it. Theory #2 is that some drunk tried to start up or unlock a tree. This spot was equidistant between the Steelers and the Pirates sports ball stadiums, and there’s a LOT of bars found between them, so I thereby lean towards Theory #2.
Back tomorrow with something different, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
A better morning
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a disappointing sunset photo session at West End Overlook Park here in Pittsburgh, described in last Friday’s post, a humble but quite frustrated narrator set an early alarm the next morning and set out to see if sunrise would provide me with better results from both effort and location.
I ran into that deer again, incidentally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, there were banks of clouds rolling around the heavenly vault, and there was also a bit of morning fog. Both atmospheric conditions allowed for the light to carry and push a bunch of color about, so I got busy.
Learning how Pittsburgh’s light behaves has been an adventure, I tell you. This is very much a ‘morning’ sort of place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down on the Ohio River, a towing company was moving barges about. There was also quite a bit of automotive traffic rolling about, as you’d imagine on a week day morning. I arrived at this location before the Spotted Lantern Flies woke up. Pittsburgh is infested with these things, and Moe the Dog eats so many of them every day that it’s become part of the little goblin’s diet.
The other day, Moe stood up on his hind legs with his hands on a deck rail/bannister, while attempting to spy out where his next lanternfly snack was hiding. I called out to him, and when he looked over his shoulder at me it was a freakishly horrific sight which reminded me of something from a Tolkien story. Two legs bad, four legs good.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking towards the Allegheny River’s North Shore in this shot.
A humble narrator has always been an ‘owl’ rather than a ‘lark,’ as far as wakefulness goes, and have always been conspicuously awake late into the night. At the moment, I’m trying to unspool the habits of a lifetime lived in a City that never slept but enjoyed the odd nap, and am attempting to get into step with a City which wakes up early and watches the sun come up over coffees.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has repeatedly found himself setting an alarm for 4:30 or 5 in the morning, showering while the water is boiling up for the morning ‘cuppa,’ and jetting out of HQ to get some exercise or wave the camera around at something. The quality of light seems to be better at dawn than at dusk, and mid day is nothing but harsh shadows and blown out highlights. I plan on figuring out night shooting here during the cold months.
This shot overlooks the so called ‘North side.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The deer didn’t seem at all worried about me being there while it was eating breakfast. After the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself had risen in the sky, any desire I had to shoot from West End Overlook dissipated as I was staring directly into the radioactive fireball.
I packed up my gear and hopped back into the Mobile Oppression Platform, and then drove over to the North Side water front which is pictured above. More on that 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 