Archive for January 2024
Ten mile scuttle, part four
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As a humble narrator was in the process of debarking the 31st street bridge over the Allegheny River, one couldn’t help but admire the terraced setup of a section called Polish Hill. That’s the Immaculate Heart of Mary RC Church, which is in an area that I’d paid a brief visit to last year. Even after a year, I still find Pittsburgh’s verticality remarkable.
My next set of moves involved hanging a right at the foot of the bridge and to start walking downtown. Rush Hour, as it is humorously referred to here, was just starting up. Seriously, what the locals refer to as ‘heavy traffic’ just makes this ex New Yorker giggle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As stated in earlier posts from this walk, the plan was to walk back along the Allegheny River on this side of the water, and then cross the Monongahela River to access the T Light Rail, and get back to HQ. I punked out on that as it was starting to snow/rain again. At this stage, it was just starting up, and little piles of water were slowly appearing on my eyeglasses. Nothing major yet, I still had a good hour to go before it really started up, but wet and cold aren’t amongst my favorite combos.
More on all that later in the week, for now I was walking past the Amtrak Station and trying to imagine what it must have looked like back in the ‘good old days.’ I’ve taken Amtrak to and from Pittsburgh, and I believe that my description of the modern station as looking and feeling like a Soviet Orthodontist’s office is still apt.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This isn’t exactly the nicest street for a pedestrian in Pittsburgh, I’d offer. The left side of the shot offers the ruined former entrance of the train station which is fenced off and gross. The right side of the shot is the City’s morgue and medical examiner’s offices. The liminal space of the highway ramps above are where most of the occupants are. Awful and barren street scape, this, with sidewalks that just end leaving pedestrians stranded and walking on a busy road. Uggh.
They do a lot of things right here in Pittsburgh, this ain’t one of them.
Back tomorrow.
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Ten mile scuttle, three
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, one of my goals for the long walk I was undertaking was scouting for POV locations to exploit once the weather turns kinder in the spring. The setup above is going to make for a lovely shot when a few things align – sunrise, the lights still on in those buildings in the horizon, a train on those tracks, and me standing there with the camera mounted up on a tripod.
An interesting bit of Pittsburgh Trivia which literally everybody I talk to tells me about revolves around this spot. Nearby is found a particularly steep road called Rialto Street, leading up to a section called Troy Hill. Behind me is a landform called Herr’s Island, which used to host the city’s stockyards and abattoirs. It seems that ‘back in the day’ they used to just roll pigs down Rialto Street, on their way to the slaughterhouse on the island.
Seriously, how cruel is that story? Reminds me of the pig wheel at Armour in Chicago. I mean, kill the damn thing and eat it, but don’t terrify it first.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One proceeded to cross the Allegheny River, from the North Side to the peninsular center section of Pittsburgh, via the 31st street bridge.
Technically speaking there is a way to walk over that hill you see in the background of the shot above, using municipal or ‘City Steps,’ but I prefer to just walk around the landform. There’s getting some exercise, and then there’s a forced march.
I opted for circumnavigating the hill, sticking to the relatively level ground instead. That’s where all the interesting stuff which I like to point a camera at is found, anyway. Up top, it’s mainly houses.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular bridge, called ‘31st street Bridge,’ is fairly high in elevation. It has to conquer a severe change in altitude from one bank of the river to the other. The peninsula side is flat and relatively close to the waterline, whereas the other side connects to that steep hill which they used to terrify the doomed pigs upon.
The left side of the shot visually signals my next steps into the ‘Strip District,’ and the navigational point of destination was the U.S. Steel building, which is the tallest building protruding from the downtown skyline on the left side.
More 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.
Ten mile scuttle, too
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Using the Three Rivers heritage trail as my path, a humble narrator was taking a very long walk in Pittsburgh recently. It’s been extremely difficult to maintain the walking schedule, given the ferocious winter weather we’ve been experiencing here in the Paris of Appalachia, throughout January. Extreme cold, lots of precipitation, winds… brrr.
When the odd day comes along that you can be outside, you take maximum advantage of that condition. At least I do. As described in the preceding post, I had a plan to wander all over the joint.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 8th of January is the day these shots were captured. It was balmy but not freezing out, although the sky vault and sun were obscured by a solid layer of clouds. I was packing a full kit with me, and I found myself using three lenses over the course of the walk – primarily it was my 28-105 zoom, but I found spots where the 16mm f2.8 and 35mm f1.8 were required, before I made it back to HQ in nearby Dormont. I had a tripod with me but didn’t use it, just like the folding umbrella that I was also carrying.
