Posts Tagged ‘Birmingham Bridge’
End of a wide angled scuttle in Pittsburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few last shots from a medium long walk in Pittsburgh, one that started off in the Oakland section and then wandered southerly towards the Monongahela River and the Birmingham Bridge. There were still a couple/three miles between me and the T Light Rail station where I’d catch a ride back to HQ.
I’ve been learning how the ‘kids talk about the world’ these days, so I’ll throw in some aura talk…
My aura would have been a sickly pulsating but dull olive green, a color which might interpret as diarrhea brown/tan color. A scuttling mass of insecurities and regrets, perhaps that’s why I’m so reviled, and my aura reveals me. Everybody loves to hate and condemn a humble narrator, and the entire world seems compelled to remind me of every failing.
While crossing this bridge, I looked down at the surface of the river and a whole school of tiny fish just suddenly popped up to the surface, saw me, and then all died. A flock of birds landed in the water, to take advantage of the feast, then they looked up at me and they also died from some sort of toxic shock as well. I’m pestilential.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a bit of a palaver – in an automobile – to access this bridge, let alone when you’re doing so on foot. Two lefts and a sharp right if you’re driving the car. On foot, it’s walking on busted sidewalks alongside a busy road without a single sign saying ‘go this way, icehole.’
What was happening within my personal aura of horror and regret?
The ankle was singing its song, my back hurt a bit from carrying the camera bag, and whereas it was my turn to cook dinner when I got home, I had zero ideas for what form that might take. Anxiety bloomed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Birmingham Bridge connects the south side of Oakland, the ‘academic district,’ with the ‘South Side’ neighborhood. As I understand it, these are modern conceits as both sides of the river used to be occupied by the J&L Steel manufacturing outfit.
‘South Side’ as a descriptor includes the sub neighborhoods ‘South Side Works,’ ‘South Side Flats,’ and ‘South side Slopes.’ When I’ve asked the locals about where the borders are, the answer is vague. The exact jigsaw puzzle of ‘this hood starts here, and ends there’ remains elusive.
I used to enjoy vast wandering arguments back in Queens about where Astoria ended, or where Woodside or East Elmhurst started. (hint: NY Connecting Railroad makes for a neat border marker… just saying.)
I am not intelligent enough about Pittsburgh to declare to you that after leaving Oakland and walking across the bridge, I had entered an area on the South Side which was once called Birmingham. Ask anyone.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the southern terminus of the span, a set of stairs awaits.
This is one of the assemblies of rises and runs which specifically triggers the PTSD symptomology, left over from the broken ankle incident. I am incapable of walking down this set of particular set of steps without clutching at the bannister. Given the amount of gear hanging about my person, and the presence of a camera in my right hand… this one was leftie’s show. It is so weird, the way this new phobia of mine works.
Another new phobia I’m enjoying at the moment involves something called ‘Cervical Decapitation,’ a gruesome injury and fate which sees your spinal cord mostly severed, but there’s still enough electrical connection left behind for your head to continue working all the gear in your chest and belly. From the collarbone down, you’re a bag of uncontrollable meat and bone cursed with a still working internal battery of the usual organs, but up top your brain is trapped in its malfunctioning box of skull. You may, or may not, be able to communicate with the outside world. Wow.
From the collar up, Cervical Decapitation basically turns you into the main character in a Metallica song. Brrr.
This… this is actually why everyone hates me, as I’ll bring this sort of thing up with random people – a lot – at weddings or Bar Mitzvahs. Nobody wants to contemplate these horrors, or discuss the historical consequences of coal mining, or hear why the Hexavalent Chromium which was recently uncovered in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint, as part of the continuing build out of luxury housing along the fabulous Newtown Creek, is consequential.
As a note, on a list of chemical compounds which are certain to kill you, there’s descriptors you can apply like ‘kills you in 40 years,’ ‘kills you in 20 years,’ ‘kills you quick,’ and then there’s Hexavalent Chromium.
If I was to start a heavy metal band, it would be called ‘Hexavalent Chromium,’ and we would play music so hardcore that it could rewrite your cellular RNA in a manner that encoded the music, and kidney cancer, onto your heir’s geonomes…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I worry about sinkholes and not falling into them, practice hyper vigilant monitoring of my immediate vicinity for possible angles of attack by members of the human infestation, or Canada Gooses, and constantly check my pockets to ensure that I haven’t lost any of the discrete pieces of gear which I have secreted about my person.
One of these days, I’m going to offer a list here. Everything I’ve learned that it’s best to have with you at all times, from my ‘three quarters’ to the ‘two flashlights,’ and the sandwich bag which I carry several feet of parachord within. That’s just a start, I’ve also got a compass.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T carried me back to Dormont, whereupon I’d decided that it would be a chicken dinner that would be on offer that night, with a side of broccoli and some rice we had left over from the night before.
One big change in my life, since moving to Pittsburgh, is that unlike NYC – being lazy and ordering ‘take out’ hasn’t been much of an option here. I’ve got a suburban home sized kitchen now, which doesn’t randomly manifest plagues of insectoid or rodentine pests like my place in Astoria used to.
