Posts Tagged ‘CSX’
CSX 5470, too
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had no intention of running two posts in a row with nearly identical photos in them today, but… recovering from the broken ankle and having multiple bands of snow and ice blowing through Pittsburgh on a seemingly never ending daily cycle… so… that’s CSX #5470 advancing towards the lens in the shot above.
Captured these the same evening that I got yesterday’s post, as you’d imagine. It was all very exciting, really. What was I saying about ‘working the shot’ in yesterday’s post?
Things are progressing according to schedule hereabouts, with continuance of my twice a week ‘PT’ – or Physical Therapy – appointments. I’m walking better, although balance seems to be a bit of a challenge at the moment. Still displaying a limp, however. If you saw a time lapse of me attempting to walk over the last six weeks, I bet it would look a lot like the tracking shot of ‘Verbal’ at the end of the ‘Usual Suspects.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, keeping ‘close to home’ has been my watchword, but the desire for adventure is positively ringing in my ears. A humble narrator was trained to never say ‘I’m Bored’ as a child. If I uttered that forbidden phrase, one of my parents would announce ‘I can fix that’ and I’d soon be working on some unsavory household job or doing the laundry.
When a humble narrator entered his adolescent existentialist phase, I tried having a conversation about Camus with my Dad. He looked at me, and then said ‘that’s interesting, why don’t you tell me about it while you’re cleaning the toilet?’ An attempt at a conversation about Nietzsche once resulted in me detailing his car. Saying all that, it’s been a minute since I had any fun at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Train photos are kind of fun, but I’ve been to this spot a bunch of times. I’m desirous of the novel, the new, the unexpected. About three months of my life were lost to this injury, including all of autumn and that’s normally my favorite time of year. I missed Halloween, for goodness sake.
CSX #5470 is a GE ES44DC model locomotive which – I’m told – rolled out of the factory in 2007, as an aside.
Back tomorrow.
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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.
CSX 5401, coming through
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself headed out on a fairly nice evening – with temperatures in the high 40’s and just a bit of wind, no precipitation – with the intention of drinking a couple of beers at the Sly Fox Brewery location found in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh and waving the camera about if and when a train came by.
So… I’ve been asked why I keep going back to take from this same well, and present a fairly similar series of shots of trains here time and again. You’ve seen one CSX train, you’ve seen them all, right? Not so much, for me at least. I’m working on camera technique, and hoping ‘the planets align’ on a few fronts eventually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A habit born back in NYC, when I’m ’working a shot,’ I’ll return to it a hundred times until I get ‘the one.’ There’s variants of photos captured in this spot which are pretty close to what I’m hoping to get. Is the T Light Rail is visible on the Panhandle Bridge in the background, is the sun hitting the freight train, and is the locomotive itself is kicking up dust that’s also catching the sun? If so, hoorah!
For instance, this version of the scene from September was fairly banging, as far as what I’m looking for in this composition. Saying that, this spot has become a bit of a hang out for me, and when you find ‘fish in a barrel’ you return to that spot.
Suffice to say that this brewery location offers a lot more comfort than you’d normally get while out shooting – easy access to a toilet, beer and food, etc. The trains roll through, in the evening hours, about once every 30-40 minutes here and you really can’t fault a location for the frequency of interesting subject matter which comes hurtling past the lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I used to have sludge boats, you see, and several well worn locations on Staten Island where you could be assured of a maritime presence. I also used to have a certain Creek, which had fairly infrequent rail and tugboat action, but it had them. Honestly, if there had been a bar up on the Pulaski Bridge…
These days, it’s freight trains, one reckons. I swear, if I don’t take a picture of a large machine at least once a week…
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.
Neo Jerusalem?
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I really desired to capture the shot above, just to bring things visually back to where they were when my left ankle got snapped in three – a situation described in this Newtown Pentacle post from September 24th.
The dire predictions of recovery time related to the injury described in that post were the ‘worst case scenario’ ones offered by the medical people. As it turns out, three months later – almost to the day – I’m able to walk again, albeit slowly and with a limp. The six months date is apparently built around when they think I’ll be ‘back to normal.’
I laugh my scary laugh whenever somebody uses the word ‘normal’ to describe me. This makes the Pittsburgh people uncomfortable, but I gotta be me. Bwah hah hah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made sure to get a few shots of the T light rail as it was moving around, as well. Looking forward to resuming the usage of that particular amenity here in Pittsburgh. What I’m really looking forward to is the moment when one can reasonably plan out a short photowalk, but that’s 100% up to the ankle.
I’ve also missed getting shots of a group of Nazi’s who’ve been showing up here to wave their ugly flags and graffiti the walls with eighty year old iconography. Yup, straight up Nazi’s with swastikas and arm bands.
How retro…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the other hand, this pile of graffiti found on a recycling bin offers the POV that Pittsburgh is so special and nice that they’ve named it as being ‘The New Jerusalem.’ Y’know, I have zero interest in visiting the old Jerusalem, so that’s a lucky stroke – ain’t it?
Back next week, hopefully.
