Posts Tagged ‘photowalk’
Investigating the GAP, part two
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, one parked the Mobile Oppression Platform at the Homestead Pump House’s parking lot and began a longish walk on the Great Allegheny Passage “rail-to-trail” pathway. Rail to trail is one of the options for what to do with the right of way of a railroad line which is no longer active. In the case of the GAP, the rail bed has seen the ties and actual rails removed and the ground either paved or covered with crushed limestone. It’s an easy walk, due to the grading that the rail engineers employed when laying out these right of ways (ROW), which is essentially a change of one foot in elevation for every hundred feet horizontally. The GAP trail in the Pittsburgh area which I was on starts in Homestead and doesn’t re-emerge onto the streets until you reach the community of Duquesne, which is many miles away.
I had a destination and “turn around point” in mind, for this scouting mission, which was more or less equidistant between Homestead and Duquesne. This trail was thereby fairly easy walking, and there was lots to see along the Monongahela River, which the GAP trail follows.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in NYC, I’d often be asked where I’d want to go if time travel were possible. My response is usually “if you stepped out of your time machine into the late 19th century NYC, you’d have a knife slid into you within about 15 minutes.” Here in Pittsburgh, other than dodging freight trains hauling coal and coke at breakneck speeds, you’d have a different time travel problem – breathing. There are still operating steel plants here, but their emissions are a fraction of what would have once been found along the Monongahela Valley. I should mention that the emissions are an ongoing problem, however, and that the U.S. Steel people are often fined for violations of the Clean Air Act.
Mark Twain’s quote about Pittsburgh in 1884 reads “After our show, last night, we visited Mount Washington and took a bird’s eye view of your city by moonlight. With the moon soft and mellow floating in the heavens we sauntered about the mount, and looked down on the lake of fire and flame. It looked like a miniature hell with the lid off. It was a vision. A wonderful vision. It tended to frighten. The view is not as deliciously beautiful as one would suppose. If one can be calm and resolute, he can look upon the picture and still live. Otherwise, your city is a beauty.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
About a mile or so onto the trail, an overpass bridge is encountered, one which I’m told was added to the equation when the GAP trail was created. It allows transit over the active freight tracks the GAP follows from Homestead, and on the other side of the thing the trail continues along on an earthen shelf set in along a steep slope.
This bridge was one of the things which drew me in, what a great place to observe and photograph trains from, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern, like CSX, emerged as a dominant player in American Rail after the Conrail years and was formed out of several smaller operations. Their rolling stock heraldry is black and white, with a horse rearing up in silhouette acting as their logo. They’re pretty active in this region, and others.
There was a train set just sitting and waiting for its engine to show up, which luckily enough happened just as I surmounted the overpass bridge. A couple of workers were flipping the track switches around, and the engine was moving into position to couple with the train set.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One could have stood on that overpass all day, photographing the comings and goings of the rail people. I probably will when the weather is warmer and I’ve packed a lunch. For this scouting mission, however, I still had a fairly decent amount of walking to do before I got to what I was actually seeking.
I haven’t been the same since visiting Braddock and seeing the Mon Valley Works steel plant. A need not unlike hunger demanded that I photograph it, which was a difficult thing to do from the landward side in Braddock. I wanted the river in the shot, as well. The GAP is the first location I’ve found so far that allows for this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I generally scuttle along at a comfortable pace, covering about two and change miles in an hour. Two hours into this walk, I finally arrived where I wanted to be. I had to find spots where the tree line wasn’t occluding my view of the U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works, but that did it take me long.
Tomorrow, the sort of shots I was looking for.
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Investigating the GAP, part one
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last week, I showed you what the historic Homestead Pump House site on the Monongahela River looked like when bathed in thick fog. Lament was offered regarding the lack of a freight train transiting over the Pinkerton’s Landing or “Pemickey” Rail Bridge.
The Homestead Pump House is one of the trail heads for The Great Allegheny Passage or “GAP” rail to trail system. 150 miles in length, the rail to trail pathway follows several incorporated rights of way once operated by the B&O Railroad, Lake Erie Railroad, Union Railroad, and the Western Maryland Railway. You could theoretically walk or ride a bike to Washington D.C. on this path, which is paved in asphalt or crushed limestone – depending on where you are – and graded in accordance with the rail standard of one foot of elevation for every hundred feet.
