Posts Tagged ‘Allegheny River’
Vampire barriers
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It must suck to be a Vampire in Pittsburgh because you’ve got all this running water which needs to be navigated around, and all of the bridges that you can’t cross similarly because of ‘running water.’ On the plus side for the Nosferatu-Americans, it’s cloudy or overcast about 2/3 of the year – which occludes the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself’s radiate gaze – so you’d have that going for you. More good news is that the people of Pittsburgh seem pretty well fed, and many of them look like they’re really full of tasty blood.
I was heading towards a pedestrian/bicycle approach to the Fort Duquesne Bridge, which is nearby the sportsball stadium that the Pittsburgh Pirates outfit operate out of. As mentioned yesterday, one of the goals on this warm and sunny afternoon was to get some verticality going on during this walk, and find some steps or ramps to climb onto.
Cardio, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There don’t seem to be many folktales involving Vampires here in Pittsburgh, but there’s all sorts of ‘hooey’ which involves cults, killers, monsters, unknown beasts which lurk at the edge of the woods, and witches. Lots of witches. There’s a mass of Appalachian ‘Hill Billy’ mythos as well, and while trying to absorb some of that knowledge, I found an amazing YouTube channel called ‘The Appalachian Storyteller,’ which I can heartily recommend.
While looking for these sorts of stories to educate myself on the local psychic firmament, and mythological milieu, one encountered a subgenre of YouTube videos – called Hobo YouTube – which is best represented by a fellow who calls his channel ‘Hobo Shoestring.’ Really, you search for railroad stuff, it inevitably leads to ‘Hobo YouTube.’
There’s a bunch of interesting genres and quite professional creators on that platform these days. Here’s a few examples of – camera YouTube, cooking YouTube, camping YouTube, EDC YouTube, etc. YouTube’s algorithm will see what you’re watching and thereby open up these various genre offerings to you in its suggestions based on ‘clicks.’ It’s really interesting to see how the future works, if you ask me.
Careful what you watch though, as there’s a ‘pimple popping YouTube’ which is downright grotesque. Anyway, back to the Vampires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve never dwelt in the ‘Vampires look like Catherine Deneuve or Frank Langella’ camp. Always have I ascribed to the pre Stokerite descriptions of the undead things: a shambling pile of rotting meat, complete with ‘death stink,’ who is nevertheless quite nimble in its nightly locutions. Horrible ghasts, without the tiniest shred of romantic appeal, that’s a Vampire. Something that takes and takes but never gives, is ignorant of the rule of natural law, and intolerant to all but its own need.
After a brief effort, a humble narrator had surmounted the stairs leading up to the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River and commenced with a southwards lurch forward. I was as secure as I’ll ever be in terms of battling the vampiric – direct sunlight above and running water below. Sun Tzu always spoke of choosing favorable locations for battle, and if the enemy is composed of blood thirsty revenants – this is a great spot for you to reenact the heroism of Horatius Cocles, Spurius Larcius, and Titus Herminius Aquilinus at Rome’s Pons Sublicius, way back in the 6th century B.C.E.
What? I’ve been listening to that History of Rome podcast again.
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Good and great
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator was lucky enough to wake up again, one recent day, and soon discovered that the atmospheric temperature would be in the high 60’s during the afternoon, which triggered me into taking a fairly long walk. I was determined to work a few flights of steps into this one, and the path I chose included several such obstacles to my continuing happiness.
The T light rail carried me over to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ, whereupon one pointed his toes in a generally southern direction, and proceeded to follow them. Several existential questions were positively gnawing at me on this particular day, however, and a location suddenly occurred to me where I could make a quick stop for consideration of my quandaries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have very few eidelons to which I assign the title of ‘all that’s good and great.’ I’ve mentioned a morality check of mine, in the past, as being “What would Superman do.” If you’re about to do something questionable, running it past the Kryptonian filter is a good idea, but always remember that Supes gaslights each and every one of his friends – including the woman he loves – (except for Batman, of course) – and he doesn’t seem to do much in terms of solving the big picture stuff on his adopted planet. I’m pretty sure Superman could eliminate world hunger in under a week if he wanted to, for instance.
The Man of Tomorrow always has to tell Bats the truth, since the Dark Knight probably already knows the score anyway. It’s hard to get anything past a Billionaire who calls himself ‘The Night,’ and or ‘Vengeance.’ That means you should always take what Superman says and does with a grain of salt if it doesn’t involve pinching off active volcanos or redirecting tidal waves, and that you should also acknowledge some serious issues about a Billionaire who dresses up in black leather, spends his money on an arsenal of esoteric weaponry, and beats up poor people at night.
The ultimate moral authority to judge your actions against thereby, in my mind, is always going to be Mr. Rogers and luckily I live not too far from his actual neighborhood. A Pittsburgh native, Fred Rogers was, and there’s a well deserved monument to him found on the north side of the Allegheny River.
Note: I actually perform the same act that Rogers always did when I get home from wherever, changing out of my outside clothes and shoes for a clean sweater and ‘house sneakers.’ In actuality, this habit of mine started after having read Marcus Aurelius, but when I realized that a stoic habit was what Fred Rogers was displaying to me as a child… that guy…
I like to sit down next to his statue and ponder my problems sometimes, meditating about kindness, and the maintenance of an open mind towards people and ideas which I don’t like very much. There’s a lot of that flying around at the moment, and it bums me out.
