Posts Tagged ‘church’
Six unrelated photos
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Newtown Pentacle HQ is currently housed in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, where the local governing body has been working assiduously to build a sense of community amongst the thousand or so households contained within its confines. On one recent event, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself wandered the borough and got friendly.
One of the neighbors has fashioned himself as the ‘Hogfather’ in honor of the pigs his family keeps as pets. Pictured with them (partially) is the ‘Hogmama’ as the former personage had to go to work that day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Found myself sitting in a parking spot in downtown Pittsburgh one day, and admiring the exterior of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. As soon as I can make it happen, I want to get the camera up close and personal with this building. Wow.
As is the case with these sorts of posts, I crack out a lot of shots during my daily rounds. Most of them are gathered in pursuit of narrative – I’m taking a walk, or I went to a thing, or saw something cool. Posts like this one gather together shots I like, but couldn’t easily fit them into the narrative ‘flow’ of whatever else it is I might be rattling on about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was nearby the Monongahela River one day, behind the wheel of the car, when I noticed three military helicopters just hanging static in the air over ‘Technology Drive,’ which is another former steel mill site that has been developed as a scholastic and business incubator for next level ‘tech’ that’s populated by Carnegie Mellon and other institutions.
The helicoptors were Air National Guard.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Dormont Borough has been busy, and they organized another great event called ‘Porchmont,’ wherein about sixty households signed up to welcome visiting neighbors onto their porch for a ‘get to know each other’ conversation. People put out food and beverages, and one guy named Vinnie was even BBQing Japanese style chicken. Great event, this.
Couldn’t help but get a shot of a passing T light rail from one of my neighbor’s porches.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Bridgeville is practically next door to Dormont. It’s a residential community, but there’s an enormous agglomeration of strip mall development along its main drag. Chain shops, from Home Depot to Walmart and Texas Roadhouse, mainly. On one of the ‘back roads’ an enormous Flea Market can be found.
Our Lady asked me to drive her over for a ‘browse,’ and after parking the car in the Flea Market’s lot, I couldn’t help but get a couple of shots of their enormous flag. Wow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey now! This one is from that walk across the Fort Duquesne Bridge described last week. I was zoomed all the way out, but still had to crop the image a bit. That’s the Duquesne Incline in the background, and CSX was heading away from Ohio in a southeastern direction, along the Monongahela River.
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.
Eyes fixed
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Calvary United Methodist Church, that’s what they call it. Opened in 1895, it’s caught my eye every single time I’ve found myself moving through Pittsburgh’s ‘North Side.’ Gothic revival is the architectural style of the building.
Along with the ‘church on Polish Hill,’ this one is at the top of my list to find a way inside of and get photos of the interior. ‘Sacred Spaces’ is the name of that particular project.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned in the past that a bit of social networking is required, when the subject of churches or religious institutions in general is on the menu. Sure, I’ve barged into empty churches and waved the camera around in the past, but as I often say: I’m like a vampire, and need to be invited in to properly do my thing.
None of the priests or prelates like my vampire metaphor, by the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one is a trick shot: a combination of four images combined together into a vertical ‘panorama.’ There’s a bit of unfortunate distortion present, but it was really the only way I could show the entire facade.
It was hot out, by the way. I mean super duper nearly life threateningly hot. Shortly after cracking these out, I decided to head back home to HQ in a rideshare.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While I was waiting for my ride, a confrontation between a 7 eleven manager and a shoplifter played out. The 7 eleven guy demanded ‘his stuff back’ and the shoplifter guy decided it wasn’t worth going to the mat over a bottle of water and a bag of pretzels.
Me? I picked a shaded spot to wait for my chariot, which ended up being a Tesla sedan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have got to see what it looks like inside…
Thing is, this was a Sunday. The church people get up to all sorts of stuff in there on Sundays. There’s historic documentation of this area, as it’s actually a historic/landmark district, and I’m plan on getting to know this old timey ‘zone’ better in the coming months.
There’s also a rough side to this neighborhood, mind you, but… Y’know… Brooklyn…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in earlier posts, I’m a few weeks ahead of the schedule here – for once – and this post is being written on the 15th of August.
Back tomorrow with something different, and less obsessive.
“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.
Heinz Chapel
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Heinz Memorial Chapel pictured above, which offers 57 varieties of interdenominational religious services and…
Actually, it’s a ‘sacred space’ dedicated to and built by the Heinz family of Pittsburgh. The Heinz Chapel opened in 1938, at a ceremony led by the son of Henry John Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company.
Now simply branded as ‘Heinz,’ the company are the purveyors of various preserved vegetables and condiments, which includes their category defining Tomato Ketchup. The scion died in 1919, and his three children carried on with his desire to memorialize their grandmother Anna Margaretha Heinz after he passed on.
