The Newtown Pentacle

Wednesday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

I do wish that my knowledge base was broad enough to describe the purpose of the various ruinations on display at Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnace in detail, or even in some sort of broad summary. I am proud that I’m intelligent enough to admit ignorance and say ‘I dunno.’

That’s always been the mark of a ‘smartie’ to me, somebody who’s willing to confess ignorance on a new topic. Stupid people make stuff up, and don’t ask questions, in my estimation.

I also wish that there was some sort of guide book which I could refer to here, but then again – I haven’t taken any of the River of Steel people’s guided tours of the site so maybe there is one. At any rate, as a ‘dirty rotten know it all’ it’s a genuine pleasure to not know things.

This is something about living in Pittsburgh which has been wonderful – novelty, and discovery.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

What I can tell you is that this former steel mill is a genuine ruin. It feels a bit like visiting the Acropolis in Athens, or a Mayan pyramid in Mexico, or even wandering the Brooklyn/Queens waterfront in the late 20th century. There used to be giants here, as the saying goes.

I’ve visited the Carrie Furnace campus a few times now, and have just purchased a ticket to return on the evening of May 19th for the ‘sunset photo safari.’ Who wants to bet that it’ll be raining on that particular day?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

These are all ‘tripod shots,’ as mentioned yesterday. You can certainly get away with handheld camera technique here, but I was desirous of capturing every little detail, pebble, and fleck of rust. It’s also a ‘controlled’ circumstance where you’ve got time to get fancy without having to watch your back.

The doors opened at 10 a.m., on a Sunday. I woke up early, in order to inhale a few cups of coffee and eat breakfast, which is a prerequisite for me getting busy in the early part of the day. I’m normally a late afternoon, blue hour, and night time shooter so mornings ‘ain’t usually my bag.’

I’m famously an owl, not a lark.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Use was made of the fantastic little flashlight I’ve started carrying – the Nitecore T4K. It allows short bursts of 4,000 lumens of light, which allows me to leave the flash gun at home. This burst feature takes the place of a strobe and I’m able to put some bright light where I want it pretty easily, although it’s a bit of guess work to figure out how long to depress the actuator on the thing.

In normal flashlight mode, it’s got a clip which allows for attachment to the bill of my ball cap and it functions like a head lamp. The thing is also usb-c rechargeable which is a major plus. Recommended.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Several of the internal rooms at Carrie were open this time for casual inspection, and one took advantage of the opportunity. As mentioned above, I’d be speculating about ‘what’s what’ in this space, so I’ll avoid the temptation other than offering a vague suspicion about this equipment somehow involving gas.

Luckily, my early strategy of moving far away from the group of other photographers paid off and I had about good amount of time in this chamber all by myself.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Here’s one of the spots where that Nitecore flashlight was super useful, as everything was positively bathed in shadow. I also used the exposure stacking technique, mentioned yesterday, which allowed for some detail to pop and materialize out of the darkness.

More tomorrow.

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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.