Archive for April 2024
Peripheral scuttling
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The walking route which occupied this particular Tuesday afternoon has become kind of familiar to me, and it’s a path which mirrors the Monongahela River’s southern shoreline. One was scuttling along the elevated P.J. McArdle roadway. The roadway has a nice pedestrian and bike lane which is separated from vehicle traffic by a line of concrete ‘Jersey barriers.’
The roadway structure juts out from a slope and is supported by a cantilever, which sticks out from the steep side of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington. Above me, and to the right in the POV above, I’m told that the neighborhood is called the ‘South Side Slopes,’ and down below and to the left in the shot above – it’s the ‘South Side Flats.’
This is a great Pittsburgh walk, as it’s all downhill, but you get to walk on a comfortable and graded angle. I’ve also walked up this path, and that’s a real and sweaty workout as it’s a steady ‘push’ against the elevation.
I was walking downhill, as I’m lazy – just ask anyone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Railroad tracks are set into a berm on the landform’s base, which is one of the lines which carry the Norfolk Southern RR outfit’s rolling stock through the city. Traffic along these tracks is pretty frequent, but it’s become one of my missions to find unoccluded points of view on the line – which is somewhat easier said than done.
The leather reclining chair spotted alongside the tracks made me wonder, and more than wonder. Admittedly, there’s a few homeless camps in the area, but – wow – it must have been quite an expenditure of effort to get that heavy leather chair to this spot. Odd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a small bridge which is part of the roadway, one which overflies the aforementioned rail tracks. It’s a neat spot to get rail shots from, and it’s one of several spots where I’ve ‘gotten lucky’ in the past.
Again – to be clear – not railfanning. I just like taking photos of trains.
Saying that – back tomorrow with some Choo-Choo.
“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.
Now, more than ever, scuttle on
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Tote that camera, lift them feets, scuttle forth – that was the order of the day for a humble narrator, after clearing the deck of other ‘have-to’s.’ The now familiar routine of climbing a hill, and then another shallower hill, found me again standing at the T light rail station here in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, waiting for a ride ‘into town.’
It was exercise day again, but I really wasn’t feeling it. The main thing I was feeling was pain in my right shoulder, and a certain bewilderment about how I managed to injure myself while sleeping. Doesn’t matter, really, as everything hurts all the time these days. Pain is my oldest and most loyal friend.
The plan on this particular day – which was a Tuesday – was to commit about three hours of time to constant movement, with the hope that I might randomly encounter a few things worth pointing the camera at.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My first destination involved what was probably trespassing, but there we are. I hung around this area and did a bit of scouting nearby these railroad tracks, but the signal boards visible behind me were all flashing steady red indicators, and there was some sort of track maintenance hullabaloo underway in the distance – so ‘No Bueno’ as far as trains a the time I was there. One hung around for a few minutes nevertheless, whereupon the fact that this was a ‘photowalk’ and not a ‘photo stand around and wait’ occurred to me.
One of my many rules, loosely followed during these photowalk/exercise day outings, is to keep moving. If there isn’t anything interesting going on when I’m passing by, it’s ‘not meant to be’ and I should keep scuttling along until something interesting collides with my path. I call this ‘serendipity,’ but I’m famously an idiot. Just ask anyone.
A humble narrator is not a patient man, but I’m working on that flaw. I’ve got an entire portfolio of flaws, just ask anyone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the downtown Pittsburgh skyline pictured above, as seen from alongside this set of empty railroad tracks. A South Hills bound T light rail train set was leaving the Panhandle Bridge over the Monongahela River, and crossed into the camera’s frame.
I would encounter rail traffic later on in my afternoon, I’d mention, which you’ll see ‘shots of’ in a subsequent post. The History of Rome podcast was still active on my headphone’s playlist, and was describing the reign of Emperor Tiberius and his treacherous Praetorian henchman Sejanus. Given that I’m a huge fan of the British ‘I, Claudius’ television series, it’s difficult to not picture a young Patrick Stewart when Sejanus comes up.
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 