Posts Tagged ‘Pickman’
Sometimes, it’s just odd out there
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On a recent afternoon, your humble narrator just threw his hands up in frustration and announced to Our Lady of the Pentacle that he was going out for a walk. She recognized the look in my eyes, that of a wild beast yearning for freedom, and said ‘have a good time.’
One soon found himself at ‘The T’ light rail’s First Avenue Station, where the Panhandle Bridge spans the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This wasn’t going to be a long walk, at all. It was hot as heck, and I had a lot on my mind. Go to the bar and suck down a few beers sort of thoughts.
I’ve had to pick and choose my battles since returning from NYC, as the weather has been absolutely horrific all month. High heat and humidity, lots and lots of rain, and a set of competing priorities. As described yesterday, I’m currently enjoying a spate of medical tests designed to gauge and document my overall robustness and spot trends.
I don’t like being touched by strangers, let alone stripping down to my skivvies in their presence and letting them irradiate me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I’ve mentioned in the past, one of my superpowers is the ability to containerize negative emotions while situational stressors are at work, and then allow the stored up psychic pressure to bleed off at a more opportune time. Essentially, I have a ‘rage bladder,’ and every now and then one needs to let off some steam and bleed it out.
I was by myself, of course. God’s lonely man.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My pathway to the beer taps involved a short walk of less than two miles. This wasn’t an exercise day, and I convinced myself that the effort would be worth it if a few train shots were captured. I know that I mention drinking a lot, but I don’t actually drink all that much. A few beers, maybe once every couple of weeks, these days.
Back in Astoria, my crew of knuckleheads and I had a standing Friday night ‘after work’ meetup at ‘the local,’ but again – a couple/three pints of beer consumed over multiple hours is my deal. I sip, rather than chug.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Monongahela River and the Smithfield Street Bridge came into view, and one pointed his toes in the required direction. This is part of the same trail pictured above, incidentally.
That’s when I saw it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A single, abandoned, shoe. Can it be?
Has the Queens Cobbler followed me to the Paris of Appalachia?
Back next week with maximum Choo-Choo.
“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.
Walking a line
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The industrial building pictured above, as seen from the streets of Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville section, is the home of Carnegie Robotics. The end of the world is probably being invented in there right now.
There’s an air of dread floating about in my mind when I see industries working in this direction. Developing technology in this direction will lead us out of the current ‘Robocop 3’ reality show we’re all living in, go right through Terminator, and end up being the back story for Dune.
Butlerian Jihad, anyone?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a big ‘H’ on the wall of the Carnegie Robotics property. It signifies the former owner of the site, the Heppenstall Company. Luckily for me, Pittsburgh City Paper’s Chris Potter did a piece on the Heppenstall outfit back in 2006, so I didn’t have to hit the books and do my own detective work.
One kept on walking. Forward, ever forward.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My obeyance to the conceit of following the ‘way’ or alley streets continued, and in this case, I ended up walking along the ballast rock path alongside a set of Allegheny Valley Railroad tracks. I would have been thrilled, were the white whale to have appeared, to capture a photo of one of their train sets.
It’s getting stupid at this point. I’ve learned to predict the movements of two of the four railroads that commonly operate here, and am beginning to figure out those of a third. The fourth – AVRR – is like a phantom.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 40th street bridge pictured above, a colossal vehicle span connecting the north shore nearby Rialto Street and Route 28 to Lawrenceville.
I had to walk through a company’s parking lot directly after this.
One of the cool things about Pittsburgh is how few shits anyone gives about that sort of thing. Unless you’re messing around and trying to break into the cars in the lot or something, it’s completely uncommented upon and ‘ok.’ What a difference compared to all the yentas who would bug me back in NYC with the ‘what are you taking pictures of’ and ‘who are you with’ comments before telling me that taking photos was a crime and they were going to call the cops on me. I’d laugh when a car of Cops, particularly on the Queens side of the Creek, would pull up and say ‘Hi, Mitch.’
I once had a mob of old Greek ladies chase me down the block, over by St. Irene’s in Astoria, and they were yelling ‘it’s Al Quaeda’ at the top of their lungs after seeing my camera. Yikes!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as a point of fact, there are no actual laws in the United States forbidding photography – with just a few exceptions – mainly focused within the confines of Military Bases and around Judicial Courts. The ‘rule’ is that if you are in a public space – street, sidewalk, park – whatever – you have no ‘expectation of privacy.’ This is the very ‘right’ that the cops exploit that allows them to put security, red light, or bike lane cameras up wherever they want to. Good for the goose, all that.
