Styling down Sterling St.
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First off, I had no idea that an event called ‘Steptrek’ was playing out on the particular day I took this walk, but it was.
I’ve been slowly consuming Laura Zurowski’s ‘City Steps of Pittsburgh’ book, and visiting some of the interesting locations discussed by the author, when ‘fancy’ strikes, or I just need a good downhill sort of workout for my still gamey ankle.
In this case, that how I ended up at the Sterling Street Steps, found in the South Side Slopes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘zone’ is somewhat insane, in terms of building a neighborhood onto terrain this challenging and steep. The City Steps of Pittsburgh allow for pedestrian egress around these hills and valleys. They also provide unbeatable views of the city.
There’s ‘orphan houses’ up here, which are only connected to the outside world via the City Steps. No other street access.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking down at the entrance/top of the Sterling Street Steps, and in the distance is the Birmingham Bridge, over the Monongahela River. On the other side of the river, that’s the neighborhood of ‘Uptown’ squatting on ‘The Bluff.’ Beyond, it’s the ‘Hill District’ for that tree line, and towards the right is Oakland, where the colleges are. It’s all very exciting, really.
It was a perfect day, weather wise, in Pittsburgh. Temperatures in the middle/high 60’s and low humidity. The sky was milky, but clear.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As far as the event I’d inadvertently wandered into, there were lots and lots of people with printed out maps who were wearing athletic clothing and participating in ‘StepTrek.’
Chatted with one bloke from the promotion for a few minutes, on these steps, imparting him with every bit of encouragement I could to dare walking Rialto Street and then trying out the St. Nicholas Church trail. I advised him about how horrific the latter experience is, but opined that you really have to just scratch that one off your list.
Hey, check me out, I actually know something about Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Longtime readers will tell you that I’ve been assiduously working my way around, over, down, and through Pittsburgh’s many corridors since getting the ‘all clear’ from the Orthopedic people in late Spring. At first, my post broken ankle movements were truncated, pained, and difficult. Penguin walking, as I described it.
Throughout the summer and early autumn, gradual improvements in stride and pace have occurred as I’ve fought to build my strength back up.
Nobody is chanting ‘playah’ when I scuttle past, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
No matter what happens to you, you need to keep moving.
An unstoppable person is an irresistible force. Get out into the world and see it with your own eyes. Don’t believe half of what you read or any of what you hear until you’ve witnessed it for yourself. All is false and phoney. The only truth out there is what can be seen and touched and smelled. And photographed, of course.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Overlook! Now, more than ever!
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, I was kicking dirt at the West End Elliot Overlook park while waiting for Our Lady of the Pentacle to return home from a trip abroad. Passing time until the summons to pick her up at the airport, one set up the camera and the tripod, and I was soon perpetrating some low light photography – something which hasn’t been practiced in a while.
I still had my ‘daylight Zoom lens’ on the camera, even though conditions didn’t favor it. A bit of motion blur began to manifest, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was plenty of stuff to keep me busy while Our Lady was traveling. Primarily, care and attention for Moe the Dog, but I was also developing a few hundred photos and doing several other digital tasks in the home office which I have set up in the basement of HQ. Beyond that, the necessities of life were obliged – the cooking and cleaning, life stuff.
This evening was my first release from the domestic and canine maintenance schedule in about a week, and it felt great to be outside shooting. It was made sweeter by the imminent return of Our Lady to Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, I switched out the daylight zoom lens for a lowlight 85mm f2 prime, a device which is a much more apt tool for the job.
The wider aperture also allows for faster shutter speeds, which eliminates most of the motion blur.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m planning out a winter time project which will all be ‘night stuff,’ as it’s a lot easier to pull off during the winter months due to the intransigence of the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself’s presence in the celestial vault during the winter season. Doesn’t get light out until relatively late in the mornings, and it’s getting dark by 5-6 p.m. Add in some rain, and you’ve got noir dripping all over the joint.
