Archive for January 2025
Bother
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Snow, snow, snow. That’s what we’ve had here in Pittsburgh for the last couple of weeks. One has been as careful as possible, given the ankle situation, but I still have to attend my PT or Physical Therapy appointments twice a week at this point so snow or not – I gotta go. The Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, has been performing ably in these challenging situations. There’s a transmission setting for ‘trail’ onboard, which allows for full all wheel drive and lessens torque in the drive wheels which ameliorates slipping.
This weather has been an absolute misery, which is so much worse for Our Lady of the Pentacle as my infirmity has resulted in her having to shovel the snow, and be the solo walker for Moe the Dog. Moe pees a lot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It seems like every 48 hours or so, a new band of winter weather smacks into the area. Temperatures have been frigid as well, single digits at night and never getting out of the 20’s during the day. Today is meant to be relatively warm – 36 degrees – and I’m hoping that this afternoon I can get out and about for a few hours with the camera.
Practice has long been to maintain a couple of weeks worth of photos, ahead of what’s being published here, in order to maintain the daily schedule. The shots you’re looking at right now were developed in photoshop just last night. I hate rushing about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s the oft mentioned Mobile Oppression Platform in the shot above, caked in snow and ice. That’s my back yard and driveway, if you’re curious, and I shot this one from an open garage door. Why don’t I keep my car in the garage, a certain fellow named George is about to ask…
Answer is that the car is too tall to fit through the 1960’s era garage door.
I use the garage for storage, and I’ve set up a table in it to use as a desk for scanning the news while drinking my morning coffee, and for ‘writing posts’ time. Some variation of the scene above is usually what I’m looking at while jotting off these missives.
Back next week.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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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.
Going home empty
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last triad of images, from a rather unproductive afternoon, but given that in this post-broken ankle interval, I’m vaingloriously trying to maintain a daily schedule here in the absolute trough of a Pittsburgh winter, it’s the best I could do. Norfolk Southern let me down, there should be trains moving around in the shot above. Blast!
I was prepared, by the way. I had a radio scanner in my camera bag and everything, but no activity. Thwarted!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was cold and bored, so for some reason this vine imprisoned hunk of cement on the rail bridge caught my eye. After about a half hour or so of waiting around, I limped over to the Mobile Oppression Platform (a Toyota) and fired the engine up.
With the exceptions of the days I go to ‘PT’ or ‘physical therapy’ and the day directly following one of the sessions when sore, I’m beginning to feel ok most of the time, regarding the injury. The PT sessions involve a lot of targeted exercises which are coached directly by the therapist. These include some time on a leg press, an interval on a sort of bike, stretches, and there’s a few things they have me doing which just look ridiculous.
At least they do when I perform them, as I’m fairly comical to watch.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The nose of the MOP was pointed towards home. This time around, I opted to use the West End Bridge, which I’ve mentioned several times before in connection with walking rather than driving over it.
You’ve got pretty good views from this bridge, which hangs over the headwaters of the Ohio River. 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.
North side, Pittsburgh
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As part of a very frustrating afternoon, wherein I had to go fetch a few compositions for this week’s posts while the region is in a deep freeze, one found himself on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The past still seems to be standing tall in this area, nearby the ‘Mexican War Streets’ and ‘Chateau’ historic districts. What you’ll see lining the streets here is pretty much the same as every other historic district you’ll encounter in the northeastern United States, old commercial and light industrial structures repurposed to modern needs, with the streetscape being preserved in atavist fashion.
I’ve been meaning to take a walk around here for a while, although it’s not like this section has escaped my notice since moving out to Pittsburgh from Queens’ Astoria in December of 2022. Of course, I was taking a drive on this particular day rather than a walk, since my shattered left ankle is still reconstituting itself and the ground is cloaked in snow and ice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many odd things about Pittsburgh is that it’s not all that hard to find a place to park, even on weekday in the central business districts, although I prefer leaving the car in a parking lot (about $5-7, depending) to metered street parking. On this particular afternoon, however, it was street parking that I used. My goal for this location involved trains, but Norfolk Southern seemed to be in on the whole ‘let’s not let Mitch see anything he might find interesting’ conspiracy.
It’s not so easy being the main character, sometimes.