I didn’t see any AVRR activity, but I did see a bunch of their rolling stock being stored on this siding.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back where I’d been, and this ended up being my favorite shot of the day for some reason. Everything went right with the exposure and I barely had to ‘touch’ it when doing the developing phase in Adobe Camera Raw. Process wise; the shots comes off the camera, are converted to a format native to Adobe’s software family, they get a basic set of settings governing this, that, and the other thing, are cropped, edited a final time, and then published. I go out of my way not to alter photos in any way other than basic adjusts to contrast and that sort of thing. When I employ a ‘trick,’ like exposure or focus stacking, I usually describe what I did under the photo here. I aspire to journalistic ideals.
Everything you see here is part of the tyranny of the real.
Back next week with more.
“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.
Locomoting back in Pittsburgh
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After getting back home from ‘home,’ your humble narrator settled back into his normal pattern of life. Yeah, I took a few days off from everything to rest up, before jumping back on my bandwagon. My ankle was pretty swollen for a couple of days due to all the walking back in NYC.
I’ve unfortunately got a bunch of doctor oriented stuff which needs accomplishing during the month of July, and so does Our Lady of the Pentacle. On my side of things, I had to postpone various tests and other ‘Doctor’s Orders’ because of my ankle situation, so I’m trying to pack all of that in during July – partly in the name of just getting it off my menu. This post is being written during the first week of July, incidentally.
Our Lady had to visit a doctor for a routine examination, and while she was being poked and prodded by the blue pajamas and white coat crowd, I headed over to Allegheny Commons Park where a locomotive trench carries Norfolk Southern traffic through the park.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is an ‘autumn shot,’ incidentally, captured during high summer. I got the autumn shot the year before last. The Ginkgo Trees lining the tracks drop their leaves – which then turn yellow as they decay. That gives you a black locomotive moving through a golden yellow path – very Pittsburgh, huh?
After the train passed out of view, I decided to walk a couple of blocks over to another ‘POV’ which I’ve exploited in the past.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I hoped, those Norfolk Southern engines had soon coupled up with a train’s worth of cargo cars, and were just starting to proceed forward as I got there. These tracks, in the direction the train was heading, lead to either a spur that goes to the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge over the Allegheny River and then through the Amtrak station downtown on their way east, or they can also lead to a different line that sits on the northern shore of the Allegheny River and more or less follows Route 28 in a roughly northeasterly direction. Exciting, no?
Yes railfans, I’m going to drive out to Conway Yard sometime this summer, probably in August.. Additionally, it’s likely I’m going to visit Altoona and the Horseshoe Curve in August as well. Word has it that Altoona has finally finished repairing its incline, after all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The train, led by #6317 – an EMD SD40E model locomotive engine – or so I’m told – started moving towards the Allegheny River. I cracked out a few shots of the thing, and then followed it, as least as far back as where I had parked the car.
I encountered and starting chatting with a very cool lady who had emigrated from Jamaica to Pittsburgh via Brooklyn at this particular juncture. When she heard I was from Brooklyn, and specifically Canarsie/Flatbush, she was ebullient. We talked about Flatbush Avenue, and meat patties, and scotch bonnet peppers. That’s when my phone rang and it was Our Lady, who was nearly done with her appointment. I bid my new friend good fortune and moved on.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On my way back to the Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, I cracked out a couple of shots of the train moving through the trench. It was a mixed up bunch of cargo cars.
I made my way to the car, after stopping off at the ‘Porta-Potty’ for a tinkle. It’s so nice living somewhere where you’re not just expected to piss in the street like a dog.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s remnants of what looks like a masonry bridge over the tracks which still exist here. Boy, that must’ve been some point of view from that one, huh? Wonder when it was condemned and closed?
Back tomorrow with more from Pittsburgh.
“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.
DUGABO 2 Canarsie
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A visit to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ on Kingsland Avenue found me waving the camera about in yet another overly familiar spot.
One of the last times that I actually cared, the NYC DEP had changed the name of that sewer plant up there to the ‘Newtown Creek Wastewater treatment and resource recovery plant.’ Can you imagine being the one who answers the phone here? Sheesh. It’s the largest sewer plant in NYC, drains Manhattan below 79th street, and parts of Brooklyn and a sliver of Queens. The stainless steel eggs are bio-digesters which process the poop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From the Green Roof at 520 Kingsland, looking north towards Queens, and that’s a new theatrical production mega structure which has risen from the former FreshDirect location along Borden Avenue. Again – no connection to the railroad or to the industrial canal it neighbors.
For a ‘mega massive’ panorama of the scene above, click here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The camera was waved about, at all the familiar places. Allocco Recycling, SimsMetal, everywhere. There was a weird sense of finality for me while doing so, can’t tell you why.
Going to miss this place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was the last Newtown Creek shot for Day 3. I had yet another assignation to accomplish, which would require a bit of a commute.
