Posts Tagged ‘North Side’
My October obsession, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve displayed shots of the freight rail traffic moving through a trench at Allegheny Commons Park previously, and mentioned my desire to return in the late autumn when the Ginkgo Trees which overfly it turn to their autumnal coloration. The most common heraldry you see down on the tracks belong to the Norfolk Southern RR outfit.
Black trains, yellow foliage – very ‘Pittsburgh,’ no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As it turned out, I had been quite lucky in prior outings at this location, as far as frequency of traffic goes. A couple of days before these photos were captured, I had sat here for two hours without anything interesting happening. This time around, I waited for about 45 minutes, but all the trains were going the wrong way. I wanted to capture one with the train heading towards me. I’ve come to analogize this sort of activity as being a lot like going fishing. You prepare, get there, drop a hook in the water. As far as catching a fish? Depends.
As a side note – the locomotive in the shot above and below belonged to the Allegheny Valley RR outfit. AVRR has been a bit of a ‘white whale’ for me, as I knew that they existed but hadn’t managed to witness one of their locomotives ‘in the wild.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Funnily enough, this ended up being one of those times that I was quite in tune with a large group of people. A crowd of ‘mainly old white guys with expensive cameras’ were gathered here each and every time I made the attempt to get ‘the shot.’ Pleasant conversation and a sharing of knowledge was on hand, but we were all a bit frustrated by the lack of train traffic – which is pretty uncharacteristic for Pittsburgh.
I was glad that I got these, but my desire was to capture a shot of the trains coming towards me remained. Upon returning to HQ, I informed Our Lady of the Pentacle that I’d be returning to this very spot in a couple of days, this time with a water bottle and a sandwich. My plan was to wait it out, as long as it took.
That later effort paid off, as you’ll see next week at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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There is a season…
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Western Pennsylvania is kind of famous for its autumnal ‘leaf season,’ and appropriately so. The place is absolutely choked with vegetation (confirming the ‘sylvania’ thing), whose foliage turns orange and red and yellow as the wheel of the year turns with the seasons. I was lurking alongside a set of rail tracks, hoping to see a passing Norfolk Southern train set when these leaves caught my notice. The train shot didn’t happen, wrong time of day, I guess.
I checked in via a texted cell phone photo, with an arborist hippie buddy of mine back in NYC, a fellow whom I always rely on for plant identification about whether or not this might be Poison Ivy. He was a little ticked at me as he’s actually currently overseas in South East Asia, and that text ended up costing him fifty cents to receive, but he nevertheless assured me that this looked like Boston Ivy to him.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular morning involved another checkup for Our Lady of the Pentacle, in regard to her recent medical procedure. One had time to kill, so I took up station alongside these RR tracks on Pittsburgh’s North Side. As a note, that white car at the bottom left of the shot is the oft mentioned Mobile Oppression Platform. You only get one license plate in Pennsylvania, which goes on the back of the car, but since I bought the car in New York where you’ve got two, the front plate mount on the MOP is empty.
Most of the locals install a humorous plate when they’ve got an out of state car, or a license plate shaped placard which displays allegiance to some sports ball team or a political ideology. I can’t commit to any single humorous message or motto, and couldn’t care less about the sports ball fetish. I’d really like a super bright LED panel there, to be honest. One of the RAV4’s failings is an anemic set of headlamps.
I’ve always liked ‘grass, gas, or ass – nobody rides for free,’ but that’s really more of a mud flap thing, not a plate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back at home, on the same evening as my walkabout, I was still testing the new gear, specifically seeing how the new wide angle lens might handle ‘astro’ shots. If you click on through to Flickr to the larger incarnation of this photo, you’ll see some stars. This was from one of the very rare days in Pittsburgh when there weren’t any clouds. It’s not perfect, I would mention, theres’ a tiny amount of ‘pull’ or coma on the stars.
One needed to begin adjusting his sleeping schedule right around this point in the week, however, going to bed earlier and earlier to facilitate that upcoming day trip I mentioned yesterday, which would start in the extreme early morning a couple of days hence…
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.
Whoopity Doo!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the North Side of Pittsburgh, one will the presence of a medium sized city park called the ‘Allegheny Commons Park West.’
The National Aviary is contained therein, and the surrounding streets have an unusual number of schools and cultural institutions. I’m told this can be a bit of a rough area at night, but you hear that about a lot of neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
During one of the post surgical checkups that Our Lady of the Pentacle had to endure, post facto of the procedure she was the subject of, I had a couple of hours to kill. I’ve been hungry for the shot of a Norfolk Southern train set moving through this rail trench, cut into the park, for a while now, and since I had some time to kill… I parked the Mobile Oppression Platform in nearby metered spot and then waited…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s NS’s #8041 in the shot above, which was built at the start of this century by General Electric and is a ES44AC model locomotive. Apparently, this sort of rig has lower emissions than earlier models, complying with the EPA’s ‘Tier 2’ standard. The AC stands for alternating current, and the tracks which it’s hurtling upon are part of the rail company’s “Pittsburgh Line.” The train is ‘coming into’ Pittsburgh, rather than leaving it.
