Posts Tagged ‘Ohio River’
Ohio Digestif
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a short one, filed under ‘Odds and Ends.’ After taking a short walk up the Ohio River and turning around at the Western Penitentiary campus, here in Pittsburgh, I was quick stepping it back to the car.
The quick steps thing was about getting my heart rate up to a certain level and maintaining that speed for an interval. Cardiology, amirite?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the way, I grabbed a few opportune shots, including one of what seems like an abandoned concrete factory on Brunot’s Island.
Man, if I ever find a way onto that landform, I’m heading straight for this spot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love a rusty sign, especially one which hosts a message from an earlier era’s governmental bureaucracy, or some long shuttered business, admonishing or threatening arrest for trespass. I always found this sort of thing to be quite useful from a historical POV, along Newtown Creek and the East River.
Back next week.
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The Pen in Western Pennsylvania
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the closed ‘State Correctional Institution – Pittsburgh’ or ‘Western Penitentiary’ pictured above, aka ‘The Wall.’ Founded back in 1826, this counterpart of Philadelphia’s famously haunted ‘Eastern State’ was closed in 2017. A more modern ‘Big House’ called SCI Fayette now houses the Commonwealth’s incarcerated bad boys and girls.
An excellent work up on Western Penitentiary, with enormous attention to historic detail, is found at abandonedonline.net.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail I was walking on ends nearby the western side of the prison campus, so it made for a convenient turn around point for the scuttle.
My understanding is that infrequent opportunities to photograph the interior of the place do manifest in the form of tours, and a humble narrator intends on attending such an outing (or is it an ‘inning?) when I can. I’ve never been inside a jail, which doesn’t mean I’m a model citizen, rather it indicates that I’ve just never been caught while doing anything really bad.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of these shots were gathered through the stout iron fence surrounding the campus, while following my personal prohibition forbidding trespassing. There was a security guard sitting in a car in the place’s parking lot, but that’s not what dissuades one such as myself from trespass.
I’m like a Vampire, and need to be invited in to do my thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a particularly cold and ‘raw’ day. I was wearing longjohns under the normal black sackcloth ‘Mitch Suit,’ and the flapping black raincoat (aka my ‘Street Cassock’) was all I needed for the outer shell.
Another one of the adaptations I’ve had to make since moving to Pittsburgh has involved the purchase of an actual Winter Coat.
I chose one from the Carhartt brand, as it offered several voluminous pockets which zipper close and is of stout construction. Its downy insulation is only needed when it’s going to be freezing or below, I’d add, and it feels a bit like I’m wearing a down comforter when it’s on. Given how warm it is, it’s surprisingly light in terms of weight, which is a plus.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At my ‘turnaround point,’ and standing in the driveway of the abandoned state prison. I’ve read about several schemes hatched over the years to do something productive with the property. It belongs to the Commonwealth, as in the State, which is something that seems to annoy the municipality level politicians who want to build… ready for it… ‘affordable housing’ on the 21 acre footprint of the place.
It’s funny, but it seems to me, something like this joint should be turned into a museum that explores the history of the carceral state and law enforcement. Apparently the cost of maintenance and in particular heating and cooling the interior of the gargantuan structure is an untenable expense, however.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One began the scuttle back towards the spot which I had parked the Mobile Oppression Platform (my car) in, where this short walk had started from. It gets dark early here, and I wanted to be well on my way home before I had to activate the MOP’s headlamps. It’s about a ten mile drive from this spot back to HQ, if you’re curious.
Back tomorrow with a few odds and ends from this very gray day.
“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.
Scuttling along the Ohio
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in prior posts, we’re currently experiencing weather conditions which the Pittsburgh’s native ‘Yinzers’ call “The Gray.” Unoccluded skies are a rarity this time of year and it’s often quite wet and cold. Regardless, it was time for a short walk. This time around that took the form a roughly five mile scuttle along a trail that follows the Ohio River nearby the ‘north side’ and ‘chateau’ neighborhoods.
This section of the trail is buttressed by an industrial zone, a sewage treatment plant, a defunct prison, and a power station so… it felt like home to this humble narrator.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was heading towards the 1890 vintage Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge at the outset of my scuttle. The trains which use it are generally Norfolk Southern’s. The trail I was walking on was part of the Three Rivers Heritage trail, but signage encountered suggested to me that it was likely added to the larger entity, and was originally called the ‘North Shore of the Ohio River Trail.’ I’m still enjoying my ignorance here, but a sign is a sign.
There are a few small private boat marinas in this section, but the waterline is generally inaccessible unless you like climbing on things. In most places, there’s a 15-20 foot wooded and fenced off drop down from the street/trail level. No doubt this terraced shoreline is part of a flood control strategy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few boat ramps were encountered, but they were littered with cast off vehicles, trailers, even a couple of single wide residential mobile homes were observed. The trail was fairly well populated, with bike riders and joggers, and the occasional dog walker.
