The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

One has been informed by several members of those age cohorts which follow my own, that the word which forms the title of this post makes them vaguely uncomfortable. My response to this usually involves mentioning the packaging og supermarket cake mixes like Betty Crocker’s with their promises for the finished product, and then questioning them what about why this word is so disturbing to them. It’s vague, their discomfort is, I’m told.

Pittsburgh and its environs received a near record amount of rainfall in April, which caused the rivers to swell and burst their banks. It was quite a hullabaloo. Thereby, the entire Pittsburgh region was overly moist.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s Point State Park, with its iconic fountain, positively buried beneath an admixture of the Monongahela and Allegheny River’s respective waters. As is my practice, I wanted to get no where close to such conditions, and a visit to the community of West End and its Overlook Park – which are several hundred feet higher in altitude than the water – was enacted.

My time here was somewhat limited, I’d mention, as Our Lady of the Pentacle would be requiring a ride home from some social ‘do’ she was attending. One got busy with the camera in the allotted interval.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A low laying bank of mist, and a precipitant one at that, blew in from the direction of the Ohio River. The precipitation caught and diffused the emanations of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself, as it was dipping behind Mount Washington. There were a few other photographers at work up here, I’d mention – a couple of drone guys, and about three or four other stills shooters.

A kid standing next to me was obviously new to the ‘scene’ and had brought zero preparation with him for inclement atmospheric conditions. I had my umbrella with me, and a ubiquitously present and quite absorbent kitchen towel which I always carry, in case I have to wipe the camera down after a blast of rain comes through. You never know.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A rainbow set up behind Mount Washington and I made sure to get a shot of that. The flooding in Pittsburgh has since reversed, and the waterfront trails and the flooded park in the first and second shots have reopened for public inspection and use. Such is the nature of things, I guess.

For those of you who have accused a humble narrator of ‘drinking the kool aid’ on the subject of climate change, over the years, I’d ask – is the weather and your expectations of its seasonal variants different these days from when you were a kid? Does the winter seem warmer, the spring wetter?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Looking westwards, over the Ohio River, towards the bands of rain which the storm was blowing in, is what’s depicted in this shot. The ridge lining the start of the Ohio River Valley had already plunged the area into shadow, but the shot was a bit underexposed – purposely – to allow the rain some visibility.

Just as this shot was being executed, my phone chimed with a message from Our Lady that she was ready for me to come and fetch her. Five minutes, I replied.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Looking back at Downtown Pittsburgh with its flooded shorelines, just as the various office buildings began to light up for the night. The gear was then packed up, salutations offered to the young fellow standing next to me who owned an overly moist camera, and soon I was behind the wheel of the Mobile Oppression Platform and heading towards Our Lady.

Back tomorrow with something different at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

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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.