Posts Tagged ‘Allegheny River’
Allegheny, north shore
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having woken up prior to sunrise and popping off a few shots from the West End Overlook, a humble narrator was hoping to visit the Mr. Rogers monument along the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s north side. Unfortunately, a crew of laborers were performing some sort of maintenance there and the thing was roped off. I had already fed the parking meter, so the Mobile Oppression Platform was happily ensconced and thereby I set off along the river trail.
That’s the Fort Duquesne Bridge, Pittsburgh’s famous ‘bridge to nowhere’ pictured above, with the office buildings of downtown Pittsburgh behind it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There seems to be a whole ‘scene’ here, revolving around pleasure boats navigating down the rivers and tying off along the waterfront. I’m sure there’s some form of governance, fees, all that. Saying that, boats can tie up to cleats and bollards and people overnight on them. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.
It’s nice to live in a place where such things are ‘normal,’ and treated in a business like fashion. NYC identifies things people like to do, and then taxes the activity into oblivion and or criminalizes it. Can’t leave your house or attend a gathering without the ‘Reverend in Blue’ administering every single human interaction there, or having some bureaucratic entity doing its best to monetize you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This odd thing caught my eye. Theory #1 is that somebody found these keys and automobile ‘FOB’ on the sidewalk and stuck them into the tree to help out whomever lost it. Theory #2 is that some drunk tried to start up or unlock a tree. This spot was equidistant between the Steelers and the Pirates sports ball stadiums, and there’s a LOT of bars found between them, so I thereby lean towards Theory #2.
Back tomorrow with something different, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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From West End Overlook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has mentioned, and offered views from, Pittsburgh’s West End Overlook Park in the past. This spot is about a 15 minute long and quite easily executed drive from HQ in the nearby Borough of Dormont, and the overlook provides commanding views of the city center. You’re actually executing about a half mile of change in altitude while driving through three and change miles horizontally – it’s a thousand feet down to the level of the river from Dormont, and then around a thousand feet up through the neighborhoods of West End and Elliot. Proximity means I find myself heading up there periodically to wave the camera about.
This time around, it was that interval of the day during which the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself disappears behind Ohio.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the juncture, right in front of the fountain at Point State Park, of the three rivers – where the Monongahela and Allegheny combine to form the Ohio River. I’m told Lewis and Clark left for their famous adventure on the Jeffersonian mission to examine the western territories gained via the Louisiana Purchase from somewhere nearby. I’m also led to believe that the stand of tall buildings on the right hand side of the ‘point’ used to be a rather busy rail yard.
Moe the Dog was along for this excursion, and so was Our Lady of the Pentacle, whom he was hauling about at her end of his leash. This spot is absolutely infested with Spotted Lantern Flies, I would mention, and as Moe considers the pests to be flying popcorn… let’s just say Moe did his part to combat the infestation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’ve probably discerned, I was playing about with various methods of capturing the scenery. I shot a few panoramas as well, such as this one. A humble narrator really likes this spot for several reasons.
There’s ample parking, and a Port A Potty is found in the parking lot at the entrance to the place. There’s lot of strollers, pot smokers, and dog walkers who frequent the spot and on more than one occasion, I’ve seen and chatted with other members of the tripod and lens crowd as well as Drone pilots, and even a broadcast television videographer up here. It reminds me of the scene long enjoyed along the East River along Long Island City’s piers during Manhattanhenge.
If I’m coming here though, it’s always at the bookends of the day – very early or nearly late. I haven’t done the ‘dead of night’ here. Yet.
“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.
Scuttling on the North Side of Pittsburgh
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the northern bank of the Allegheny River, here in Pittsburgh, there’s an area called the ‘North Side.’ There’s lots of individual neighborhoods found within the region, but this section of the greater metro area used to be an independent municipality called “Allegheny City” which Pittsburgh annexed at the start of the 20th century. Further up the river is where the Heinz Factory was, and the ‘zone’ I was in for this post was the one that touches the ‘Mexican War Streets.’ The spot which I was specifically in has the National Aviary as its landmark, with said institution sitting in the middle of the very nice Allegheny Commons Park.
I’ve mentioned the many, many diagnostic medical tests which a humble narrator has endured in recent months. Our Lady of the Pentacle has also been getting probed and pinched and irradiated, and on a recent morning while she was enjoying just such a procedure, I needed somewhere to take Moe the Dog. We ended up in this park, which is somewhat nearby the hospital, while waiting for Our Lady to be done. I made a mental note to come back on foot without Moe, and that’s why I was there on this particular day. Scouting!
You’re all caught up now.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been looking for a spot to observe these rail tracks, cut into a trench through the park, for a while. While Moe was chasing down a squirrel, the little dog led me right here. There’s a swell ‘autumn’ shot to be gathered here, with the black Norfolk Southern locomotives moving through the trench. The trees planted along the fence are Gingkos, I’m told, whose leaves turn a bright golden yellow during fall. You’ve got your black train and your gold leaves – which are not just Steelers colors but in fact are the heraldic colors of Pittsburgh.
On this particular afternoon, a humble narrator wasn’t trying to get all ‘artsy fartsy,’ instead I was walking quickly and observing the state of the neighborhood ‘milieu.’ North Side has an insalubrious ‘reputation’ according to the ‘born n bred’ Pittsburghers, but to my eyes… Heck. East New York and Far Rockaway are my delimiters for danger, so my perception of things is a bit different than that of the locals, I think, due to the experience of having lived in “Home Sweet Hell” my whole life.