Biggest rodent related problem for me right now are the plethora of Lagomorphs and Squirrels in my back yard, all of which Moe the Dog wishes to murder.
Back tomorrow, with something different.
“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.
Wide angling in Oakland
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with a medium length walk through Pittsburgh’s Oakland section, one during which your humble narrator was carrying a ‘light kit’ camera bag, filled up only with prime lenses.
A ‘prime’ has a fixed focal length, 35mm or 85mm for instance. I normally do my photowalks with a zoom lens, but occasionally enjoy the delimiting effect and intellectual calculations that having to swap lenses brings.
The guy driving that back loader realized how ridiculous he must have looked, and threw me a thumbs up as he drove by with a gigantic potted plant on his front scoop. Gotta love the tradies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I reached the ‘ceremonial center’ of Oakland, one decided to swap out a formerly installed 35mm lens for a wide angle 16mm model.
Not quite a ‘fish eye’ lens, it’s still a bit wider than the range of human vision, and is a fairly ‘bright’ piece of glass with a f 2.8 aperture.
As mentioned in prior posts regarding this walk, Oakland is a crowded and quite urban space. Especially so now that the college kids have come back from summer recess to resume their studies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Me? I was heading for the sort of places where I belong. The edges of the world, where you gaze over cliffs and ponder the oblivion below.
As established, everybody hates me and as such I’m best off avoiding the human infestation, at all costs. It’s only a matter of time before a torch bearing mob of peasants corners me in some old mill.
I’ve always known that my end will arrive with fire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
What’s become a fairly familiar path for me involves the rougher side of Forbes Avenue, where it interfaces with a highway’s off ramp, one that spits high speed traffic onto local streets.
If it seems that my mood has taken a dark turn of late, it has.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oddly enough, given the plethora of ramps leading to and from the interstate and the high speed local roads below, the gargantua six lane and 1977 vintage Birmingham Bridge (the steel arch on the left side, above) over the Monongahela River isn’t directly connected to anything but local streets, on either side.
Literally, there are local street style traffic lights on both sides of this thing. It overflies a highway which it’s not connected directly to.
As far as the mood thing goes, read a newspaper. The future sucks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was really enjoying using the wide angle, as you may have guessed by now. It’s a regular part of my kit, one that I seldom use, but there we are.
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.
Eliza Trailing, part 2
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator was scuttling along the Eliza Furnace Trail in Pittsburgh, when we left off last week, and here we are!
This pathway is a former ‘right of way’ and track bed once owned by the B&O railroad, which has been converted over to a ‘rail trail,’ and the ‘zone’ hereabouts used to be defined by the presence of an enormous steel mill and iron furnace operated by an outfit known as the J&L Steel Company.
All caught up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has been offered in the past, I’m visually fascinated by all of the massing shapes and parabolas offered by the many, many highway ramps in this area. This post, from July of this year, shows the scene I was scuttling through as seen from above.
Up, down, all around.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The only hazard encountered down here involves bike riders, funnily enough. The E-Bikes you see in Pittsburgh are a bit overpowered due to all the hills, and when a rider is on a flat surface like this – they can get up to a truly inspiring speed. Some dude rode past me at what had to be thirty or forty mph. Then another dude did, and another…
Proof of a long running argument I had with the ‘bicycle people’ back in NYC, who assign all bad behavior on the streets to cars and trucks, and present bike riders as some kind of noble pilgrims who will lead us all to a world enjoying a decarbonized future. I’ve always laughed out loud at this.
Give someone a chance to be a dick, they’ll take it, every time.
That’s my POV. Allow somebody to ride a de facto electric motorcycle on a bike and pedestrian path with zero enforcement of ‘norms,’ you’ll soon get (mostly) guys riding at top speed on the Eliza Furnace Trail, while weaving around joggers, humble narrators, and baby carriages at speed.
Know what the solution to this situation is going to be, you self important jackasses? Speed bumps and traffic calming. Operator Licenses, registration plates or stickers, and vehicle insurance. You reap, and then the government will sow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ramps, ramps, ramps.
The ones above are part of a complex interface with local streets that the Birmingham Bridge offers. I walk over this bridge fairly frequently.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Pittsburgh’s Second Avenue down there, which is not a terribly nice place to walk, so I stick to the trail instead.
The plan for the afternoon would continue on the other side of the river, and I’d be crossing it about a mile and change from this spot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a section of Eliza Trail where you’re more or less parallel with an interstate (I-376) high speed road. 376 in this section is meant to be speed limited at 40 mph, but it’s common to have people blast past you at 80 on the ‘Parkway East.’
For you New Yorkers, this motor vehicles only road is Pittsburgh’s equivalent to the FDR drive, or the Henry Hudson Parkway – the last hurdle for motorists on their way out of the city. The section pictured here would be analogous to the FDR route just north of the UN, heading towards Triborough. At 80 mph.
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.
