Posts Tagged ‘Allegheny River’
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
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Sliding along on the water
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit offered a narrated boat tour of the Allegheny River recently, and I bought myself a ticket. There were originally two boat tours on order for the day, but the other one got cancelled due to mechanical issues with the vessel. The cancelled one was meant to leave the dock at 8 am, with the boat that I actually got to ride on which these photos were captured from leaving dock in the afternoon. There’s three rivers in Pittsburgh, famously – the Monongahela and Allegheny flow into each other and form the Ohio.
If you like to split hairs, and let’s face it – I do – there’s five rivers. The three mentioned above, plus the Youghiogheny over in McKeesport (different government/community than Pittsburgh – sort of a NYC/Newark thing – but water doesn’t respect political boundaries) and there’s a subterranean river which acts as an aquifer that the local governmental water people mention a lot. I don’t know what to call that one, so let’s just go with ‘Styx.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For this outing, I adapted one of my older lenses onto the mirrorless canon camera I’m using these days. A Sigma 18-300 ‘all in one’ zoom, which is a ‘crop sensor’ lens designed specifically for the sort of DSLR I used to use. It’s a ‘full frame’ camera, the mirrorless one I use now, whereas my older camera was a ‘crop sensor.’ The mirrorless unit allows me to use its onboard settings to allow it to act like a crop sensor and I have a hardware adapter which handles mounting one model’s lenses on the other. Whew.
This isn’t an ideal workflow situation for me, but I’ve got piles of great lenses which I haven’t used in a while that I miss. Just last night, I pulled an old favorite out of the bag – my Sigma 18-35 f1.8, and was testing how it behaved on the mirrorless camera body.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Canon, in their infinite wisdom and greed, have decided not to allow third party lens into the mirrorless ‘RF Mount’ ecosystem at this point. This is really annoying, and whereas the lenses they’ve released for the RF mount are truly amazing, most of them cost what you’d pay for an OK used car. The lens I was using on this outing is one of my old ‘go-to’s’ from NYC when I’d have to be prepared for a variety of circumstance.
Saying that, it’s a ‘daylight’ lens, and fairly crappy for handheld use once the sun starts going down. I’m feeling the hankering for doing some night time work again, after all of this sunlit world stuff – as a note. It’s been a while.
Back tomorrow.
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Egress in Etna
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, I had a friend in town, who wanted to see the sights here in Pittsburgh. Our travels around the region were by car, and the Mobile Oppression Platform allowed for the visitation of several extant locations.
We got lucky at the Etna Riverwalk when a Norfolk Southern train set came barreling through.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Senator Robert D. Fleming Bridge over the Allegheny River. You’re not crazy, btw, I’ve been here before – back in early February. There’s a bunch of places which I’m planning on revisiting now that the trees and hills are dressed up in green.
I’m starting to get a feel for Pittsburgh, I think. I’m not traveling around with the entire photo kit that I would carry to an ‘away game’ anymore, and am instead saying ‘this lens’ is what I’ll need for today. Not prepared for ‘everything,’ just ‘most things.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks up the Allegheny towards the USACE’s Lock and Dam 2. I’m fairly sure that’s the Highland Park Bridge, and a rail bridge behind it, but I can’t really be ‘sure’ of anything yet as I’m still learning about the place. Back in NYC, I was like a walking encyclopedia. It’s refreshing to not be that person anymore, and learning new things every day.
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.
Bridge to Nowhere
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Fort Duquesne Bridge was completed in 1963, but didn’t open for traffic till 1969. The reason for the delay seems to revolve around PennDOT not having secured the real estate that would be required for its off ramps on the north side of the Allegheny River prior to the start of construction. There’s a famous story about a college student who intentionally jumped a station wagon off the open end of the bridge in 1964. Pittsburghers of the time, and some you’ll encounter today, refer to this as the “Bridge to Nowhere.”
