Posts Tagged ‘Downtown Pittsburgh’
Sky Palaces & the ultramundane
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘bits,’ from the ‘Kill Bill’ movies, offers the supposition that Clark Kent isn’t a secret identity for Superman – rather it’s that Clark Kent is commentary on humanity, and revelatory as to how the Man of Steel regards mankind. Weak, cowardly, indirect, messy, all that. That’s balderdash, Superman has the most ‘humanity’ amongst all of the fictional men. He’s a miracle.
Philip Johnson, architect of PPG Place here in Pittsburgh, was a guy whom I’d imagine didn’t like the idea of humanity very much. Whenever I’ve found myself walking around or within his buildings, a sensation of ‘inhuman’ jumps out of me. You can exist in Johnson’s work, but not ‘live’ there. The architecture is the main character, and you’re just a ‘walk on’ extra. Johnson lived in a glass house, literally, and threw stones all the time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that, Johnson’s stuff is always pretty photogenic. I’ve got an idea for a cool shot in this area, one of my rare ‘moving image’ forays. Planning on trying to surmount the ordeal of capturing it as the winter gets closer, and the skies grow more dynamic.
I’ll need fast moving weather for what I’ve got in mind.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had a few errands to run, and then the afternoon would be mine to waste. A couple last shots from downtown, and I was heading across the river to the usual spot at Sly Fox Brewery, for what ended up being a fairly productive late afternoon session of shooting trains.
One headed over to the Smithfield Street Bridge to cross the river.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Cola Street caught my eye again during the effort, with its Color House. That vehicle bridge in the shot is a part of the PJ McArdle Roadway, which I’ve walked down several times.
The Paris of Appalachia, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my walk to the brewery, I spotted a BNSF locomotive moving along CSX’s Subdivision tracks. Movers and shakers, BNSF is the country’s largest railroading outfit and operates over 8,000 locomotives.
They seemed nice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A bit closer to Sly Fox Brewery and the concrete company next door to it was unloading what looked like sand from a barge. A crane handled the work and conveyor belts transported the market across the tracks and into the mixing vessels.
Your humble narrator repeated his usual ritual of using the brewery’s lavatory and then ordering a pint of beer, starting a tab. I planned on hanging out here for a while, and photographing trains.
More on that tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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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.
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.
Wide angling, at scuttle’s end
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the end of a walk that started up in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield, one encountered a series of park benches along Penn Avenue. I took the opportunity of a usable surface to swap out the lens I was using all day – a 24-240mm zoom – for a prime lens of 16mm. A prime lens has a fixed focal length, if you’re not a camera geek.
24mm is plenty wide, mind you, but you don’t get that ‘beyond the scope of human vision’ sort of thing. Theoretically, a single human eye sees things in the way that a 35mm lens does, so 16mm is essentially double that POV – and it’s a bit wider than human binocular vision is. I dig it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s important to carefully pick what you focus on with a lens this wide angle, as perspective distortion and ‘bowing’ are part and parcel of this sort of equipment.
The wide angle was chosen as part of the day’s ‘carry’ for specifically this section of the walk. Downtown Pittsburgh is quite urban, with tall buildings and fairly narrow streets, for an American city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There wasn’t any sort of plan at work here, except finishing the walking of this length of Penn Avenue, if for no other reason than just to be able to say that I did so. This section of Downtown has been designated as ‘The Cultural District’ by the powers that be. The Yinzers call it ‘Dahntahn.’ I was planning on riding the T light Rail back to HQ.
My plan for getting home ended up getting ‘fablungered.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Downtown gets a lot of shade from these same ‘powers that be’ regarding a noisome population of street people who congregate in the area.
These ‘powers’ include a large number of commercial landlords who blame their business problems on a) the homeless, b) drugs, c) work from home, d) Covid, e) Millennials, f) socialism.
The problem isn’t that they’re charging usurious amounts of money to their lessees, nor that there are surrounding counties which have been luring corporations out of the center of Pittsburgh with promises of tax breaks and land deals for decades.
Reap. Sow.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My plan for getting back home went up in smoke after I spent about 30 minutes waiting for a T light rail to show up at the Gateway Station. Bah.
I rode the escalator back up to street level and decided to get home the expensive way – in a rideshare.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, I scuttled over to a convenient location, one where a car can pull over easily. PPG Plaza was my choice, and I amused myself while waiting by shooting almost directly straight up at the mirror box building.
Back next week 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.
Peanuts & Crackerjacks, yo
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having ridden the T light rail into Downtown Pittsburgh from HQ in Dormont, your humble narrator hit the streets. Pictured above is (what I’m told) the former home and 1893 vintage ‘flagship’ department store of the Joseph Horne Company at Stanwix Street and Penn Avenue.
There was an event going during this particular afternoon, a couple of miles away, meant to be taking place on the North Side of the Allegheny River which seemed like it was going to be quite silly, and was the sort of thing I normally would like to point a camera at. When I got there, no event. It was, in fact, silly.
My footsteps were nevertheless being loosely organized in that general direction.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Pirates were three innings into a baseball game with the Reds, directly across the Allegheny River.
It was positively sultry out, with temperatures in the low 90’s and a fair amount of humidity. A steady breeze was blowing, however, and whenever shade could be found – things were existentially tolerable.
Saying that, it was hot, and this ended up being one of my ‘short walks.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As an aside, I have managed to survive all of the tests and ministrations which my team of doctors have insisted upon in the last four weeks.