Pictured above, this time around my dreams of a train moving over the bridge came true as a CSX freight train appeared and I was able to get a few shots of its transit across the rail bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Homestead site has a parking lot, one which leads to the actual trail after a short walk on a sidewalk. I did all the remote scouting that was warranted, using Google maps and a few other tools as well as watching a YouTube video offered by some bloke who rode the trail on a bike. One still hasn’t purchased a shuttle craft bike which will accompany me in the cargo area of the Mobile Oppression Platform (that’s the nickname I’ve assigned to my Toyota), and be deployed for hyper local transport.
I don’t really keep track of how many miles I walk. Sometimes, after a walk I’ll check my phone to see how many steps it perceived me as taking on an excursion. If there’s any accuracy to that data, I walked on the trail about 4 miles in and 4 miles back. It was an extremely easy walk, thanks to the pavement and the easy grading in elevation. There were even installed park benches for taking a break along the route, but one of my rules involves not sitting down when you’re out. Keep moving until you’re back where you started.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Active rail tracks are visible for the entire section of the GAP I visited. Defunct gas and rail infrastructure was noticed on the water facing shoreline for a good chunk of this distance, and there was a high volume road at the top of a shallow ridge overlooking the whole shebang. The municipality of Homestead was where I entered the trail, and there were markers here and there letting you know what town you were walking through.
That’s how I learned there’s a place called Munhall in Pennsylvania, those signs. There were actually a fair number of people using the trail for running and bike riding for a weekday afternoon in January. A good proportion of the bike riders were wearing the “outfit” – the helmet with the rear view mirror on it and a polyester bike shirt, stretchy shorts, and those special bicycle shoes. Like I said – the outfit. Most of the bikes were road racers, but I spotted a couple of pedal assist electric ones too.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge pictured above, I believe. Before you ask – of course I looked, and yes you can, and no it’s probably not ok but there doesn’t seem to be anybody watching, so of course, but no, not this time around. Next time, maybe.
I continued along the GAP trail, scuttling along at a leisurely pace.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once you’re a fair bit into the GAP trail, you’re completely separated from the surrounding town and of course – there’s no automobile traffic zipping along at high speeds to worry about.
On a personal note – it’s been a very long time since I’ve had the time to take a very long walk like this one. It felt very good to stretch the legs, kick the heels, and point the toes. Ultimately, this was another scouting expedition. It was mid afternoon, and the light was a ghastly thing to handle. For the ultimate destination I had in mind, this scouting revealed it as an early morning or sunset sort of deal. It’s also a winter thing, as the foliage must obscure all of the cool stuff you can see from this path during the warmer months when the trees are clad.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The GAP follows under the Rankin Bridge spanning the Monongahela River. The 1951 bridge has a fairly convoluted history, and it once was used to carry Trolley traffic as well as motor vehicular flow, apparently. There’s a few very nice points of view in this section of the trail that I’m going to return to in the future. For this trip, my main interest was in getting close to the Mon Valley works, and I still had a few miles to walk to get there.
More tomorrow, from the GAP.
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an Allegheny interval
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One had a couple of hours to kill recently, and decided to do a proper photowalk on the north side of downtown Pittsburgh. This area which I was in, I’m told, was an independent municipality in Allegheny County called Allegheny City until 1907, when it was annexed by another municipality. Pictured above is Downtown Pittsburgh, which is the neighboring city that did the annexation.
The waterfront in this area is part of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, which is a post industrial accommodation open to the public for exercise and recreation. Lots of joggers and bicyclists are moving about, and right behind me while I was shooting these there was some kid trying to figure out to ride his skateboard. This is right about where the Allegheny River feeds into the Ohio River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking along the Allegheny River, past the Fort Duquesne steel bowstring bridge and towards the “three sisters” suspension bridges. Last week, frequent commenter and wise aleck George the Atheist asked in a comment why there are so many different types of bridges here in Pittsburgh. I don’t have a definitive answer but I’ve got a few theories. First is that these bridges were largely installed over a 75-100 year period and that technologies and materials change over time. The second, and this one fits in with my somewhat conspiratorial point of view, is that Pittsburgh was the home of the American Bridge Company.