This was a filthy black raincoat day, coupled with a fleece sweatshirt and thermal longjohns under my pants. As is my new habit, I was wearing a flash orange ball cap, an adaptation I’ve made to the usual black sackcloth that I clothe myself in normally.
It’s Hunting season, here in Western PA, and a little extra visibility is a sensible prophylactic given how much time I’m spending walking around on wooded trails. This walk was in the center of the city, where you’re not encountering gun toting woodsmen, but a little extra visibility does not hurt when you consider ‘traffic.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My principal goal for the day was to really blast out the legs with a long walk, which would see me upping my normal walking speed a bit. Given the weather, and the frequency with which my normal exercise schedule gets thwarted once the winter set in, I was determined to take advantage of the day and really lean into the walk.
Of course, I was also scouting locations for shooting sessions when things warm up a bit. Especially locations where I could pull the car over into a parking spot, and set up the camera for cool night shots.
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.
A Ten mile scuttle, part one
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather has been absolutely awful in Pittsburgh since the new year began. Rain, snow, cold, repeat. When the weather forecast indicated that we had a day with zero precipitation on hand, a humble narrator leapt forth from HQ with the intention of taking a very long walk. I rode the T light rail to its terminal stop nearby Heinz Acrisure Stadium, and started kicking my heels about.
That’s the approach ramp to the Fort Duquesne Bridge pictured above, a steely parabola connecting one of the local interstates to a primary crossing of the Allegheny River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Andy Warhol Bridge – about a mile or so from the T – and one of the ‘Three Sisters’ group of bridges spanning the Allegheny River. I left the street grid there and entered a Three Rivers Heritage Trail corridor along the waterfront.
My plan was fairly simple, I would walk from the North Side terminus of the T to the 31st street Bridge where I’d cross the river, whereupon I would scuttle along the peninsular section of the City to another T stop. My original idea was to cross the Monongahela River by walking over a bridge as well, but… weather…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next week, I’ll show you what I saw along the way on this ‘long walk.’ At least some of it at least. I got in some good scouting time for future photowalk action along the way, and burned out about ten miles worth of shoe rubber.
Back next week with more, at 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.
Serendipitous scuttling
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle underwent a medical procedure back in October, and thusly has had to go visit the Doctor a few times since for post procedural checkups. This entire scenario of hers takes place at Allegheny General Hospital on Pittsburgh’s North Side, and I’ve usually got an hour to an hour and a half to kill while she’s in with the Doc.
I parked the Mobile Oppression Platform at a meter spot and took myself a short walk, thereby, while a light snow was falling. I was heading over to, and ultimately hanging out, on an overlook that sits above a set of railroad tracks.
Just yesterday, I described Allegheny Valley Railroad as being like a ‘white whale’ – rarely seen, and never if you’re actually looking for it. Just to make a liar of me…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a pretty busy interval, rail traffic wise. These are Norfolk Southern’s tracks, and a good amount of mid afternoon activity was underway. These rails feed into a set of tracks that lead north easterly along the Allegheny River, and also allow egress onto the Fort Wayne Rail Bridge – which leads to a track that’s set pretty much through the center of the City, and are a primary freight pathway eastwards towards the ocean coast. Amtrak uses those same rails, too.
The air was brutally cold. As mentioned, a light snow was underway, but atmospheric temperatures were in the low 20’s and a stiff wind was blowing. I was wearing my ‘Pittsburgh Winter Coat,’ which is quite warm and mostly water repellant.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless, I still had some time to kill and the trains were rolling by one after the other. I’ve got a whole insulation system I use for this sort of weather condition, with my sweat shirt hood pulled up and over the brim of my baseball cap and the jackets hood up over that. I lose peripheral vision doing this, but it keeps my face and eyeglasses dry and forms a pocket of warm air around my ears and neck.
The spot I was standing on is a small street bridge over these tracks which has recently been closed to vehicle traffic, as it is structurally unsound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From behind me, another train heading west appeared. I bathed in the hot diesel fumes it was pushing up above it, which felt like a summer breeze but smelt like the apocalypse.
This is the same set of tracks leading to the trench through Allegheny Commons Park which I had been haunting in early December.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A triplet of engines set off for points east next, which is right about when Our Lady texted me to say that she was done with the Doctors and required pick up in the Mobile Oppression Platform. I scuttled back towards the MOP’s metered parking spot, which took me back along the fences of Allegheny Commons Park.
I heard the rumble a few seconds before the next train was coming my way, and was able to run over to a somewhat opportune spot in time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The White Whale was back, heading south eastward along the tracks.
Mind you, if I was specifically trying to get a shot of the AVRR, I’d still be standing there a month later. That’s just the way it goes for a humble narrator.
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 