When I got out of the car, a local resident who was smoking a cigarette asked me what I was up to. We actually had a pretty nice conversation about the area, photography, and conversation revealed that he was one of the many people who had bought an apartment in one of these renovated historic buildings. The Harvester International Building was that particular structure, right alongside the RR tracks. He said the building’s soundproofing was spectacular.
Saying all that, it was freezing and my ankle hurt, so I headed back to the Mobile Oppression Platform (a Toyota) and turned on the heat within the cabin. I had already decided to just throw my hands up and admit defeat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a warren of narrow 19th century streets that you’ll find in this area. Narrow and canyonesque due to the built environment, there’s a lot of interesting details and ‘pregnant’ locations in this zone. When it warms up a bit and I’m fully back on my feet, this place is going to be examined closely.
Pictured is part of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, an 1886 vintage ‘sacred space’ which I’m definitely going to try and visit at some point in the future, and hopefully get some interior shots of.
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.
Focal lengths
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve said it a thousand times – you can’t see anything from a vehicle, especially when you’re the driver. It has to be walking, for me, if you want to notice something interesting about a city. The shots in today’s post were gathered from an automobile’s POV, I’d mention, and your humble narrator is frustrated at his need for transportation and wishes that this whole broken ankle business would just end already. I’m done.
Yesterday, one had a few errands to run, which took me about an hour and a half to accomplish. The rest of the day was mine, and the weather had unexpectedly abandoned its ultra cold and snowy character to reveal blue sky and sunlight. I had the camera bag sitting in the passenger seat and the camera securely perched next to the thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Would have been a great day for a winter walk, if it wasn’t for all of the hard packed ice clinging to the pavement everywhere. Medical opinion is that I’m coming out of this experience with a bit of PTSD related to the injury, so that ice situation filled me with anxiety and dread. My scuttling is careful and hesitant at the moment, with an uneven gait. Balance issues also seem to be a new entry onto my dance card. Wonderful, say I. Nothing like ‘dangling participles’ which you have to deal with long after a traumatic event occurred to remind you about it – constantly, and especially so around descending flights of steps.
Since I had the car with me, for which I had to worry about parking and such, my position kept on changing and I ranged across the city on a day when nothing particularly interesting was happening. Not five minutes after I left this spot – of course – a CSX freight train ran through, which I missed getting a shot of. If I was on foot… if only… bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a pretty frustrating afternoon, actually. One was trying to ‘force it,’ which never works out well. Pittsburgh wasn’t cooperating with my aspirations. The light wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Salt powder is on the wind, lifting up off of all the roadways whenever a car or truck drove by, lending everything a bit of an orange cast as light filters through it.
Saying all that, I’m practically doing this blog live right now, and the pixels are ‘still wet’ on these shots. One two hour walk would provide for serendipity, but that’s way outside of my capability at the moment.
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.
Coming and going
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, lookee – that’s one of Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ light rail units on approach to the Red Line’s ‘Potomac Station’ here in the Borough of Dormont. Neat!
Luckily, I was running an errand across the street when the alarms began to sound, and the signal arms came down. I’m really looking forward to riding on this service again, as a note, once I’m able to climb up the steep hill from HQ to the station. This ankle situation is a constant ‘block’ towards me having any fun at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The unit pictured above, as in both of the shots, was heading away from Pittsburgh towards a terminal stop in South Hills Village. The T runs at street level, in trenches and on bridges, and even underground as a subway for a few stops. In Dormont, they have a dedicated track and a high platform station, but if you head back towards the city just a couple of T stops, in Beechview, you’ll notice that its rails are set into the asphalt, so the thing runs alongside autos and trucks as a surface vehicle. It’s all very complicated, frankly.
The T operates on a catenary system, which provides it with the motive voltage that it consumes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another ‘T’ arrived at the intersection where I was standing, this one heading into Pittsburgh. Under normal circumstance, at least once a week I’d find myself riding this service to ‘head into town’ and execute a long walk from its northern terminus nearby the sportsball stadium which provides a home for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve got three routes from that point which have proven productive – photography wise – and also provide for ‘good cardio.’ Ultimately, I’m usually heading back to a T stop along the Monongahela River at the end of the effort for my ride home.
At least that’s what I used to do when my ankle didn’t hurt. I miss doing this sort of thing. Massively.
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 