On it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My time here was growing short, and it wouldn’t be long before the text arrived from Our Lady that her plane had landed. It would be about a twenty or so minute drive to get to the airport, and then an indeterminate period defined by however long it took her to get through customs. Luckily, this ain’t JFK, so she was out toot sweet.
There are just so many things which I don’t miss about NYC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last shot gathered was of a vessel in the Gateway Clipper’s tourist boat fleet, which features a massive catering hall – built onto a barge – that’s permanently attached to an old tugboat.
The text message finally chimed in, and then I hurtled through the darkness to the airport to retrieve Our Lady. Moe the Dog was absolutely apoplectic when his favorite person returned home. Me too.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
Kicking dirt at West End Elliot Overlook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After an interminable interval, Our Lady of the Pentacle had finally boarded a flight, from the UK, and was on her way back home via the Pittsburgh International AirPort.
Me? I had time to kill while anxiously waiting to pick her up from that facility, and had positioned myself in a photogenic spot to pass the time until that joyous moment when a text arrived saying ‘I’ve landed.’
I picked the West End Elliot Overlook Park to go kick dirt, partially because it’s about a five minute drive to a highway onramp which would then send me hurtling in the direction of Our Lady in the automobile.
About a 25 minute drive at this time of day, more or less, from this spot to the airport. Perfect.
The tripod was set up, my lens cleaned of dust, and I got busy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This little outing of mine occurred just before sunset, and the Overlook is a great place to shoot ‘urban landscape’ for both sunrise and sunset. A city park, there’s a parking lot with a port-a-potty installed in it, and there’s always some people there. Some picnic people were observed, a few pot smokers, others sipping hooch from a bottle hidden in a paper bag. Lots of dog walkers, too. Nice quiet and cool spot, this.
There was maritime traffic down on the ‘Mon,’ with a Towboat towing an enormous raft of what looked like twenty empty barges under the Fort Pitt Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Ronald D. Koontz Towboat. Marinetraffic.com offers this page about the vessel, which hides what you’d like to see behind a paywall that renders the formerly great functionality of their site moot. Cory Doctorow has coined the term ‘enshittification’ to describe what’s going on with the internet these days, and I’m in agreement.
The future has turned out to really suck, hasn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself’s emanations faded, I was keeping myself busy. Panoramas, long exposures, the whole quiver.
If you’d like to see a full sized version of the panorama image above, click here for its Flickr page and zoom in. Go to town. Carnival!
The two bridges in the shot are the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River on the left, and the Fort Pitt Bridge over the Monongahela River on the right.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I kept checking my phone for the anxiously awaited text that Our Lady had landed at the airport. In the meantime, I kept shooting.
It’s been a long time since I did any ‘night stuff.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s West End Bridge over the Ohio River, which is frequently mentioned here. I’ll often walk over that span on one of my scuttles, after taking the T light Rail to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Things a-popping, everywhere’s ya looks
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a long interval of ‘have-to’s,’ your humble narrator finally found a little time for the camera’s exercises. I had the car with me, and drove to where I was going, violating my normal habit of leaving the car at home when out scuttling. Since I was hyper-mobile, I checked in on the Rook Yard of the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR outfit while on my way. They were doing ‘something,’ with that train set moving back and forth while workers adjusted the switches. Everybody has something to do.
Our Lady of the Pentacle was out of town, and Moe the Dog was thereby nervous and ‘faklempt’ without her for better than a week. She’s goodness and light, Out Lady is, and when she’s not here all the dog has to rely on is me.
I’m horrible, an intelligence of malign instincts housed in the decaying cadaver of a man, an outsider and abomination which somehow walks and breathes but never seems to stop talking. Poor Moe had to deal with me, but after a certain interval of service to the pup, one needed to get some exercise and wave the camera around lest madness take over.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I drove down to the Monongahela River shoreline, and the Colors Park, where there’s also a parking lot. After the Mobile Oppression Platform was safely stowed, one gathered his gear together and set out for a scuttle. It was just a few miles this time, and I opted for a familiar section of the Great Allegheny Passage trail to focus in on and where I’d slap the pavement with my feet.
