Posts Tagged ‘Carrie Furnace’
Abandoned Bridge
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Union Railroad Rankin Hot Metal Bridge #35, aka the Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge, was built in 1900 and has been out of service for some 40 years. Of late, it has been designated as part of the Carrie Furnace based ‘Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.’ There’s talk of Allegheny County rehabilitating this span over the Monongahela River for usage by vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. It connects the Pittsburgh exurbs of Whitaker/West Homestead on the southern bank of the river with the northern connection going to the community of Rankin.
While walking along the Great Allegheny Passage, one might notice a rather prominent fence hole – as a humble narrator did – which leads up to the span. As a note, the bridge is in a deleterious condition, and is quite hazardous. If you’re not versed in ‘urbex,’ or know how to gauge whether or not the next the step you take in a ruined industrial space is either the right one, or the one which sends you to either a hospital or an undertaker… I’d avoid this place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To amplify the caution, there’s several spots where the deck of the thing has deteriorated and the metal decking is nothing more than layers of rust. There’s also quite a number of trip hazards and a few instances where you’re looking through some rusted out hole at the Monongahela River, which is flowing by some fifty feet below you. You never want to have to call 911 for help, even if you could, as that would be an extremely embarrassing situation.
This span was used as a rail bridge, some 483 feet long, and is supported by three stout masonry piers. It was built to connect the Carrie Furnace and Edgar Thomson works on the northern shore to the rail network found on the south side of the river, and it also served as a connection to other nearby U.S. Steel plants in Homestead and Clairton, as well as offering ingress to the incoming rail shipments of coal and coke which fueled the various operations.
There’s lot of sharp edges, drops, and ways to get hurt up here. Also, technically speaking – I was trespassing – but there ain’t exactly a bunch of cops waiting for you up here. Still – it’s a nice spot for photos, and as I kind of know what to look out for, and am also notoriously cautious…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, I was still engaged in my long walk from Duquesne to Homestead along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail. I still had a couple of miles to go before meeting up with a friend at a local brewery for a couple of pints of beer and a session of grousing about the state of the world on that particular week.
The GAP trail reenters the street grid shortly after rounding around the Homestead Pump House historic site, and so did I. One scuttled forward. Ever scuttling, that’s me, God’s lonely man with a camera.
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Artsy Fartsy at Carrie Furnace
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, after getting soaked for a couple of hours at Pittsburgh’s Carrie Furnace, it stopped raining just after dusk. The other good news was that somebody is staging a play there, with lights and sound and the whole professional theatrical deal. The production had their stage lights on for the rehearsal, so I took advantage of some of the cast light they weren’t using for the shot above.
We were told, explicitly, by the Carrie Furnace people that we couldn’t shoot the stage or actors, nor record any of the score they were playing. Didn’t say anything about their light.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in prior posts, I was participating in a ‘Photo Safari’ at Carrie Furnace in Pittsburgh’s Swissvale section. The ruination of a 20th century steel plant, it was quite dark there. I was using a powerful LED flashlight I carry, to burst light out in the manner of a flash, which allowed me the illumination without the harsh shadows.
The camera was sitting atop a tripod, and longish exposures were indicated by the conditions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The atmosphere actually got worse after it rained, as a ground fog began lifting out of the soil. It wasn’t terribly ‘visible,’ but you definitely know that you were walking around in a cloud of 95% humidity. While driving home, the fog got pea soup thick. Driving home was… challenging.
The shots in today’s post are from the final hour I was at Carrie, and as previously stated: my intention was on using every single second second that I was on the property in a productive manner.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Carefully picking my way along in the darkness, on rain slicked metal staircases and a muddy field, I worked a generally clockwise path back towards the entranceway as time grew short.
Most of the other photographers, and there were originally about 25 of us, had packed up their gear and left already. Maybe 5-7 of us stayed for the whole interval. To be fair, rain.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A couple of last shots from my way out, which saw me change out the lens I’d been using for most of the day and replace it with one of my ‘night lens’ primes. I found a spot where I could put my bag down for a minute, and securely packed up all the gear.
I was pretty moist by this point, from the driving rain and the subsequent high humidity which triggered a full body shvitz. Wet socks, wet back, and I was still wearing the hard hat which you’re required to install upon yourself when on site. Feh!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last thing I saw there was the full moon rising in the distance. I will strive to find my way back to Carrie Furnace in the future. Super interesting spot, and a LOT of fun to photograph.
Pittsburgh is just so damn cool, yo.
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“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.
Soggy socks at Carrie Furnace
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bands of thunderstorm were blowing through, and it was occasionally raining furiously, at the Carrie Furnace. You do the best you can with the circumstance when you’re behind a camera, so I did. I intended on using every minute I was there productively, so a solid three hours of focus occurred.
A humble narrator has attended enough of these sorts of photographer focused events in the past to know that the areas in today’s posts were where most of the rest of the attendees would go first so I went there last instead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a bunch of informal etiquette I follow in these sort of gatherings, including making sure I don’t walk into someone’s shot without first checking if their shutter is open. Not many of my fellow travelers on this outing did the same, which was kind of annoying.
I’d love to get locked in here for an entire night. Sunset to sunrise. All by myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Most of the shots in this series are at least a few seconds long, and shot at a fairly low ISO. That made the rain basically disappear. I decided that ‘telling the story’ properly needed at least one shot where the rain was visible, hence… above.