Me? I had recently walked the nearby and larger Fort Pitt Bridge, and since Fort Duquesne enjoys a particular prominence due to association with its larger neighbor I thereby figured I’d make an afternoon out of it. This structure looks a great deal like Fort Pitt, and shares its engineering problem solving theory with it – it’s a double decked bowstring arch bridge just like Fort Pitt is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fort Duquesne feeds into the north western side of the city of Pittsburgh, and allows high speed road traffic (I-279 and PA Route 65) to head north along the Ohio River coast towards wealthy and long established suburbs like Sewickley, or the rapidly growing subdivisions of Cranberry Township.
Speaking from the NYC transplant perspective for a moment; I looked at both of those places before moving out here. Sewickley was too rich for my blood, and reminded me of several wealthy coastal communities in Connecticut and Jersey which I could never afford and which would annoy me daily as a proud child of the working class. Think Westport. Cranberry was cool if you’re worried about school districts, have a young family, and are investing for the long term. Think Melville or Amityville, not Huntington – and sure as hell not Dix Hills – on Long Island. Northern part of Westchester County kind of vibe.
Given that Our Lady and myself are new to the Pittsburgh area, we decided that isolating into such an suburban existence when we’re newly arrived from the concrete devastations and dense urbanity of Home Sweet Hell (NYC) would be a mistake. We chose to land ourselves, thereby, in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and specifically the Borough of Dormont. There’s public transit for when we don’t want to drive here, and there’s still an urban vibe. Cranberry was “car culture” designed, which is fine, but it’s not what we were looking for. Saying that, if you want to buy something, anything, there’s probably somebody in Cranberry Township you’d want to do business with and their shop will have ample free parking available. There’s also likely going to be a Denny’s nearby. Thriving, it is.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having driven over this bridge quite a few times now, it was surprising how short a walk this was. Fort Duquesne Bridge is only 430 feet long, not including the approaches, which is half the size of the South Tenth Street Bridge over the Monongahela River discussed last week.
I’ve spent my entire life in a place so unnatural and altered that the term “terra forming” applies, so there’s are many places in Pittsburgh that I just don’t understand. The crazy terrain constantly strikes me. I have a neighbor whose back yard slopes away from the road at something like 25 degrees. His front door is half a story lower than the road. His back door sits at something like 2 stories down.
Have these people never owned a level? Hear of soil grading? Creating a flat surface for the housing slab to be poured on? Filled in the Hudson River to build luxury condos? Proposed extending Manhattan to join with Governor’s Island using landfill in an estuary? Jeez.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path off of the Fort Duquesne Bridge comes down to earth at Point State Park, which was my turnaround point. One negotiated a brisk scuttle back to the Allegheny River coastline, this time on the south side of the river and along Pittsburgh’s ‘Golden Triangle’ downtown area. A parting shot of the bridge was required, nested in its web of on and off ramps.
Y’know, I’ve been calling it the “Pretty City of Pittsburgh” since coming here in the late 1990’s – back when I was writing and drawing comic books – to promote a series I was doing at a comics convention. In more recent years, all of my experiences in Downtown Pittsburgh have been during the Covid period. Thereby, I haven’t seen much of the hustle and bustle here, except around Court Houses and whenever the Cops or Fire Dept. are getting busy with something. It’s popping down here when there’s a Steelers game, I’ll tell’s ya.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By this point, one was preoccupied with wonderings about when the next opportunity to demonstrate my robust renal health would present itself, and I was on the lookout for a bathroom while scuttling back towards the safely ensconced Mobile Oppression Platform back at the municipal parking lot with the cool views.
Along the way, I kept on shooting. People I passed by were jogging and bike riding, and others were smoking crack or speed. There are a lot of very skinny people found downtown with sunken eyes, skeletal nasal superstructures, and hollow cheeks in this part of the country. That opioid thing ain’t no joke. It seems that the teeth go first.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m happy to report that the Greyhound Bus Station’s lavatory was cleaner than you’d imagine, and after blowing ballast I negotiated my way back to the Mobile Oppression Platform at the municipal lot with the great views and I was soon driving home. Parking cost me $5, which was an ‘all day’ price.
