Posts Tagged ‘Pickman’
Next stop, Willoughby
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, I had made it to Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan.
Planes, automobiles, ferries, subways, and now trains. It had been a busy day for me since waking up at one in the morning back in Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One entered Grand Central, which is always a rush, and proceeded to the tickets counter to purchase a fare card for a Cold Spring bound Metro North train. The wide angle 16mm lens was still affixed to the camera.
Luckily, I didn’t have long to wait as far as boarding the train, and clicked out a few photos while crossing the great lobby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My energy was really starting to lag. The lifestyle I’m living in Pittsburgh these days is built around ‘early to rise and early to bed’ logic. Most nights I’m snoring by 11 p.m., and am awake again by 6 a.m. My night owl ways, as lived back in NYC, don’t fit in with the rhythm of life in Pittsburgh.
Luckily, the train was beginning boarding, so I just needed to find a seat and then relax for a little over an hour until reaching my destination.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made it, and settled into a seat. I was trying out a $15 camera gizmo on the way up north, a large silicone lens baffle which promised to cancel out window reflections when used properly.
The thing worked, sort of, but it wasn’t any sort of major improvement over my home made baffles made from the kind of foam you stuff in around a window based air conditioner. It was only $15, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ride north was uneventful, except for when that wagyu burger from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal produced a massively sulfurous fart, which emerged unbidden into the train car. Sorry, everyone.
I texted my buddy, letting him know I was heading towards him.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The LIC/North Brooklyn real estate frenzy is happening in the South Bronx too. I know… as a child you said to your parents ‘mommy, I want to live in the South Bronx, please.’ Sigh…
Back next week from a visit to the greatest city in the history of mankind.
“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.
Working the harbor
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In a lot of ways, I spent my time on a recent NYC visit reminding myself of who I actually am – or at least who I was. My activities on this visit weren’t consciously planned that way, but given the far flung nature of my activities in NYC, it was hard not to reminisce.
That’s the Manhattan Bridge above, and I served the City of Greater New York as a Parade Marshall for its centennial. I’ve also done hundreds of ‘on microphone’ narrations about that bridge on boat tours while passing under it. –
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Mexican Navy ship which allided with the Brooklyn Bridge.
If both objects are moving it’s a ‘collision,’ whereas if one object is moving it’s an ‘allision.’ A few people asked me, after the incident, what all the sailors were doing up in the masts. Here’s some shots from 2012’s ‘Op Sail,’ where you can see other tall ship sailors performing similar ‘parade duties.’
As a note: annoyingly, Flickr has altered their code in the last few weeks, which has caused a number of images on older posts to lose their previews. Not sure what to do about that at the moment, and I really do not want to dive into recoding 16 years worth of daily posts to start fixing links.
Hopefully, they’ll resolve this on the server end, but that’s why a bunch of previews are ‘404ing’ at the moment on older posts. Sigh… the future kind of sucks, doesn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The NYC ferry docked at Pier 11, and my Pal Val and I began heading towards the big orange boat. It had been about 12 hours at this point, relative to waking up at 1 in the morning back in Pittsburgh. Fatigue was definitely setting in, as was the desire for luncheon.
It was nice to smell salt in the air again, although I was frankly overwhelmed by the sewerage smell several times. My environmental adaptations have faded in my absence from ‘Home Sweet Hell.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The big orange boat left its dock at Whitehall and started the thirty minutes long journey to St. George on… Staten Island…
Along the way, I was busy with the camera, spotting tugs and getting shots of the maritime show on hand. I’ve always been amazed at how seldom most New Yorkers take advantage of the ferries – if nothing else – just for a change of scenery and to get out on the water for cheap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Nearing Staten Island, and the Kill Van Kull (aka tugboat alley) was busily spitting shipping out into the main sections of the lower harbor, from Port Elizabeth Newark at Newark Bay.
Funny thing is that I haven’t thought about this sort of thing much, or at all, in the last 2.5 years. It was when I was sitting in that damned wheelchair after breaking my ankle that I began longing to see this again.