My theory is that American Bridge Company, as organized by JP Morgan, used Pittsburgh’s waterfront as a showroom for its national and international customers. Notably, American Bridge Company was one of the principal contractors used for most of NYC’s “lesser” bridges including the Pulaski Bridge spanning my beloved Newtown Creek. They also worked, and still work, on the major bridges too.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One decided to shed the tripod and filter setup, and just shoot shots instead for the remaining time I’d be out. Scouting, that’s what I’m doing. What I want to be doing is shooting long exposure and loving photographs of Pittsburgh and its wonders, but it kind of bogs me down and keeps me from discovering new things and points of view. I still need to wander about and find these points of view before I get fancy… that’s what my inner narrative naggingly reminds.
I packed up the gear, and set my heels a clicking for a proper photowalk, thereby. I followed the Three Rivers Heritage trail, heading off along one of the Ohio River legs of the path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the West End Bridge, which I showed you from above last week. Pittsburgh has been dealing with an explosion of unhoused folks camping out in tents and makeshift dwellings along the waterfront in recent years. Political outrage about this has caused the City to send in the cops and sanitation crews to clear out the dwellings and to try and convince the unhoused folks to literally come in from the cold and take a bed at a homeless shelter. This went about as well as it does in any American City, as the section of the trails in the Downtown area which the TV News people filmed the Government types “cleaning up” remains depopulated, but the zones which didn’t receive the media attention still host people living in dire circumstance. The Ohio River frontage is one of those zones.
I should mention that use of the word “explosion” in the Pittsburgh context indicates that there were a couple of hundred down on their luck street and or traveling people living rough in tents and make shift huts – at most. This made the TV news, in heavy rotation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I approached the great cathedral and spiritual center of Pittsburgh, and the most important thing in this region of the country. This structure, which occupies the thoughts, prayers, and minds of all Pittsburgh and its surrounding counties is a sports ball arena that is home to the Steelers football team. Formerly called Heinz Field, naming rights for the stadium were recently acquired by an outfit called Acrisure. Across the street from the stadium is the Carnegie Science Center, an interactive museum largely designed for kids. In between the two is a parking lot which costs $6 for all day parking, and it’s where I left the Mobile Oppression Platform while I was out walking around and shooting.
It was starting to get dark, and since I don’t know the “lay of the land” quite yet, I decided that I would be happier and quite a bit safer in the car. It’s not that things are dangerous hereabouts, but I’m ignorant of what a good neighborhood versus a bad one looks like. Additionally, there was a nearby industrial zone I wanted to take a look at which was definitively “car country” rather than being pedestrian friendly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of those industrial zone spots which I wanted to take a look at involved the Western State Penitentiary, a now shuttered prison found in the former Allegheny City and along the Ohio River. Word has it that opportunity to visit and photograph parts of this facility might materialize during the spring or summer, notably as part of a citywide event called Doors Open Pittsburgh. Doors Open’s operation is reminiscent to me of Open House NY, whom I worked with for several years on walking and boat tours of Newtown Creek.
More tomorrow, from the Paris of Appalachia, at your Newtown Pentacle.
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Monongahela, men will call thee
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One thing I’ve learned about living in Pittsburgh in these first weeks of doing so is that you need to pick your battles, as far as the weather goes. Blue skies and bright sun have been a fairly rare commodity so far, so when the forecast called for those conditions on the 9th of January, I hopped behind the wheel of the Mobile Oppression Platform and set off for several points of interest which had caught my attention along the Monongahela River.
First stop was Clairton, found about 13 miles (as the crow flies) from Downtown Pittsburgh. There’s a “rail to trail” opportunity to be found there which is part of the Montour Trail. What drew me here was U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, pictured above. I ran into a cop who seemed to be “cribbing” in the parking lot of the Montour Trail, and started a conversation with him about me being a photographer who is new to the area and who wanted to get the skinny on what’s considered ok or not as far as local law enforcement’s point of view is concerned. Best to ask, let the cop know you’re not some freak who’s going to cause trouble, as I always opine.