An interesting conversation was struck up with some bloke who was riding a sort of electric bike, specifically a model that was new to me. He assured me that his conveyance was more than capable of handling Pittsburgh’s steep hills.
I want one of those, to use as a shuttle craft to and from the Enterprise Car.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Combined Sewer Outfall? Heck yeah! The Ohio River is, as it turns out, the most polluted waterway in the United States. That’s an awful fact, as this river is also the primary source of drinking water for multiple communities in several states.
As mentioned above, on the landward side of this trail, there was an industrial zone. Most of it seemed to be populated either by municipal service installations, building supply warehouses, last mile shipping depots, and there were a few examples of odds and ends sort of businesses like HVAC and truck mechanics. I didn’t explore this upland area – at all – on foot, but did drive around a bit after finishing my walk as I’m a connoisseur of industrial zones.
More or less, this Google maps link shows the location where this scuttle took place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge connects the north side of Pittsburgh with Brunot’s Island (and then the south shore of the Ohio River), and it is inaccessible by foot or vehicle for the average Joe.
I was hoping for a train, but an unoccluded view from the trail was not available. Damned vegetation!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, the Richard A. Nomanson Towboat slid into view while it was towing a fuel barge. I wasn’t able to find out much about this boat, which is extremely odd, in my experience.
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.
Hi-oh, Ohio
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Scuttling along on the West End Bridge in Pittsburgh with a wide angle 16mm lens on the camera, over the mouth of the Ohio River (which is formed by the confluent mating of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers below), and a humble narrator had finally at the preordained spot where a lens swap would occur and the other new lens – the RF 50mm f1.8 – was attached to the camera.
I was really running the new glass through its paces on this scuttle, using the camera’s different autofocus mechanisms (zone, spot, tracking etc.) and photographic formulae. The aperture was also being dialed up and down between shots, as I was searching for what would end up being the ‘sweet spot’ settings for the two new lenses. As a note, I seldom do this sort of ‘round the world’ kind of shooting. Normally, I use a tried and true formula based on atmospheric and lighting conditions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 50mm’s sweet spot seems to be either f2.8 & f4. The optical formula underlying the so called ‘Nifty Fifty’ has always been somewhat persnickety in my experience. Sometimes it hits perfectly, other times it’s inexplicably ‘off.’ That’s why you take multiple exposures, though.
A storm was brewing, and later on in the evening a drizzling rain started up. At this particular moment, however, it was merely overcast.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern was moving a train set along one of their elevated tracks, with the thing heading eastwards. I had seen it coming down the river when I was still a hundred yards from this spot, and decided to use the opportunity to activate the camera’s ‘follow focus’ autofocus settings, which were also set for ‘vehicle’ tracking. The lens performed well, locking in on the desired subject amongst a polyglot of other distractions.
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.
Scuttling wide
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Testing out a couple of newly acquired lenses, a humble narrator debarked Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ light rail service at its terminal stop, which is dubbed as ‘Allegheny.’ Allegheny is across the street from the sports ball stadium on Pittsburgh’s North Side, where the Pittsburgh Steelers do their thing. I had walked and described this path in detail last week – here, and here. A pretty decent scuttle this is, I would mention, one which is about 5 miles long and involves negotiating several flights of stairs, while offering interesting scenery that’s quite ’photogenic.’
At the start of the endeavor, I had outfitted the camera with an extremely wide angle prime lens of 16mm which offers something like 140 degrees of view. There’s a decent amount of distortion inherent to this kind of ‘fish eye’ dealie, although a true fisheye would be more like 8mm. I was trying to ‘get to know’ the thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the things I learned on this walk is that the focal point for the lens needs to be in the dead bang center of the frame, or you’re going to get a significant amount of optical fisheye distortion. Look at the way that the truck in lower right leans into the shot above, for instance. This is after the photoshop lens profile is applied, which somewhat ameliorates these distortions, I would add. There’s a way around this sort of thing, with a different kind of wide angle lens that’s called a ‘tilt shift,’ but there you are.
A humble narrator was heading towards the West End Bridge pictured at the center of the shot, which is described in one of the posts linked to above. It was overcast and cool out, but I was sweating a bit as I was really leaning into the walk and moving somewhat rapidly. According to my phone’s health app, this part of the walk was 12,162 steps long, which translates down to about six miles. The trick to it being ‘good cardio,’ according to my team of Doctors, revolves around getting the pulse rate up to a certain level, and then steadily maintaining that pace over an extended interval of time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had two new lenses which I was trying out on this walk, the 16mm and a 50mm. I kept on beating down the urge to swap the 50mm onto the camera until I reached the southern shore of the Ohio River which is spanned by the West End Bridge. Along the way, I narrowed and then opened the aperture, shot from the waist and from above my head. I overexposed and under exposed, pointing the thing ‘up, down, all around.’ As mentioned – getting to know it, trying to find what the thing couldn’t do, and how and why it would fail.
More 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 