The concrete factory next door to the Sly Fox brewery was unloading a minerals barge and piling the stuff up for processing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since this was going to be a short walk, it had been decided to try and walk as fast as I’m capable of these days. Cardio, yo.
It was a warm autumn day in Pittsburgh, with clear skies and temperatures in the upper 70’s. Your humble narrator ‘leaned into it.’ No headphones or audiobooks for this walk, which I’d already capstoned as being ‘Liberty Bridge to Fort Pitt Bridge and back.’ There and back again is just under three miles. A short walk, thereby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back at HQ, Moe had really been working me during Pu Lady’s absence. I’m fond of telling the neighbors that Moe is very much Our Lady’s dog, but that I’m his favorite toy. That played out in an ever tightening circle of annoyance for me, and I desperately needed a break from the inter species dynamic for an afternoon.
Great care was exercised, in terms of moving about the world, given that Our Lady was on another continent and recent experience with the broken ankle revealed that your whole life can be turned upside down unexpectedly. Moe’s life was literally in my hands.
A ‘deadman’s switch’ was instituted with one of my neighbors. If she did not receive a daily text from me, her husband would then be instructed to break into my house after work and save Moe. I told them to just leave my body lying wherever they found it for the coroner to deal with.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! I was hoping a train or two might appear.
That’s CSX #7225, heading away from Ohio along the outfit’s Pittsburgh Subdivision (aka Keystone Subdivision) tracks along the Monongahela River. Tankers, that what it was hauling. Could have been fuel, or chemicals, can’t tell you what was inside. I also fundamentally do not care.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I still had a few days of solo service to the dog ahead of me. Our Lady is British, and she had headed home to visit her Dad and Brother as well as her passel of old friends. A hellish interval for me.
I hate the loneliness. I’ve become ‘institutionalized.’ Moe the Dog ain’t a great conversationalist.
Back next week with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
Skedaddling through the sky
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A wide angle 16mm prime lens had been affixed to my camera while walking over the Birmingham Bridge, which spans the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, and an attempt was made to tap into the lens’ potential.
You have to be mindful, with a lens like this, of weird optical distortions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s one of them now.
It really matters where the ‘what’ you focus on is ‘in’ the frame with this lens, due to severe barrel distortion. A hemispheric knob of glass forms the lens’ objective, rather than a flat element on the face of the thing.
I wasn’t listening to anything interesting on this walk, preferring to stay cognizant of my surroundings while moving through an area of urban density.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot with the wide angle lens, as I crossed over the bridge and got to the south side of the river. I sat down again, and refitted a zoom lens to the camera. Options.
I looked down and saw a set of rail tracks, thinking to myself that it would be super cool if a train came through just then.
Then I heard a train’s horn…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX was rolling through, hauling a line of mineral cars. Y’know what? It was ‘super cool.’
Sorry, but I’m going to have to say this bit again…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It looks like coal, or maybe ‘coke,’ which is cooked coal. I don’t know for sure, and long practice has taught me not to make assumptions about the things I see and photograph. I can say pretty categorically that it’s ‘minerals’ in those train cars.
This is a practice which I learned to follow on the fabulous Newtown Creek, which is that ‘unless you know for a fact what ‘something’ is, don’t try to ‘sound smart’ and guess.’ The hardest thing in the world for someone like me is to just utter the phrase ‘I don’t know.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a quick stop off at a Saloon for a rehydrating pint of Guinness, accompanied by a quick sit down and conversation with some amiable company, one set off for the final destination of the evening – a restaurant and pub which specialized in British food, of the specifically Scottish variety. Our Lady of the Pentacle is from England, so… homeland chow for her.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“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 