After telling me to take my hands out of my pockets, the officer informed me that were I to trespass onto the Clairton property he’d have an interest in me due to Patriot Act related security concerns, but his department would otherwise have zero interest in my pursuits and then he even mentioned my First Amendment right to self expression and a lack of desire to interfere with such things. I thanked the officer, cracked out the shot above, and hopped back into the Mobile Oppression Platform and continued with the exploring.
As mentioned in the past, it’s January and the light sucks this time of the year, so I’m largely scouting at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I drove through a quite lovely semi-rural area, heading southwards, and crossed the river. There are a series of public boat launches and parklets which are set up in a fairly welcoming fashion on this stretch which had caught my eye while I was scrutinizing Google maps’ satellite views during one of the several rain soaked intervals recently experienced. The shot above and the one below were captured at one of these bits of aforementioned public waterfront access infrastructure found in the community of Speers Borough.
The colossal rail bridge, which was staggering to observe in person, is the Speers Railroad Bridge, whereas the blue colored vehicular crossing with the arch is called the Belle Vernon Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The boat launch in Speers Borough allowed me to securely park the Mobile Oppression Platform and head down to the water with my tripod setup to get a bit “artsy fartsy.” The Belle Vernon Bridge is a 1951 vintage span over the Monongahela which once carried trolley service in addition to automotive traffic.
While shooting, some dude was noticed walking towards me while carrying a bucket. “Here we go” thought this long time New Yorker, but as it turned out he was a lovely chap who used to work on the tugs that navigate the Monongahela delivering mineral feedstocks to the the steel mills. The bucket? He didn’t pay his water bill and needed to flush his toilet, hence the visit to a river with a bucket in hand.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My next stop was Monessan, PA., which is the hometown of cinematic makeup artist Tom Savini. Savini has a program named after him at a business school in Monessan. The Arcelor Mittal Monessen coke plant is pictured above, as seen from a supermarket parking lot bordering the mill. It wasn’t this plant, or Tom Savini (whom I’m a huge fan of, and even have an autographed plaster casting of a human skull he created sitting on my desk), instead it was another boat launch which would offer unimpeded water views which drew me here.
One negotiated the local street grid, as it were, and found his way down to the riverfront and the small park and boat launch ramp hosted there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the distance, that’s the Donora-Monessen Bridge, aka the Stan Musial Bridge, a 1972 addition to the Monongahela River. By this point, I had throughly gotten myself lost. My goals for the day started out with trying to find a few points of view to photograph the Clairton Works from, which ended up being a lot more difficult than you’d think. If there’s a bit of waterfront property anywhere near it, that land is super valuable for commercial exploitation. Get a few miles away from the plant where the valuation of the river facing properties drops and it becomes a liability to the town rather than an asset, and you might as well use the waterfront as a park instead.
I did spot a few locations which I’m going to have to return to on foot, after I figure out someplace convenient to leave the car, and during a season which is a bit less harsh as far as temperature. There’s a number of things which I need to work out, actually. Things are chaotic at the moment.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I wish I could tell you the name of the rail bridge above, which is about equidistant between Clairton Works and another steel mill called the Irvin Works which I haven’t laid eyes on yet. My understanding is that the teal colored pipeline moving through the shot carries gas generated by the Clairton Works coking operation that will be pumped over to and used to fire the Mon Valley Works over in Braddock.
More exploratory wanderings in tomorrow’s Newtown Pentacle.
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assorted hands
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with 2022’s “best of’s” in todays post:
May started off with a visit to Philadelphia’s Schuykill River and downtown area. Back home in Queens, Dutch Kills and its collapsing bulkhead received one of what would end up being weekly inspections by me in “ugly trifles.” One did his fair share of riding the NYC Ferry, as in “ivied antique.” Long Island City’s Newtown Creek coastlines became a particular point of focus, as in “torture of.” I made it a point of collecting sunset shots around Newtown Creek all year, as in “nimbus over.”
