Posts Tagged ‘Monongahela River’
From West End Overlook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has mentioned, and offered views from, Pittsburgh’s West End Overlook Park in the past. This spot is about a 15 minute long and quite easily executed drive from HQ in the nearby Borough of Dormont, and the overlook provides commanding views of the city center. You’re actually executing about a half mile of change in altitude while driving through three and change miles horizontally – it’s a thousand feet down to the level of the river from Dormont, and then around a thousand feet up through the neighborhoods of West End and Elliot. Proximity means I find myself heading up there periodically to wave the camera about.
This time around, it was that interval of the day during which the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself disappears behind Ohio.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the juncture, right in front of the fountain at Point State Park, of the three rivers – where the Monongahela and Allegheny combine to form the Ohio River. I’m told Lewis and Clark left for their famous adventure on the Jeffersonian mission to examine the western territories gained via the Louisiana Purchase from somewhere nearby. I’m also led to believe that the stand of tall buildings on the right hand side of the ‘point’ used to be a rather busy rail yard.
Moe the Dog was along for this excursion, and so was Our Lady of the Pentacle, whom he was hauling about at her end of his leash. This spot is absolutely infested with Spotted Lantern Flies, I would mention, and as Moe considers the pests to be flying popcorn… let’s just say Moe did his part to combat the infestation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you’ve probably discerned, I was playing about with various methods of capturing the scenery. I shot a few panoramas as well, such as this one. A humble narrator really likes this spot for several reasons.
There’s ample parking, and a Port A Potty is found in the parking lot at the entrance to the place. There’s lot of strollers, pot smokers, and dog walkers who frequent the spot and on more than one occasion, I’ve seen and chatted with other members of the tripod and lens crowd as well as Drone pilots, and even a broadcast television videographer up here. It reminds me of the scene long enjoyed along the East River along Long Island City’s piers during Manhattanhenge.
If I’m coming here though, it’s always at the bookends of the day – very early or nearly late. I haven’t done the ‘dead of night’ here. Yet.
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DUFPBO
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I haven’t made this joke in nearly a year: Down Under the Fort Pitt Bridge Onramp, that’s where I was, and absolutely nobody in Pittsburgh calls it DUFPBO except me. Back in New York and along Newtown Creek, a humble narrator would often christen otherwise nondescript areas with nomens like ‘DUPBO’ for Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp, ‘DUKBO’ for the area around the Kosciuszcko Bridge, and there was also DUMABO (Metropolitan Avenue), DUGSBO (Grand Street), DULIE (Long Island Expressway), and ‘DUGABO’ (Greenpoint Avenue Bridge). After announcing the terminology on tours, I’d follow it up with “you have to,stay ahead of the Real Estate people with this sort of thing.” Yeah, I’m an idiot, but I have a good time.
As far as DUMABO goes, yeah – like Peter Stuyvesant – you could call it ‘Arnheim,’ but other than a few history nerds like me, nobody would have any idea what you were referring to. Arnheim is a deep cut in North Brooklyn history, btw.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve had a few Pittsburgh people ask me what the fascination with trains is about, lately. Short answer is that non passenger rail was such a scarce commodity back in my old stomping grounds, the frequency and variety of rail moving through Pittsburgh just grabs at my attentions.
CSX #5417, a General Electric ES44DC locomotive, is a positive infant by CSX standards having been built in January of 2007. It was doing Coke train duty. The coke was likely coming from one of U.S. Steel’s mills further up the river, and the train was heading westwards in the direction of Ohio.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘zone’ used to be all rail yards, I’m told, belonging to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie RR outfit. Me? I was heading more or less eastwards. As mentioned yesterday, I was traveling light with a fairly minimal kit in my camera bag, but I had a tripod with me and sunset in mind.
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.
Monongahela Boat
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last boat trip which I had bought tickets for here in Pittsburgh back in the early spring, as far as the 2023 season goes at least, was a Monongahela River one offered by the Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit. It was pretty sedate, and a nice afternoon’s diversion. That’s the Birmingham Bridge pictured above, spanning the waterway between the Golden Triangle section and the so called South Side Works development. It pops up a lot, that bridge, during the various explorations that I’ve been engaged in. It’s a convenient landmark for a ‘turnaround point,’ in relation to the titular center of the city at the convergence of the Three Rivers. I plan on walking over it fairly soon.
If you’re in town, definitely check out the Doors Open Pittsburgh site for interesting stuff to do. I’ve learned a bunch of stuff from them.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying that, my Freshman year here in Pittsburgh continues on, but from this point out – nothing organized or mainstream for a humble narrator (although I might ride that double decker tourist bus again).
I’m planning on bringing all of you along for the ride, so buckle your seat belts just the pilots of a B-25 bomber did in 1956 before it crashed into the Monongahela River late on a January afternoon. I’m getting started on Pittsburgh, as seen through my own filters, now. I’m learning about, and reading up on, what might be found just under the surface hereabouts.
The Appalachian Plateau which cradles Pittsburgh holds many secrets. Its origin lies in the dim past of Ordovician Period – some 480 million years ago – when the first land plants appear in the fossil record, and the seas were swarming with nasty little Trilobites and Crinoids.
