Carrie’ing
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More from Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnace, in today’s post –
As mentioned yesterday, on this outing I was primarily using a wide angle 16mm lens, attempting to capture more of an environmental feel in these shots. This particular focal length is slightly wider than the range of human vision (theoretically 22-24mm, depending on how big your head is), and whereas the thing has certain limitations, it’s a fun gizmo and allows for POV’s that are a bit different as compared to my normal dealie.
These photos safari’s at Carrie are a lot of fun, I’d mention. You more or less get free roam (with a few limitations), and can follow the tip of your nose about the campus for several hours. I also love the whole post industrial thing, with its rusty desolations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the odd things about the 16mm is how close to a subject you have to get. Normally, I’d stand about 7-8 feet back to get a shot like the one in frame above, whereas the 16mm’s quirks caused me to have to get within about two feet of the locomotive in the foreground.
Yeah, there’s fisheye distortion, but it is what it is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
About half way through the three hour session, I forced myself into a quick sit down, and gulped some water from a flask I was carrying. After a disastrous experience a couple of weeks ago, I’ve acceded to biology and started carrying water with me, even though having a vessel of liquid anywhere near my camera bag fills me with an existential dread.
Water is also pretty heavy, and there’s an inevitable moment when you’ve got to piss again…
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.
Carrie that, furnace this
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent Sunday evening found one at Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnace, once again, and attending a ‘photo safari.’ This time around I had pre-decided on using a wide angle 16mm lens, one which I’ve been enjoying the use of lately, as my primary weapon. It was affixed to the camera, the tripod was deployed, and thusly did your humble narrator ‘get busy.’
Carrie Furnace is a ruination, the ‘left behind,’ of a former steel mill found alongside the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh’s Swissvale section. This facility was once a part of the similarly abandoned Homestead mill complex, which was – in turn – once the largest example of such an industrial installation in these United States or – in fact – the world.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The opportunity to visit the site cost me $35, and was marketed both to myself and all the other lookie-loos as a ‘photo safari.’
You’re obliged to receive a quick safety primer from a representative of the ‘Rivers of Steel’ non profit outfit, who care for the site, and during said talk they point out restrictions on where you can and cannot go. You’re also required to wear a hard hat, which is a sensible precaution given the crumbling state of the surviving buildings.
I got started with the clicking and the whirring. I’ve been told that this section of the plant is where materials would be weighed and measured out on their way to the actual furnace, where they’d then be exposed to volcanic temperatures in pursuance of created admixtures needed for steel manufacture.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The small but powerful flashlight I carry with me was deployed, and a second or two of intense light was actuated from the thing for ‘fill light.’
This photo safari was designated as being a ‘sunset’ experience, but unfortunately at this time of year the sun doesn’t dip down behind Ohio until about 8:30 p.m., at which time I was actually starting the car to head back to HQ. No sunset for me, but… Still…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been here a few times at this point, and my last visit was during a pleasant morning just a few weeks ago, so this is likely going to be the last of Carrie Furnace that you’ll be seeing here – for a few months at least.
Saying that, it’s been a real pleasure every time I’ve visited the place. I like ‘perfecting’ a series of shots, after gaining familiarity with a location. Initial visits are sort like taking a visual survey for me, while behind the camera. After gaining some experience with a location, you go in with a plan based on prior experience, and prior shoots.
From this ideation is whence my ‘wide angle’ scheme for this visit had emerged.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I could spend months here, actually, picking out small details. What I was going for in this visit, instead, was to try and capture the cyclopean scale of things.
Everything on this campus is truly huge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot is the opposite POV to the first one in today’s post, and the concrete structure with the trackway on top of it is the very corridor that I was shooting within in shots 2,3,4, and 5.
Embedded below is a detail crop from this photo, which captures an image of the site plan map for Carrie Furnace that the Rivers of Steel people have displayed for perusal.
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.
More, more, more…
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After witnessing four trains in a row, at the end of a long walk, I felt pretty sated and started heading for the T light Rail station which would carry me from the center of Pittsburgh back to HQ about five miles distant. It had been a fairly good day.
That’s when the start of this show made an encore appearance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was leaving the waterfront trail and reentering the street ‘grid,’ the Miss Ivy Brynne Towboat shown in Monday’s post reappeared and was entering the maritime channel which would allow passage under the Smithfield Street Bridge.
Truth be told, I almost didn’t shoot these as I was quite pleased with myself and the day’s effort at this point, but did so anyway.
I had walked about eight and change miles, a distance which included multiple bridges and two rivers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the end of the story for this series of posts.
Next week, a return to Carrie Furnace, 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.
Train, three
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wow, what a scuttle I was experiencing.
A third CSX train entered the frame while I was walking along, heading westwards, CSX #7504. As mentioned a couple of days ago, I’ve spent as long as two hours waiting for something – anything – to appear on these tracks in Pittsburgh in the past and ‘nada.’
In the interval of about thirty minutes, one observed a Towboat maneuvering fifteen mineral barges, two CSX trains, and then a second Towboat at work. Sometimes you get lucky. Most of the time, I don’t.
There’s a reason I don’t buy lotto tickets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
# 7504 screamed past me, and in the distance, I saw a plume of exhaust shoot up out of the CSX # 7289 unit, which had been sitting inert while these other two westerly trains passed through.
A shooting position was taken up, and another lens change iniated.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Fort Pitt bridge framing the shot above, and which I was standing in the shadow of. It was a bright and sunny day, and a bit of cover was required at this point, as I was beginning to feel the effect of having been exposed to the radiates of the Burning Thermonuclear Eye of God itself for several hours at this point.
My day wasn’t actually finished yet, I’ll point out. I was already an hour late in terms of a social engagement later in the evening, but when the universe is sending this much in the way of cool stuff your way – you keep shooting until the show is over.
Back tomorrow with even 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.
Train, too
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking a waterfront trail, found along the south bank of the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, one had spotted a train sitting entirely still while pointed eastwards (described yesterday). The signal boards which govern the movement of such transportation units indicated that ‘something’ was likely going to be heading westwards shortly.
CSX #1899 ending being one of the somethings, but it ended up not being the only something. Such occurrences bring joy to one such as myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the actual river bank found on the other side of the tracks, a towboat was tying up to a series of mineral barges. Most of the time, nothing happens when passing through here. When something is happening, a lot of other things seem to also be happening. This is sort of ‘the way of things’ when you’re in the habit of following a camera around.
This spot is right about the point where the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh commingle, and form the headwaters of the Ohio River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #1899 is what’s known as a heritage unit, painted up all ‘old timey’ special and it’s christened as the ‘Pere Marquette.’ Read all about it here.
Were I a railfan rather than just some ‘icehole who likes taking pictures of trains,’ I’d likely be jumping up and down with joy at this capture, but that would puncture the numbed down and dire outlook on life which I pride myself on. Nothing matters, and nobody cares, after all.
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 