Walk around Industrial Maspeth at night during a pandemic, I’d offer, if you want actual scary.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The purpose of this adventure was to get some exercise and fix a geospatial awareness of those rail tracks in the old noggin, and to also work out how to get to this area using the T light rail rather than driving here. This section of Pittsburgh reminds me of several spots in Brooklyn and Queens, especially their scarcity of street parking.
One leaned into it and started heading southwards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This may look pretty desolate, but the land under these expressway ramps is a parking lot about two blocks away from the sports ball stadium which the Pirates baseball team plays in. On game days, this lot would be brimming with tail gate BBQ’s and hundreds if not thousands of people and their vehicles.
The rest of my day’s plan involved the other side of Pittsburgh, and I’d need to cross two rivers on foot to get there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m told that the modernist building in the shot above is the HQ of the ALCOA aluminum outfit. That river is the Allegheny, with downtown Pittsburgh looming up behind and to the south of it.
It was a warm but lovely day in Pittsburgh, with a decent breeze and temperatures in the middle 80’s. It was fairly humid, however.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are three fairly identical bridges found here, called the ‘Three Sisters.’ The one pictured above is the Rachel Carson Bridge, named for the author of the seminal environmentalist book “Silent Spring.”
Back next week with more from the Paris of Appalachia.
“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.
Will there be cake?
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, a humble narrator had purchased a ticket for a narrated tour of the Allegheny River from the Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit. The narration was grand, offered lots of ‘in the know’ trivia, and was conducted by two fellows who were passing the microphone back and forth. One of them was expert on the subject of Pittsburgh’s bridges, whereas the other was versed in city planning and the scholastic field of urbanism. Nicely done, I would venture to say.
Also as mentioned yesterday, my internal dialogue was ranting and raving about personal insecurities and generally chewing up the mental carpet. While all this was going on, I was clicking and whirring the camera as we moved through Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The sky was building up a storm, which was coagulating into the misty wildfire smoke drifting down from Canada. This was the same atmospheric interval which saw the East Coast turn orange and red, but at least on this day Pittsburgh only had a bit of haze. That would change a few days later, which you’ll see in a post later this week.
I was using one of my older lenses on this outing, an 18-300 Sigma. While shooting with it, I realized how much I missed its qualities and made a decision to bring a couple of other old favorites out of the locker and see how they react to the mirrorless camera. They all need an adapter to go from one lens mount to another, but there you are.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The mirrorless lenses I have are actually pretty top notch, but you don’t want to wear the same pants every day. Actually… I do wear the exact same thing everyday. One of my odd behaviors is that when I find a garment that fits well physically and is constructed robustly, and has lots of secure pockets, I go back to wherever I got it and buy 5 more of the thing, same color and size. Superman has multiple iterations of only two suits in his closet – Clark Kent’s dark blue business suit, and the Kryptonian leotards with the cape. It’s one less thing to worry about. There’s a winter version and a summer variant of the Mitchsuit.
‘What would Superman do?’ I ask myself that all the time.
After we docked, I positively jumped into the drivers seat of the Mobile Oppression Platform and paid my parking lot fee, then headed back to HQ about 5 miles away. I’m always checking the weather for interesting conditions that might make for good shots, and discovered that the next couple of days were going to be very interesting in terms of atmospherics. More on that, 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.
Anxious on the Allegheny
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, one attended a narrated boat tour offered by the Doors Open Pittsburgh operation. I’m still learning about my new home base, after all. I took the opportunity to worry, while shooting pictures of the wonders rolling by.
Worry about what?
Everything, silly. Just like I’ve trained the brain to let anger flare and dissipate quickly, and to never allow myself to feel either happiness or joy, so too have I created a mental socket for the absolutely useless process of worrying about existential matters which I have zero control over. I tend to enjoy that form of anxiety when I can’t possibly walk into traffic or drive the car into a tree while distracted by having gone all meditative.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, that’s the former Heinz factory!
That reminded me to worry about running out of ketchup back at HQ, which made me worry about whether or not I locked the back door on my way out. That then made me wonder if anybody was trying HQ’s back door back in Dormont, which led to a mild panic attack about whether or not I had locked the car doors back in the boat company’s parking lot. What would, could, or should? I was raised by neurotic people, and grew up in a subculture known for its histrionic responses to ordinary or predictable stimuli.
I got bit by a mosquito on the boat, so then I worried about malaria too.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mental process like this is entirely self defeating, of course, but you need to clean the bathroom periodically and so too with the poop that accumulates twixt the ears. Saying that, I’ve been in a LOT of doctor’s offices lately, which has freaked me out a bit. This sort of thing tends to muddy my psychological waters. Inspections. Brrr.
Allowing these thoughts to express themselves in an internal manner while I’m safely shooting from the deck of a boat allows me to put the shields back up before getting back onto dry land.
Just ask – How’re ya Mitch?
Everything’s great, all the time. That’s my answer, followed by ‘it’s just another day in Paradise.’ Then I’ll tell you a joke to distract you away from further inquiry. Hey, look at that, it was cloudy in Pittsburgh that day and…
“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 