Luckily, one of my NCA pals has driven to Kingsland Avenue, and offered me a ride to the L train, at Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.
Brrr… stairs…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the many food cravings I’ve been having in Pittsburgh has involved Kosher Deli. I mentioned this when talking to one of my cousins, and he suggested that I take the train out to his neck of the woods and we’d go out for a meal. Getting to and from the ‘old neighborhood’ has always been a pain in the butt. Terminal stops at Rockaway Parkway for the L and Brooklyn College for the 2 & 5 are pretty far away from the specific area where I grew up, and where my cousin still dwells.
Luckily, he agreed to pick me up at Rockaway Parkway, terminal stop on the L line subway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cars were nicely air conditioned, and I resisted the urge to debark the train at Broadway Junction to get some photos there.
We arrived in Canarsie, where I observed that in the many, many years since this was ‘home,’ that the old population of Jews and Italians seem to entirely left the ‘zone’ and the population of the area seems to have become entirely Caribbean. Cool! If I wasn’t actually heading to dinner at a Jewish Deli, my cousin would have pulled up and found me eating Jerk Chicken out of a paper bag…
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.
DUKBO 2 DUGABO
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My beloved creek…
After visiting the Maspeth Plank Road and Maspeth Creek as well, my next destination involved a walk through Blissville, and then to the Kosciuszcko Bridge’s bike and pedestrian path. If you haven’t figured it out, that’s the view from ‘up there’ in the photo above.
I was heading over to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ, in Greenpoint, to touch base with a few former colleagues and extant friends. Oddly, I was actually experiencing emotions, of the sort which literature has suggested to me that the normal humans might. Odd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Several mentions at the start of this series of NYC posts have alluded to the fact that this trip was actually a bit of an emotional journey for me.
Possibly the last chapter in the broken ankle story? Hope so.
In many ways, I needed to see what my physical capabilities actually are now, and so I returned to the place where I’ve defined that sort of thing for the last sixteen years – since the last major medical situation I found myself in, when I experienced a heart attack at 39. It was a bad moment for me personally, of course, but the recovery from that incident led to everything I’ve been doing ever since – including this, your Newtown Pentacle.
Needless to say, I was in a heightened emotional state during this four day stint. Remarkable, a couple of times I was actually displaying inner emotions to other people. Normally, my armor is up and other than brief flashes of annoyance or anger, trying to read me is difficult.
Never, ever, let anyone know what you’re actually thinking.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The struggle, during the whole recovery period from the broken ankle, was to ‘remain chipper.’ Getting depressed wouldn’t have helped, at all, and I did the usual great job of suppressing and containerizing my emotional tumult, with the intention of releasing the enclosed pressure at some future point, when expedient.
As I always say: Freak out after the crisis.
A lot of this sort of thinking, I think, is a direct reproach of how my Mom handled the world. She had one reaction to everything, a screaming and sweaty fit of anger aimed at whomsoever caused the agitation. Everything was treated with the same intensity. Russian fighter jet just fell out of the sky, and crushed the family car? Spilling a few coffee grinds on the kitchen counter? Dad has cancer? My hair is wet? Too much salt on her fries at the diner? Same reaction, everytime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was Day 3 of the NYC trip, and by this point the ankle was actually pretty sore. Exercise days have been spaced out, with at least a 72 hour recovery period of low activity following a walk. The joint still swells up on me, a situation which the surgeon tells me could last as long as two years after the reconstruction surgery. It was indeed swollen by Day 3, but I was still able to scuttle around pain free. It was the end of Day 4 when it started giving me some trouble, but I was already slouching roughly towards LaGuardia Airport by that point.
Did I mention how hot it was? That’s the end of my Monday morning moaning and self introspection.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in Pittsburgh, I laugh and laugh when people describe traffic as being heavy. Even in a slow down ‘rush hour’ scenario, traffic in Pittsburgh is still moving at 10-20 mph. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway at the Meeker Avenue exit, however, was moving at the average speed of vehicle traffic in NYC, which – last time I checked – is estimated to be about 3.2 mph. It was lovely, the way that the sunlight filtered through the shimmering engine exhaust.
The Kosciuszcko Bridge was left behind, and your humble narrator reentered the street grid in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. It would be about a 3/4 of a mile scuttle to get to DUGABO (Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp) where NCA HQ is found at 520 Kingsland Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Boy, they just don’t have sewer plants in Pennsylvania like this one, I tell’s ya. We got’s a mammoth series of scary factories out here though, like Brooklyn used to.
After arriving at NCA HQ, I began drinking copious amounts of water, rehydrating after a sweaty few hours on Newtown Creek’s ‘mean streets.’ Several friends actually made a special trip to coincide with my visit, and we had a bit of an NCA reunion going on for a bit. I was faklempt.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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 