Posts Tagged ‘Pickman’
South Side Train
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is taking the week off from the usual folderol, and on offer are single shots captured sometime in the last year since relocating from ‘Home Sweet Hell’ back in NYC to Pittsburgh.
Pictured above is a CSX freight train at a grade level crossing on the South Side section of Pittsburgh, with the Birmingham Bridge behind it.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwazy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year to you all. 2024 is going to be a real whopper, I think.
“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.
Fort Pitt Bridge
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is taking the week off from the usual folderol, and on offer are single shots captured sometime in the last year since relocating from ‘Home Sweet Hell’ back in NYC to Pittsburgh.
Pictured above is the Fort Pitt Bridge, carrying Interstate 376 over the confluence of the three rivers – Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwazy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year to you all. 2024 is going to be a real whopper, I think.
“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.
What rats see
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking to the nearby T light rail station after leaving the Sly Fox Brewery just after sunset, as described yesterday, one decided to keep on shooting and installed a lens on the camera body which is particularly ‘bright.’
What that means is that the design of the thing allows for an aperture of F1.8, which absolutely drinks in light but creates a fairly narrow depth of field. Whatever I’m focused on will be tack sharp, but everything outside of a fairly narrow zone will fall off into softness. In short, if you’re focused on something far away whatever’s close to you is going to appear fuzzy and soft and vice versa.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This makes it fairly important to carefully pick what you’re focusing on, of course. A lot of the daytime shots I present here at gathered at a narrow aperture during daylight, usually F8. Alternatively, tripod shots can be as narrow an aperture as F18, which I’ll use when I want everything in frame to be sharply focused and cause those neat little starbursts to form around artificial light.
One has a series of lens based ‘formulas’ for various circumstances. I won’t bore you with all that, however, the technical camera stuff. If you’re interested, ask me when and if I see you in person and I’ll be happy to offer a lesson.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A 20 minute ride on the T light rail found me back in the Pittsburgh Borough of Dormont, where HQ is located. This is about 5 miles away from the spots in Allentown, along Arlington Avenue, the PJ McArdle roadway, and the Sly Fox Brewery where this most recent series of posts were recorded.
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.
What squirrels see
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator had regained ground level again, after having descended about a thousand feet along the cantilevered roadways of Mount Washington, here in Pittsburgh. One suddenly felt the need for some liquid refreshment, and headed over to the usual watering hole in this area for a pint of icy cold beer.
As is the case with this locale, found alongside the Pittsburgh Subdivision tracks of the CSX Railroad, it didn’t take long before the ‘show’ arrived. Choo-Choo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One ended up drinking two pints, in the end, after a lovely and quite warm afternoon which saw me walking a pretty decent distance. As mentioned last week, I’ve resumed an old habit of consuming audiobooks and podcasts while scuttling about. This time around, I was relistening to an old favorite – 1906’s ‘The Jungle’ by Upton Sinclair. That story is set in Chicago, of course.
There’s a great version of The Jungle – which is free – available at Lit2Go – and this was the actual iteration of the novel which I was listening to. Highly recommended, but remember that Sinclair was a ‘muckraker’ and that the litany of horrors experienced by the characters in the book are a compilation of dozens of people’s troubles. Sinclair was also an activist, and his book is a part of the political story which led to the creation of the Federal Food and Drug Administration which regulates the meat industry in modernity.
It should be mentioned that the unregulated capitalism and political corruption of this era was not unique to Chicago, and that any ‘company town’ which exploited the naïveté of new immigrants thusly produced similar horror stories. Sugar in New York, Steel in Pittsburgh, Meat in Chicago – it’s all really the same tale. Stick that one in your ‘captains of industry’ bootlicker phrase book.
Incidentally, that’s the T Light Rail navigating itself onto the Panhandle Bridge, above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, a couple of trains passed through while I was enjoying my pints, and one made it a point of recording their passage. A few people here in Pittsburgh have questioned why I’m so interested in this sort of pedantry, to which I answer that back in NYC a native ‘lifer’ would hardly notice the Empire State Building or an elevated subway line in their daily round. I experience a need to notice the fantastic, the extraordinary, the incredible – and so would you if you were carrying a camera about with you everywhere you go.
Pittsburgh is full of wonders, but to the folks who have spent their lives amongst them, it’s all just part of the day to day landscape.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One paid his bill, after getting one last shot of the west bound CSX freight train pictured above, and set off on his way back home. I’ve been trying to time things out lately so that I can hit the interesting times of day – light wise – while moving around.
My heavy back pack was once again resting on my shoulders, and then a scuttling off did I go. My plan for the day was to use the light rail to get home, but there were still a few more shots to gather along the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One headed up onto the so called ‘Highline,’ an elevated truss which overlooks the area where I had just been dwelling. I didn’t bother with tripod or fancy gimmick on this one, rather I was just waving the camera about and leaning in on a fence.
Sometimes, it’s just elbows that you need.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few people have inquired as to what this watering hole I’ve been shooting from looks like, so there it is – the Sly Fox Brewery, and the outdoor seating it hosts. This joint connects to the ‘Color Park’ and is set in along the ‘Great Allegheny Passage’ trail on the south side of the Monongahela River.
The T Light Rail’s Station Square stop is about a half mile’s walk from this spot, so on the days when I leave the Mobile Oppression Platform at home, this is a great spot for me to take a bathroom break and refuel with beer and or food.
Back tomorrow with more, 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 