CSX 5401, coming through
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself headed out on a fairly nice evening – with temperatures in the high 40’s and just a bit of wind, no precipitation – with the intention of drinking a couple of beers at the Sly Fox Brewery location found in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh and waving the camera about if and when a train came by.
So… I’ve been asked why I keep going back to take from this same well, and present a fairly similar series of shots of trains here time and again. You’ve seen one CSX train, you’ve seen them all, right? Not so much, for me at least. I’m working on camera technique, and hoping ‘the planets align’ on a few fronts eventually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A habit born back in NYC, when I’m ’working a shot,’ I’ll return to it a hundred times until I get ‘the one.’ There’s variants of photos captured in this spot which are pretty close to what I’m hoping to get. Is the T Light Rail is visible on the Panhandle Bridge in the background, is the sun hitting the freight train, and is the locomotive itself is kicking up dust that’s also catching the sun? If so, hoorah!
For instance, this version of the scene from September was fairly banging, as far as what I’m looking for in this composition. Saying that, this spot has become a bit of a hang out for me, and when you find ‘fish in a barrel’ you return to that spot.
Suffice to say that this brewery location offers a lot more comfort than you’d normally get while out shooting – easy access to a toilet, beer and food, etc. The trains roll through, in the evening hours, about once every 30-40 minutes here and you really can’t fault a location for the frequency of interesting subject matter which comes hurtling past the lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I used to have sludge boats, you see, and several well worn locations on Staten Island where you could be assured of a maritime presence. I also used to have a certain Creek, which had fairly infrequent rail and tugboat action, but it had them. Honestly, if there had been a bar up on the Pulaski Bridge…
These days, it’s freight trains, one reckons. I swear, if I don’t take a picture of a large machine at least once a week…
Back tomorrow with more.
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The Newtown Pentacle 
“easy access to a toilet, beer and food” Perfect! Very glad your recovery is proceeding.
dbarms8878
January 7, 2025 at 8:08 pm