Tomorrow, something different, 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.
Someday, when the stars are right…
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent afternoon walk began with finding the point of view above, which includes an active railroad bridge that carries both Norfolk Southern freight and Amtrak passenger services to and fro. This was from a parking lot, which is seeming confirmation of a theory I’ve been developing about while scouting, which hypothesizes that ‘for pay’ day parking in Pittsburgh is pretty affordable and that the multi story municipal parking lots around the city offer commanding views of the municipal surroundings. Trust me on this, the easiest sort of walking tour you can conduct is one that’s got an aerial perspective. “This, that, and the other thing, Teddy Roosevelt.”
I got to chat with a Security Guard right after shooting this one. Nice enough bloke, but he hit me with the usual security guy speech. This time around, it was something about people in the neighboring apartment building complaining about people taking photos. He then asked if I was parked in the lot. It was all cool after I offered to show him my parking stub and pointed out the ‘MOP’ or Mobile Oppression Platform (my Toyota) parked neatly in a spot nearby. Paying customer, me. We actually talked about rail and that bridge afterwards for a minute, whereupon he said he was getting off work in a half hour anyway, so whatever. He literally said “so, whatever.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My goal for the day was at the titular extant of the Allegheny River at the Fort Duquesne Bridge, once known as the ‘Bridge to Nowhere.’ I’d recently walked over the nearby Fort Pitt Bridge (here and here) so why not pay a visit to its neighbor on a nice sunny day?
One scuttled along on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, after securing the MOP back at that photogenic 7 story tall Municpal Parking Lot. That’s the Convention Center jutting into the shot, and there was a weekend event underway that drew a lot of families into town. Something with animatronic dinosaurs. It drew a real crowd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular day was the first sunny one in a while, and one was quite enjoying the radiate stare of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself, unveiled. The light of judgement was pretty good, too.
For my plans to walk over the bridge to play out, I’d need to get over to the north shore of the Allegheny River, but I was on the south side of it. Luckily, it’s a ‘pick your crossing’ kind of thing in this section. An unusual abundance of bridges are found in this section of Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My intention for the day was defined by the particular kit I left the house with. Two zoom lenses, one of which stayed in my bag the whole time, are all that I carried with me. No camera support and not one bell nor a whistle. Just some weirdo with a camera, scuttling along the waterfront.
That’s the Rachel Carson Bridge pictured above, one of the so called ‘Three Sister’ bridges over the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh. Rachel Carson was a Pittsburgh native and the author of the seminal book “Silent Spring” which is what kicked off the American environmental movement, in the modern age at least.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One came to ground on the north side of the Allegheny nearby the HQ campus of the aluminum company Alcoa, and it’s doppelgänger partner Arconic. The waterfront was pretty well populated, but I managed to get one of my patented ‘zombie apocalypse depopulated City’ shots here anyway.
If you don’t like the weather in Pittsburgh, just wait 20 minutes and it’ll change. The sky grew tumescent with clouds, but it was still quite bright and fulsome out, so a humble narrator continued scuttling along.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Fort Duquesne Bridge. Having grown up in NYC’s Brooklyn, where you pronounce things as they’re spelled, I have had to install a mental check around the word “Duquesne.” It’s supposed to be pronounced frencher style – Doo Kane. My instinct is Doo Kess Knee.
They have a curious relationship with the French language hereabouts. Certain words, like Duquesne, are spoken frencher style. There’s a community nearby called “Versailles” but it’s “Ver Sales” rather than “Ver sigh.” Wilkes Barre is pronounced as “Wilks Berry.” Pittsburgh sits right at the edge of what was once the French Empire in the Ohio Valley and battles of the French and Indian War actually were fought in this part of the country.
Back next week for a walk over the Fort Duquesne Bridge, 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 