A growing sense of outrage at the despicable management of our commonly held municipal assets, given the high price which the citizenry pays for these basic services to support the political intrigues of City Hall and Albany, began to manifest in a less than subtle way right around the time which “weary journey” appeared in your inbox.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
June of 2022 started off with a tugboat encounter on Newtown Creek in “peradventure may,” continued on with another visit to Hells Gate in “whisper leeringly,” checked in on that collapsing bulkhead along Newtown Creek’s Dutch Kills tributary in Long Island City in “crystal coldness,” visited industrial Maspeth in “rest without,” gave the Pulaski Bridge a portrait session in “ever been,” kept on working the sunset angle in “seemed older,” and rode the Rockaway Ferry in “emotional need.” I tried to photograph a lunar eclipse in “hidden pneumatics,” and Sunnyside Yards was visited in “fiendish subjects.”
All year, I kept on trying to push myself to not just get a good photo, but to try and get a category defining photo. This meant moving around with all of my gear on my back. This was a real pain, but unlike “normal” conditions, I couldn’t just come back in the future. There would be no ‘next time.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
July of 2022, things got started with an LIC post that visited Dutch Kills and then took a ride on the 7 line in “cacodaemonical ghastliness.” An artist friend of mine turned me on to a spot along Jackson Avenue in LIC’s Court Square in “frequent fumbling,” I went to a carnival in Astoria Park at Hells Gate in “fumbling in,” visited Staten Island’s Fresh Kills in “torn to,” and in “retinue of” I went hunting for a 7 train/Queensboro Bridge sunset shot.
In “stifling age,” it was revealed that I had visited Pittsburgh again, and that this particular journey also included a visit to Wheeling, West Virginia in “assented without.” I applied a bit of discipline on myself, and did a researched Pittsburgh history post in “boldly away.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
August rolled into town, and that’s when I decided to show you what the July 4th fireworks shows – the Macy’s one in “thing therein,” and the Astoria Park one in “wrinkles formed,” looked like. A rental car allowed me to range pretty freely for a few days, first in “nervous overstrain” at Newtown Creek, then to College Point in “breathing sleep,” and even out to Nassau County in “desolate pitch.”
My last dragon to slay, as I’ve been calling the collapsing bulkhead at 29th street along Dutch Kills, received a bit of political focus in “scintillant semicircle.” I got caught out in a violent thunderstorm along Dutch Kills in “palsied denials,” justified trespass in “so inquisitive,” and got a few nice Tugboat shots for “breathing things.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
September found me trying to do and experience everything all at once one last time. For most of 2022, I was able to maintain a decent “lead time” on these posts, and some of them were scheduled as far ahead as a month in advance of publication. This is the way I like it, incidentally, and was a personal achievement. A particularly photogenic evening was encountered at Sunnyside Yards in “significance of,” a colorful sunset captured at Dutch Kills in “harrow up,” “ten beings” found me at an abandoned power plant in Yonkers, I visited the World Trade Center observation deck in “equally silent,” Hudson Yards in “nightmare spawning,” and I was back in Pittsburgh with “churchyard teachings” and several other posts at the end of the month.
October saw the Pittsburgh posts continue, as with “politely holding,” but we were soon back at Newtown Creek with “subdued sort.” I attended a performance at the Maspeth Avenue Plank Road in “falling on,” wandered around Queens in “insistent pleas,” walked over the Kosciuszcko Bridge in “times amidst,” and my pal Carter Craft gave me a boat ride down Newtown Creek starting in “devilish anxiety.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
November and December are a bit of a blur for me. Posts like “unearthly immanence” or “brood capriciously” don’t say too much, but I’m fond of the photos. I spent a lot of time by myself, when I had some time, in posts like “unguessed companion” or “amorphous blight.” In “noxious heap” and “disreputably nourished,” there’s a certain melancholy reeling in around the edges.
Then my new car arrived and the entire moving away project kicked into overdrive. I quit Community Board 1, Access Queens, and Newtown CAG. I started tooling about – Flushing, College Point, all over. Newtown Creek Alliance gave me the “reveal award” at the annual gala. My pals on the John J Harvey Fireboat conducted a public facing tour on Newtown Creek for me, as described in “humming music,” and then I was back in Pittsburgh with Our Lady of the Pentacle in “crystal stream” and other posts. Every time might be is the last time became the mantra, and posts like “severed aspiration,” “tradewinds sweep,” and “treasure house” were expressions of that.
Whew!
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The Newtown Pentacle 