As a note – I’m planning on returning to this spot when the autumnal leaves have fully turned. The trees are of the Ginkgo speciation, and their leaves turn bright yellow gold. Given that Pittsburgh’s official colors are black and gold, that’ll make for a nice ‘PGH’ shot – or so I reckon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has since returned to this spot, during other medical appointments, and I can report that this is a fairly reliable POV as far as train spotting goes. My cold weather plans for further explorations over the next few months involve following this set of tracks all the way up the Ohio River and to the Norfolk Southern Conway Yard. I haven’t scouted that one yet, but will be doing so soon enough.
Pittsburgh is so damn cool, and visually pleasing.
Back tomorrow 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.
Stretching my legs in Pittsburgh
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above was captured from the top floor of a hospital parking garage, here in Pittsburgh. A humble narrator had just dropped Our Lady of the Pentacle off for her medical procedure, early in the morning on a cloud struck day. I’d be returning here about six hours later to gather her up and bring her back home, then spent a good week or so trying to shield her from the necessities of life, and the affections of Moe the Dog. The second of two such intervals, responsibility at home precluded one from doing much else. Exigency, it affects us all.
Sleeping was my main goal during this interval, and my personal exercise schedule suffered, which resulted in a creeping bodily stiffness and a sound not unlike crushing handfuls of popcorn emerging from the knees, while walking up and down stairs. After receiving the ‘all clear’ from her medical professionals, Our Lady insisted that I get the hell out of the house and go ‘do my thing.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One rode the T light rail from HQ to the end of the line on Pittsburgh’s North Side, an elevated station across the street from the site of pilgrimage and worship for the Yinzers – a sports ball stadium wherein dwell the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is Acrisure, formerly Heinz, Stadium. The Pittsburgh people call it Heinz, not Acrisure.
My plan for the afternoon was to ease into the walk, but to also include as many flights of stairs into the equation as possible. Ligaments, tendons, and joints – they all formed up into an internal rhythm section. My headphones were plugged into the appropriate orifices, and I was listening to a playlist of Black Sabbath albums.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path I had chosen for the day was informed by the several hospital trips we had made in the prior three weeks by car, and the bridge we drive over in this pursuit. Ultimately, I’d be riding the T back home at the end of the walk, which I’d pick up at the first stop it makes in the central zone of Pittsburgh, at the Station Square stop. It was lovely out, with Pittsburgh displaying an uncharacteristically clear sky, not macerated with dynamic banks of cloud.
It was ‘shorts and a sweatshirt’ weather, which is my favorite sort of atmosphere. For one reason or another I was drawn into using my zoom lens at its widest setting – 24mm – for much of the first half of the walk.
Come with? More tomorrow at 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.
Allegheny, north shore
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After having woken up prior to sunrise and popping off a few shots from the West End Overlook, a humble narrator was hoping to visit the Mr. Rogers monument along the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s north side. Unfortunately, a crew of laborers were performing some sort of maintenance there and the thing was roped off. I had already fed the parking meter, so the Mobile Oppression Platform was happily ensconced and thereby I set off along the river trail.
That’s the Fort Duquesne Bridge, Pittsburgh’s famous ‘bridge to nowhere’ pictured above, with the office buildings of downtown Pittsburgh behind it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There seems to be a whole ‘scene’ here, revolving around pleasure boats navigating down the rivers and tying off along the waterfront. I’m sure there’s some form of governance, fees, all that. Saying that, boats can tie up to cleats and bollards and people overnight on them. That’s pretty cool, if you ask me.
It’s nice to live in a place where such things are ‘normal,’ and treated in a business like fashion. NYC identifies things people like to do, and then taxes the activity into oblivion and or criminalizes it. Can’t leave your house or attend a gathering without the ‘Reverend in Blue’ administering every single human interaction there, or having some bureaucratic entity doing its best to monetize you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This odd thing caught my eye. Theory #1 is that somebody found these keys and automobile ‘FOB’ on the sidewalk and stuck them into the tree to help out whomever lost it. Theory #2 is that some drunk tried to start up or unlock a tree. This spot was equidistant between the Steelers and the Pirates sports ball stadiums, and there’s a LOT of bars found between them, so I thereby lean towards Theory #2.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 