Slogging south, and a Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Something horrible must have happened on one of those highway ramps, as a big cloud of white steam, or smoke, or dust, suddenly drifted in front of the camera here in Pittsburgh.
Your humble narrator was nearing the end of a long walk, and my energy levels were flagging.
This scuttle ended up being around eleven miles, all told. Started up on ‘The Bluff,’ included a section of the Uptown Neighborhood, and then I attended a lecture at a library in Squirrel Hill after a quick cab ride. After the lecture, I started walking towards the South Side neighborhood, in pursuance of eventually accessing the T Light Rail, for my ride back to HQ in Dormont.
All caught up?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
God help me, but I do love this point of view.
Getting to this POV is kind of harrowing, but I’ve always talked about my love of photographing the massing shapes of highways, with their elevated ramps. The path involves following that sidewalk on the right side of the shot to the Birmingham Bridge over the Monongahela River. Have to get out here at night sometime.
As far as I’ve been able to work it out, this complex of ramps and highways is more or less where the J & L steel mill used to be found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a lot of construction activity going on in the section of Uptown which it touches the Birmingham Bridge, which makes the scuttling a bit difficult as I need to vouchsafe my still gamey left ankle.
See? haven’t mentioned it in a while!
Here’s the catch up – it low grade hurts all the time, and I know when it’s going to rain as my ‘ankleometer’ goes off (due to arthritis). Fun!
Saying that, I’m more or less able to get around and do what I want to again, so… win?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the southern side of the bridge, there’s a point of view over the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision’s Tracks, and I hung around a few minutes in the hope that…
Hey Now! (I literally say that out loud when a train appears)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3174, which is some sort of train.
I’ve been trying to call out the make/model of these things, and figure out their stories. I’m not a railfan, I just like taking pictures of trains, and I just didn’t feel like deep diving for this trio of shots as it’s kind of surface level and fairly disingenuous to pretend that I care about this thing being rebuilt in some recent year. I feel like it’s offensive to actual railfans trying to speak intelligently about their area of expertise.
#3174 was heading easterly, and hauling a mixed up series of cargo cars.
Personally, I hate it when some newbie starts telling me about something I ‘nerd out’ about – comic books or sci-fi stuff which they’ve just discovered, which have the status of religious texts for me. I try to keep that resentment of the uninitiated newbie in mind, regarding the world inhabited by the railfans.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My internal fuel tanks were empty by this part of the day, and a not insignificant mental effort to ‘keep going,’ not punk out by calling a cab, was underway.
It was just a few more miles… keep going… you’ll rest when you’re dead… go… go… go…
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.
Ramps, ramps, ramps
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oakland to South Side
After a particularly scary street crossing, at a highway off ramp, your humble narrator was soon as safe as he could be. A busted series of sidewalks and pathways guided one along his scuttle, and one was heading over to the Birmingham Bridge, which I’d be crossing the Monongahela River upon.
There you are, all caught up…
One was staring to ‘run out of gas’ at this particular moment. I had attended a walking tour of around two miles in length, then started my peregrinations to get back to mass transit for my ride back to HQ.
One of the absolutely deepest mysteries involving Pittsburgh I’ve encountered is why they didn’t extend the T Light Rail service out to the actual population center of the city (at least for nine months of the year) from Downtown, in the areas surrounding the universities in Oakland.
The fact that the service doesn’t go the airport either is a mystery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Inviting, no?
I took the opportunity hereabouts to have a quick sit down, and allow my batteries to recharge. As stated, my policy is to never stop moving for more than a minute or two, as it breaks momentum.
I did require, however, a couple of minutes without twenty pounds of camera crap hanging off of me. It wasn’t even my full kit, but on this particular day it felt like I had a cinder block in the bag.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few quick steps found me angling towards the Birmingham Bridge, leading to the ‘South Side’ section. Part of me wanted to continue on, and on, but a louder internal voice cried ‘nay.’ As it turned out, I was spent.
A change of plan occurred. I desperately needed a beverage, and there’s a great bar right at the other side of the bridge where they habitually have Guinness Stout on tap.
There! Motivation! Onwards!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wasn’t scuttling, so much as I was ‘drag assing’ when this shot was captured. One was musing, after seeing the bicycle infrastructure of Squirrel Hill on the morning walking tour, about just how ‘effed up this section of the city is in comparison. There’s a reason, of course.
Wealthy and politically relevant people live in Squirrel Hill, so you do your ‘safe streets’ stuff there. For them. Poorer and less relevant people live in the direction I was heading, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It is impossible for me to walk over this bridge and not take a photo of those mounds of raw materials, piled on the piers of a concrete company below. It just cannot happen.
My back was really starting to ache right about here, but I won’t mention what was happening to my front. Brrr.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was the last shot from this walk. I stopped off at that local bar and had a pint of Guinness, which was refreshing and offered me a bit of carbohydrate based energy to walk the next mile or so to get to the light rail, and then back to HQ. Moe the dog seemed happy to see me.
He might have been faking it though.
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.