A quick scuttle through the downpours occurred, wherein a set of rain slicked steps were mounted and I proceeded into the main chamber of the furnace.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Western Pennsylvania, once you leave the ‘city’ areas, is extremely dark. I mean, blindly waving your hand in front of your face dark. My old flashlights weren’t cutting it, so another new toy I’ve acquired is the Nightcore T4K. It’s expensive, as flashlights go, but it’s about the size of a BIC lighter and super bright. Also, it recharges via USB-C. The same company also makes a great head light which is very popular with the camping and hiking crowd.
I was using the thing inside the building. It’s got a burst mode which pumps out about 4000 lumens worth of light with a ‘throw’ of at least 60-80 feet. I’d trigger it for half a second to a second, which allowed for a sort of camera flash effect which I could bounce around off the walls and floors while the shutter was open.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Everybody else had moved on from this spot by this point, and I soon found myself all alone up in the furnace for a good long interval. Perfection!
On my way out, somebody told me that they knew where I was from outside, as they’d see a burst of super bright light peeking out of the machinery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a fascinating section of the site which allows for this sort of view. Luckily, it was starting to get truly dark outside, and as I always say: The night time is the right time.
Back next week with the last post in this series, and a culminating bunch of neato photos.
“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.
Inside a wet giga-machine
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was visiting Carrie Furnace, here in the Pittsburgh exurb of Swissvale, when the vault of the sky burst open and it began pissing down with heavy rain. I made my way over to an enormous mechanical structure which offered some cover and did my thing there.
They have one of the old locomotives which brought coal and coke to the mill on display.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This mega machine was how the steel people unloaded the fuel carried in by the locomotive. It was dropped into hoppers which then transported it to where it was needed, and this giga mechanism was how they did that. The whole thing is rusted out, decaying, and was soaking wet. I picked my way along it carefully, avoiding the areas demarcated by yellow chains which the Carrie Furnace people had forbidden.
You are required to wear a hard hat on-site. Couple that with my two bags that were loaded up with about 25 pounds of various tools, the umbrella, and managing the camera and tripod – I was constantly adjusting straps and leashes and belts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I spent the interval of the heaviest downpour amongst the giga-machine’s innards. Shelter from the storm allowed me to fold up the umbrella for a spell and leave it sitting on the ground. There’s an earthen berm on the south side of the Carrie Furnace site, which is heavily wooded. On the other side of that is another set of rail tracks and the Monongahela River. On the opposite side of the river is the Homestead Pump House.
Of interest to some, my backpack these days is a very waterproof Patagonia brand bag. Everything within was dry as toast. As is my habit, a sling bag was hanging off one shoulder onto my hip, used for the stuff I need at arms reach when shooting. The sling bag is fabric, and it got quite moist.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks out of the mechanism towards the actual ruins of the #6 & #7 furnaces. The rain was attenuating, and somewhere above the clouds the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was descending behind Ohio somewhere. The sunset was meant to happen sometime around 8:30-8:45 this particular evening (July 30).
I reclaimed the umbrella and zipped up my sling bag.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot from within the mechanism, and a plan was hatched to scuttle across the muddy site in a manner which would offer the most ‘rain shadow’ protection form the inclement circumstance.
After all these years, I have all sorts of tricks I use to stay somewhat dry. Rain shadows are amongst them.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I headed over to a concrete structure which had still had a roof on it.
A quick check of the lens revealed that it had suffered only a few droplets of rain, which were quickly wiped away. I was just getting started, after all. I had three hours on site and I planned to use every second of them.
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.
All wet at Carrie Furnace
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Carrie Furnace and the ‘Rivers Of Steel’ outfit, which and whom I’ve mentioned before, were offering a ‘photo safari’ event at sunset on a recent evening and a humble narrator could not resist the opportunity to be there. For a brief history of, and shots of what I saw the first time I visited the site (in the early afternoon) check out: part one, part two, part three, part four.
I had been looking forward to this one, and telling people that because of my interest in the experience I was expecting a ‘Blizznado’ or some other crazy meteorological event to cancel it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Four easy words to learn and repeat are: Mitch is always right.
A thunderstorm front was offered for consideration by the TV weather people, one which was scheduled to hit Pittsburgh at exactly the interval of time which the photo safari was scheduled for.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just before the rain hit, a CSX train set hurtling across a trackway on the other side of Carrie Furnace’s fencelines.
It wasn’t a lightning maker, this storm, instead it was cold front pushing through after a week long siege of high 80’s temperatures coupled with extremely high humidity. Sigh… you work with what you’ve got.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just after the Carrie people gave us the safety talk and a set of rules for being on their property, the sky opened up and it began to rain cats and dogs. That would describe the experience for about the next two hours.
A humble narrator is an old hand at getting caught out in the weather, and my fancy little umbrella was thereby deployed. One made it a point of spotting and seeking out ‘rain shadows’ offered by the ruins.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather situation was something I was aware of before I arrived, and I had thought out what I’d be focusing on accordingly.
That’s a ‘Torpedo Car’ which the Carrie people have on display, and the flooding around it was actually a blessing. I used the tripod and set the camera to no higher than knee level for this one. Low and slow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The storm intensified, and the rain was absolutely cascading out of the atmosphere. I had a full kit with me, and a couple of new toys were in my bag which I didn’t get to use because of the precipitation. Notably a very bright strip of LED lights which are powered by a USB connection, and a power bank battery unit for them to connect to. I didn’t trust either of them to withstand a soaking rain so I kept them in my bag.
Over the next few days, I’ll show you how another one of my new toys performed. 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 