You ever listen to his 9/11 message?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Robert Berks was the sculptor who fashioned this metallic homage to Mr. Rogers, I’ve learned. I’ve wondered if the statue’s monumental stature was consciously decided upon to cause grown up adults feel like children, again.
The memorial plays recordings of the great man talking and singing, and it’s always a pleasurable spot to visit. The siting of the thing is pretty cool, I’d mention, nearby the beginning of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the Allegheny River’s North Shore, and in direct proximity to the sportsball stadium used by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Meditation time was over, my problems weren’t solved but at least I’d filtered out anger and self aggrandizement as motivations in my decision making. You can’t be prideful or self absorbed when you’re sitting next to Mr. Rogers, or at least a representation of him.
Back tomorrow.
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Ten mile scuttle, three
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, one of my goals for the long walk I was undertaking was scouting for POV locations to exploit once the weather turns kinder in the spring. The setup above is going to make for a lovely shot when a few things align – sunrise, the lights still on in those buildings in the horizon, a train on those tracks, and me standing there with the camera mounted up on a tripod.
An interesting bit of Pittsburgh Trivia which literally everybody I talk to tells me about revolves around this spot. Nearby is found a particularly steep road called Rialto Street, leading up to a section called Troy Hill. Behind me is a landform called Herr’s Island, which used to host the city’s stockyards and abattoirs. It seems that ‘back in the day’ they used to just roll pigs down Rialto Street, on their way to the slaughterhouse on the island.
Seriously, how cruel is that story? Reminds me of the pig wheel at Armour in Chicago. I mean, kill the damn thing and eat it, but don’t terrify it first.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One proceeded to cross the Allegheny River, from the North Side to the peninsular center section of Pittsburgh, via the 31st street bridge.
Technically speaking there is a way to walk over that hill you see in the background of the shot above, using municipal or ‘City Steps,’ but I prefer to just walk around the landform. There’s getting some exercise, and then there’s a forced march.
I opted for circumnavigating the hill, sticking to the relatively level ground instead. That’s where all the interesting stuff which I like to point a camera at is found, anyway. Up top, it’s mainly houses.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular bridge, called ‘31st street Bridge,’ is fairly high in elevation. It has to conquer a severe change in altitude from one bank of the river to the other. The peninsula side is flat and relatively close to the waterline, whereas the other side connects to that steep hill which they used to terrify the doomed pigs upon.
The left side of the shot visually signals my next steps into the ‘Strip District,’ and the navigational point of destination was the U.S. Steel building, which is the tallest building protruding from the downtown skyline on the left side.
More 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.
Ten mile scuttle, too
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Using the Three Rivers heritage trail as my path, a humble narrator was taking a very long walk in Pittsburgh recently. It’s been extremely difficult to maintain the walking schedule, given the ferocious winter weather we’ve been experiencing here in the Paris of Appalachia, throughout January. Extreme cold, lots of precipitation, winds… brrr.
When the odd day comes along that you can be outside, you take maximum advantage of that condition. At least I do. As described in the preceding post, I had a plan to wander all over the joint.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 8th of January is the day these shots were captured. It was balmy but not freezing out, although the sky vault and sun were obscured by a solid layer of clouds. I was packing a full kit with me, and I found myself using three lenses over the course of the walk – primarily it was my 28-105 zoom, but I found spots where the 16mm f2.8 and 35mm f1.8 were required, before I made it back to HQ in nearby Dormont. I had a tripod with me but didn’t use it, just like the folding umbrella that I was also carrying.
This was a filthy black raincoat day, coupled with a fleece sweatshirt and thermal longjohns under my pants. As is my new habit, I was wearing a flash orange ball cap, an adaptation I’ve made to the usual black sackcloth that I clothe myself in normally.
It’s Hunting season, here in Western PA, and a little extra visibility is a sensible prophylactic given how much time I’m spending walking around on wooded trails. This walk was in the center of the city, where you’re not encountering gun toting woodsmen, but a little extra visibility does not hurt when you consider ‘traffic.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My principal goal for the day was to really blast out the legs with a long walk, which would see me upping my normal walking speed a bit. Given the weather, and the frequency with which my normal exercise schedule gets thwarted once the winter set in, I was determined to take advantage of the day and really lean into the walk.
Of course, I was also scouting locations for shooting sessions when things warm up a bit. Especially locations where I could pull the car over into a parking spot, and set up the camera for cool night shots.
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.
A Ten mile scuttle, part one
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather has been absolutely awful in Pittsburgh since the new year began. Rain, snow, cold, repeat. When the weather forecast indicated that we had a day with zero precipitation on hand, a humble narrator leapt forth from HQ with the intention of taking a very long walk. I rode the T light rail to its terminal stop nearby Heinz Acrisure Stadium, and started kicking my heels about.
That’s the approach ramp to the Fort Duquesne Bridge pictured above, a steely parabola connecting one of the local interstates to a primary crossing of the Allegheny River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Andy Warhol Bridge – about a mile or so from the T – and one of the ‘Three Sisters’ group of bridges spanning the Allegheny River. I left the street grid there and entered a Three Rivers Heritage Trail corridor along the waterfront.
My plan was fairly simple, I would walk from the North Side terminus of the T to the 31st street Bridge where I’d cross the river, whereupon I would scuttle along the peninsular section of the City to another T stop. My original idea was to cross the Monongahela River by walking over a bridge as well, but… weather…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next week, I’ll show you what I saw along the way on this ‘long walk.’ At least some of it at least. I got in some good scouting time for future photowalk action along the way, and burned out about ten miles worth of shoe rubber.
Back next week with more, at 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.