“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.
Diesel power, yo
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, the end of my ‘Saturday session,’ which saw the camera being brandished about for the first time in three months, arrived as CSX #5401 clattered into view. Man, oh man, have I missed this.
As I’ve explained many times – I’m not a railfan in the traditional sense. My nerdy obsessions generally lean towards science fiction and comic books – superheroes and such. I just find rail shots to be a bit challenging from a ‘technical’ photography POV.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Giant thing with lots of discrete detail that’s moving at a high rate of speed, and enters the frame with very little warning? Yeah! Trains are up there with ‘dogs playing’ as far as being a difficult subject to capture with a high failure rate for the shots.
#5401 is a GE Evolution Series locomotive, I’m told. It was hauling a terribly heterogenous series of rail cars – automotive, tankers, shipping containers, etc., and heading more or less southeast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After this big boy passed me by, I decided to head back to HQ for a sit down, and called a cab. I had left the car at home, thinking that I might want to grab a beer at the nearby brewery before deciding against that plan.
Back tomorrow, 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.
Here’s the scoop
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Written from a wheel chair – So… last week, your humble narrator was locking down the house in preparation of going to bed. Our Lady, and Moe the Dog, had already retreated from consciousness but I’m a night owl and had been watching some meaningless television show before surrendering to biology. Little did I know that my particular biological function would soon become quite the topic of conversation moving forward.
While watching said televisual presentation, I realized that I had left my phone on the office desk found downstairs. Cursing, as I had already locked the door leading down to ‘the engine room,’ your humble narrator stepped onto one of two short flights of steps leading downstairs, separated by a landing.
My left foot lowered onto the second to last of the lower steps, which ended up being a pretty important moment, lifestyle wise.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My ankle rolled, and then I went tumbling forward in space. For a split second, I saw the top of my knee and the sole of my foot at the same time, as I pitched forward. I fell into a roll, at which point I saw my left foot turned opposite the direction it was pointing at just a second or two previously, and a loud cracking/popping sound was heard.
I landed on my side, rolling with the momentum. A loud ‘gahhh’ sound erupted from your humble narrator, and pain blossomed. Now, I’ve been hurt a lot over the years, and even had a heart attack once.
Nothing in my experience, however, has been as painful as – or compares – to this moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Instantly, shock set in. Perspiration coated the skin, my breathing assumed a quick and staccato rythym, and I reached down to grasp at my left ankle and foot. Upon doing so, the foot made a grinding/clicking sound. Agony ensued, and I sat there for a moment holding my ankle – which was also making a similar but separate grinding and clicking sound. That’s when I noticed that the ankle bone, which has historically occupied the interior side of my calf, was bulging out from the front of the shin.
It took about two or three minutes to gather myself and soon I was shouting upstairs at Our Lady for help. She arrived quickly, and upon assessing my appearance asked if we needed to call 911. My answer was yes, and after placing the call so she gathered up some personal items I’d need for a trip to an emergency department at some nearby hospital. Wallet, etc.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An ambulance arrived, and then two EMS medics entered the house. They instantly assessed my situation as serious and stoutly carried me onto a stretcher, and into their Ambulance. On the way, a hypodermic of Morphine was injected into my arm, and a field dressing splint installed onto my ankle. My foot hung loosely during this, in the manner of a sock filled with a ham sandwich, and the splint ameliorated the painful side to side shaking of the thing as the Ambulance sped to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital, and I was transferred via back board to a hospital bed within. I was soon in a ‘room’ in the Emergency ward, and an X-Ray technician appeared with a portable examination unit. Things get hazy around here, due to all the medical grade drugs in me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A diagnosis was soon pronounced, and the injury was described as being a Trimalleolar fracture with dislocation. The ankle bones which protrude into the skin on both sides of the joint were now free floating, and a third bone in the foot was also fractured. The foot itself was dislocated from the joining with the leg bones of the calf. Surgery would provide the only fix, but that wouldn’t happen until the next day.
This is when they switched me off of Morphine and over to medical Fentanyl to control the pain. Before this journey through the operating room and back to HQ would be completed – Dilaudid, Ketamine, and eventually OxyContin were added to my list of drugs I’ve taken but never wanted to experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Surgery took around three hours, I’m told, but it’s all a haze. Recovery will take – at a minimum – six months, but it could stretch out as long as two years depending on circumstances. Obviously, I won’t be taking any walks – short or long – for a long time. What about this here Newtown Pentacle, then?
My plan for the interim is to link back into the extensive archives of past posts published here. The conceit I’m planning in terms of choosing these posts will be calendrical in nature. Three past posts chosen from a given day/month which match up with whatever the new post’s publication date is.
Thereby you’ll be seeing a lot of Newtown Creek, Queens, and NY Harbor stuff here again. I’m going to try and maintain my regular publishing schedule this way while I get back onto my foot, and I hope y’all will stay with me through this trial – something which I have no choice but to endure. I’ll try for five days a week, but cannot make any promises at the moment.
Back tomorrow – hopefully.
“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 