After having to delay several prescribed things due to the ankle situation, I can report that your humble narrator has now been analyzed fully. Just visited the dentist too, so I can honestly say ‘head to toe.’ Not ‘exactly’ a clean bill of health came back to me from all the tests, but then again, I’m in my late 50’s so… you ain’t gonna get no good news from the blue pajamas and white coats crowd after 50.
As is usually the case with me, just keep walking, that’s the curative for everything. When you stop moving, that’s when you’ve started to decay. Get out of the house and go see something, ya lazy…
My entire philosophy is based, suffice to say, on this: Put one foot in front of the other… (There’s also ‘What would Superman do’ of course.)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On game days, such as this particular Sunday, the city closes the Roberto Clemente Bridge to traffic so that the baseball fans can use it as a pedestrian ramp to the stadium from downtown. No way am I not going to take advantage of that – as it’s a very interesting situation.
No shade, though, and did I mention it was HOT. Saying that, I seem to possess an ability which most do not these days.
I can sublimate temporary discomfort for a while, without freaking out about becoming dehydrated within three minutes or worrying about my electrolyte balance. Yeah, it was uncomfortable, but it’s the world. You want comfort, stay home.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were a steady stream of Baseball fans leaving the stadium, and I overheard one of them telling his wife on the phone that it was just ‘too damn hot to sit in the stands.’ That’s probably why so many people were sitting in those shady ‘nose bleed’ seats at PNC Park.
I attended a Pirates game here in 2024, check out the views from inside the stadium here if you like.
The earphones came out shortly after starting the walk on the Clemente Bridge, which is one of Pittsburgh’s iconic ‘Three Sisters Bridges.’ Full sensory and situational awareness was required.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A heel spin, and looking back at the pathway I’d walked.
An old habit, born in NYC, to see if anyone is following me. Let me tell you, the camera gets instantly noticed by the street people here. Usually, I’ll stand there staring at their eyes so when the gaze retreats off the camera and up to the ‘size the victim up’ phase, they see me intently glaring at them and sometimes smiling. That’s usually enough in Pittsburgh, but… everybody besides me is packing a pistol in Pennsylvania. Concealed carry is kosher here.
I can do the Bene Gesserit voice from Dune, as a note. Just tell people what to do and they start doing it without realizing.
Back next week with more, from the Paris of Appalachia, 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.
Down, and then out
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After negotiating a Boulevard called Bigelow, and descending the steep streets of Polish Hill, and then crossing a set of rail tracks and a busway, one arrived at a flat section of the City of Pittsburgh, built upon the flood plain of the Allegheny River.
As is my recent habit, further scuttling occurred along the ‘way’ or alley streets in this zone. In Pittsburgh, if a street is called a ‘way,’ it’s an alley. The avenue blocks could be popping with crowds, but the ways are fairly unoccupied.
I avoid human infestations whenever possible.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The way led me, unfortunately, back to an avenue.
The humans gamboled and played, honking car horns and drinking sugar solutions from plastic vessels. Some ate fried things. Others gesticulated towards various points of interest. Everybody seemed to have somewhere to go. There was a baseball game scheduled for the night of the day which this scuttle occurred on, so lots of humans were in the area, dubbed ‘The Strip District.’ They were buying souvenirs and sports jerseys, drinking their carbonated syrups, and eating the high fat foods.
Many of them seemed disused to walking. Their feet pointed outwards, and the steps were shuffling. They hung together in family groupings. Formations of mutual defense, perhaps. These units would often flatten out into skirmish lines, with five or more people slowly shuffling along shoulder to shoulder while pouring things into their mouths and watching their phones carefully for some sort of update. When a skirmish line met an opposing group or line, chaos ensued. Socially awkward and passive aggressive maneuvering of their formations occurred, designed to allow access through for the interloper’s passage but not comfortably so.
They walk just like they drive, I thought.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Many were clothed in what I’d describe as ‘redneck drag.’ Suburbanites all dressed up to look rural. One guy I saw was wearing a shirt that said ‘patriot.’ He was wearing an American flag themed hat, which is – of course – a no-no as far as the official rules surrounding usage of the United States Flag, for patriots. Ask a Scout, they’ll tell you what’s kosher as far as using or handling the Stars and Stripes.
It was really, really hot out. My path was altered a bit to accommodate finding some shade. Luckily, lots of off and on ramps hereabouts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a short walk, maybe four miles in length if you consider the changes in elevation. I was engaged for about two hours worth of walking, all I had time for on this day. I wasn’t feeling terribly well, I should mention, due to a specialized diet which yet another forthcoming medical test demanded I eat. The plan involved me eating exactly the set of foods which I normally avoid, regarding my cardiovascular situation. Lotsa fats and carbs, basically zero vegetables or fruit. Yuck.
Luckily, at this writing, that test has been accomplished. Now, I’ve only got a Dentist Appointment to make and I’m done with my annual set of ordeals. I may have to admit that the Doctors are smarter than me, and thereby it’s logical to subvert my will to theirs, but I don’t have to like it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A rideshare was summoned, which would carry me back to HQ in Dormont in air conditioned comfort. Worth every damned penny.
Now, on to my latest obsession.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The entire time I was sitting in that god damned wheelchair in Dormont, I was hearing train horns sounding off from a direction which didn’t make any sense to me. It took me a bit of searching, but… there ye be.
This is Wheeling & Lake Erie’s Rook Yard, which I’ve visited at street level, via Carnegie, in the past. I’ve finally figured out a spot where I can both park the car and also get elevated POV photos of the yard. This is where the RR enters into a trench, which then leads it into a tunnel under the neighborhood of Greentree, and I now have a pretty good idea where that tunnel comes out in West End… so, yeah…
For one such as myself, this is nepenthe.
Back next week 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 