Who can guess, all there is, that might be hidden in the deep valleys and hollows, along the muddy rivers, and up on the sharp ridges of Appalachia?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In NYC, it’s customary for a boat tour to join a conga line of other tour boats at the Statue of Liberty. We would always joke on the microphone with our audience attending a Working Harbor Committee tour, that there was a Coast Guard rule that you had to visit Liberty. The same sort of customary thing happens in Pittsburgh, but it’s the fountain at Point State Park. There’s lots of private boating action going on as well, and the Coppers slide about in their own boat, to keep everything nice and civil.
I have no idea what branch of the Government that boat belongs to, nor whom that Police Officer works for. I don’t recognize the uniform code amongst law enforcement here yet. There’s State Troopers, whom you recognize immediately because they wear the sort of hat you’d associate with Smokey the Bear, but as you’d imagine there’s multiple layers of law enforcement and they’ve all got their own ‘flair.’
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.
Sliding along on the water
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Doors Open Pittsburgh outfit offered a narrated boat tour of the Allegheny River recently, and I bought myself a ticket. There were originally two boat tours on order for the day, but the other one got cancelled due to mechanical issues with the vessel. The cancelled one was meant to leave the dock at 8 am, with the boat that I actually got to ride on which these photos were captured from leaving dock in the afternoon. There’s three rivers in Pittsburgh, famously – the Monongahela and Allegheny flow into each other and form the Ohio.
If you like to split hairs, and let’s face it – I do – there’s five rivers. The three mentioned above, plus the Youghiogheny over in McKeesport (different government/community than Pittsburgh – sort of a NYC/Newark thing – but water doesn’t respect political boundaries) and there’s a subterranean river which acts as an aquifer that the local governmental water people mention a lot. I don’t know what to call that one, so let’s just go with ‘Styx.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For this outing, I adapted one of my older lenses onto the mirrorless canon camera I’m using these days. A Sigma 18-300 ‘all in one’ zoom, which is a ‘crop sensor’ lens designed specifically for the sort of DSLR I used to use. It’s a ‘full frame’ camera, the mirrorless one I use now, whereas my older camera was a ‘crop sensor.’ The mirrorless unit allows me to use its onboard settings to allow it to act like a crop sensor and I have a hardware adapter which handles mounting one model’s lenses on the other. Whew.
This isn’t an ideal workflow situation for me, but I’ve got piles of great lenses which I haven’t used in a while that I miss. Just last night, I pulled an old favorite out of the bag – my Sigma 18-35 f1.8, and was testing how it behaved on the mirrorless camera body.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Canon, in their infinite wisdom and greed, have decided not to allow third party lens into the mirrorless ‘RF Mount’ ecosystem at this point. This is really annoying, and whereas the lenses they’ve released for the RF mount are truly amazing, most of them cost what you’d pay for an OK used car. The lens I was using on this outing is one of my old ‘go-to’s’ from NYC when I’d have to be prepared for a variety of circumstance.
Saying that, it’s a ‘daylight’ lens, and fairly crappy for handheld use once the sun starts going down. I’m feeling the hankering for doing some night time work again, after all of this sunlit world stuff – as a note. It’s been a while.
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.
Pittsburgh 3 ways
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wamma lamma ding dong, I almost cannot wait to show all of you the posts scheduled for next week here at Newtown Pentacle, which detail one of the cooler experiences I’ve had so far, here in Pittsburgh. For this Friday post, however, it’s just three shots of the pretty city of Pittsburgh with its always dynamic atmosphere boiling in the sky.
Weather is very different here than it was back in NYC, which I’ve found myself starting to refer to as ‘back home’ or ‘the old neighborhood.’ I suppose that was inevitable.
It’s a volatile atmosphere that you’ll encounter here in Pittsburgh, due to the river valleys and the foot hills of the Appalachia Range’s interactions with the sky vault. A couple of weeks ago it was 89 degrees at 4 in the afternoon and then 54 degrees at midnight. You can leave the house in a driving rainstorm and by the time you get where you’re going, it’s blue sky and sunny – all in the space of 20 minutes. The sky’s gyrations aren’t muted by the presence of an ocean, here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
We’ve been pretty lucky so far, weather wise. We moved out here during the high winter. Pittsburgh’s winters have a ferocious reputation, but as it turns out the 22/23 winter season here was the warmest and least snowy winter that this City has experienced in decades. That’s called a soft landing, lords and ladies. I fear we won’t get that sort of lucky again, given that this is an El Niño year.
Those dynamic skies, though. Lately, I find myself exposing the shots with the sky in mind. I’m of the belief that Pittsburgh’s iconic ‘Empire State Building’ or ‘Golden Gate Bridge’ is the sky itself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next week is going to be fairly hardcore, with six image posts returning for an interval. I got to go somewhere that I found visually exciting, and under circumstance where I could ‘do my thing’ without any real interruption for multiple hours. Set up the tripod, compose shots, the whole shebang. Thereby…
…back next week, with what I saw when I got to visit Carrie Furnace.
“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 