The Heinz family is still quite prominent in Pittsburgh, through their philanthropic Heinz Endowments fund, and for serving in the endless sea of Politics. If there was a Batman here, he’d secretly be a Heinz, rather than a Wayne.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was rather late in the day when I arrived at the Heinz Chapel, which unfortunately severely limited my time there to a ‘run and gun’ sort of visit. They roll up the sidewalks in Pittsburgh pretty early, I should mention. This was about 4 in the afternoon.
Luckily, the person who was serving as the attendant allowed me usage of the lavatory, which had become something of an urgent need, and I then had just a literal minute to grab a shot of the chapel itself before she would be turning off the lights and locking the doors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I said about St. Paul cathedral – wow.
This is a spot which I’m definitely going to revisit soon, as I’d love to capture some of the abundant detail within the chapel from behind the lens.
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.
St. Paul RC Cathedral
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. Paul Cathedral’s construction, here in Pittsburgh, was completed in 1906. The cathedral was designed by the architectural team of Egan and Prindeville, in the Gothic Revival Style and its design was inspired by Germany’s Cologne Cathedral. It’s the seat of the Pittsburgh Diocese, administered by its resident Bishop – the Most Rev. David A. Zubic, and St. Paul Cathedral is the mother church of all of the Catholic parishes in the Greater Pittsburgh area.
The top of its spires are 247 feet high, its internal chapel seats 2,600 people, and it’s one of the anchors of the Schenley Farms historic district. It’s quite a church building.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One strode up to the place, whose main entrance doors were open. As is my habit, when passing by the holy water thingamabob – after entering the chapel section within – I stuck a fingertip into the consecrated fluid, and since nothing adverse occurred one continued on. The people who run this place dress like wizards, so you gotta check.
A student was practicing their art on the pipe organ within, which lent a certain atmosphere to the entry. After my eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight without…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wow. Just, wow.
There were a couple of attendants preparing the place for an upcoming mass, and an academic instructor was talking on a two way radio and offering critique to that student organist from down in one of the pews, but other than them – I was there by myself in this ‘sacred space.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I affixed a wide angle lens to my camera, and secured that device onto the small platypod mount which I always carry on these sorts of adventures. I set the camera up for longish exposures, of 5-6 seconds, and got busy.
What do you Goyem call this location – is it a pulpit, or an altar, or what? I once referred to a similar ritual focus spot found at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC’s Soho as a stage – to a Monsignor – which won me a ‘tsk, tsk’ from the prelate.
I confess my ignorance when it occurs, something which I consider as being one of my better traits – a ray of light amongst all the horrible habits and negativity which causes everybody to hate me, eventually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back towards the entrance, you can see the pipe organ setup in the center of the shot. The original Pipe Organ at St. Paul was donated by Andrew Carnegie, but that unit was replaced in 1962.
As mentioned, a student organist was practicing their craft, and being instructed via radio from the pews. Devotional music was thereby bouncing around off of the walls and it was quite a lovely experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the attendants informed me that they needed to begin preparing the Cathedral for a scheduled ceremony, and gave me a deadline as far as how long I could continue shooting. The fellow was actually quite gracious, pointing out several small details for my consideration.
This is definitively a location I’m going to return to, here in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section. I will also say it again – WOW!
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.
Bellefield Presbyterian, Oakland
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since moving to Pittsburgh a year ago, a humble narrator has gone out of his way to avoid exploration of dense urban spaces, for obvious reasons. My peregrinations have been mainly focused on learning the ‘lay of the land,’ familiarizing myself with ‘what’s on the other side of that hill,’ and learning how the polyglot of the Pittsburgh metro area fits together. A lovely early November afternoon found me violating this allergy to density, and scuttling about for a few hours in the Oakland section of the Steel City.
This is the heart of Pittsburgh’s Academia – PITT and Carnegie Mellon’s campuses collide with those of smaller colleges and universities in and around Oakland, and there are several medical and cultural institutions which are based in this zone. Museums, parks, musical outfits, all that. There seems to be a Church hereabouts for every facet of religion that you can name, as well, and one of those religious institutions which drew my eye is called the Bellefield Presbyterian Church, pictured above.
There’s an excellent history and concise description of the congregation on offer from Pittsburgh’s National Public Radio station (90.5 FM WESA), which you can access here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The door was locked, but a bit of signage welcomed visitors to ring a doorbell for entry, which I did, and the church’s attendant buzzed me in. As always, I operate in the same manner as a Vampire, and need to be welcomed in to do my thing. She offered a bit of access to the main chapel room, after I sang my usual song of being a wandering photographer and history aficionado.
She offered to fire up the church’s lighting, but I declined the offer. I really liked the look of the place in shadow, and that also helped with photo exposure in terms of getting some detail in the stained glass.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit of subsequent research on the church revealed that this church has recently split off from the larger Presbyterian organization, seemingly over a variety of ‘culture war’ issues, a situation described in this report from ‘The Layman.’
The Bellefield organization’s official website offers another narrative history about the congregation, and describes their mission – here.
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 