I alluded to this the other day, but this visit ‘home’ was a surprisingly emotional experience for me. Normally, I suppress and ignore my ‘feelings,’ as being over emotional in daily life is how you make stupid mistakes and often costly errors, while offending others. I realize that this is exactly the opposite of what mental health professionals advise, but it works for me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m like a mafioso in terms of ‘never let anyone know what you’re going to do or say next,’ and one of my little mottos is ‘do what you say, say what you do.’ What that means is that people who know me in real life are often puzzled by my seemingly random decision making process and pivots, and they are often treated to long polemics about my personal rules, and subjected to apologetic confessionals about when I break one of those rules – usually due to expedience.
The tyranny of ‘the now’ rules over most days.
Back tomorrow with more from NYC.
“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.
Homeboy
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It all started at one in the morning on a Tuesday.
I had a 6 a.m. flight, leaving Pittsburgh International AirPort and bound for LaGuardia. Had to bathe, eat breakfast, and double check my packed bags. An Uber picked me up at 3:30 a.m. and I was at the airport by 4:05.
Got through security, which is a bit of a ‘thing’ when you’ve got a camera bag with you, and was soon cooling my heels at the gate drinking an expensive cup of coffee, purchased at the terminal. The plane landed on time, and my Pal Val picked me up in her car. The plan was to park her auto nearby the ferry stop in Astoria, and then board a boat for a NY Harbor Photo Safari.
I needed to smell salt water again, Y’see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I will admit to getting a bit emotional at times during the four days I was back home. It had more to do with the broken ankle situation, and reclaiming the walking physicality I’ve been working so assiduously to regain, than any sort of homesickness. Really felt like the end of the ankle story had finally arrived. Seeing my friends and colleagues again was just icing on the cake.
Physically speaking, I was running on adrenaline and caffeine. Back in Pittsburgh, I’m sleeping a solid eight hours a night. Get up early, go to bed early. It’s not like NYC back in Pittsburgh, as they roll up the sidewalks by nine or ten even on a weekend in the Paris of Appalachia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An interesting wrinkle discovered during this visit was that my environmental adaptations have faded away. As the folk wisdom states ‘if you live by the sea, you don’t smell the salt or hear the waves,’ meaning that your brain ‘tunes out’ environmental background stimuli which it deems unimportant.
What that means is that I could smell it, all of it. I could hear it, I could feel it. Everything stunk, the entire city with its standing wave of 15-20 decibels noise, and the mixed aroma of garbage, deep fat fryers, and human shit.
The East River smelled like an unflushed toilet to me, although it wasn’t ‘in a state’ or anything. Nothing’s changed on the waterway, my perceptions of it have.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cops appeared, as they always do in NYC, while the ferry navigated first to Roosevelt Island and then to Long Island City.
That’s another thing which is quite different in Pennsylvania – far fewer cops. One of my neighbors suggested we start up a bonfire in his back yard. I said no, claiming that NYPD would show up and hand out tickets and the. conduct warrant checks. My neighbor reminded me that we were in Pittsburgh. I laughed and said ‘you’ve never met the NYPD, have you?’
The ferry continued down the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the last things I’d do before heading back to Pittsburgh would involve the Queensboro Bridge’s newly opened pedestrian walkway, as a note, but you’re not going to see those photos for a while. During the four days I was in NYC, I walked close to thirty miles and shot close to 2,200 exposures – with much of that distance was expressed around a certain waterway which provides the currently undefended border of Brooklyn and Queens, as you’d imagine.
One of the goals for this trip was to test out my newly reconstructed ankle, and determine exactly how screwed I am moving forward. I brought the joint back to my testing environment, for a shake down cruise, basically.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a not insignificant amount of swelling going on after returning back to Pittsburgh 96 hours later, but it’s also the first time that I’ve asked the assembly and meat and metal which my ankle has become to ‘push’ for multiple consecutive days in a row without any sort of rest period.
The past couple of months have seen ‘exercise days’ and ‘photo walks’ separated from each other by at least 72 hours of recovery time, post facto. All in all, the joint held up to my abuse and I didn’t find myself walking like the Batman villain Penguin again.
Back tomorrow with more from NYC.
“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.
Get’s and go’s
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s a T light rail entering Potomac Station in Pittsburgh’s Dormont, where Newtown Pentacle HQ currently is found. I really have to get back to doing night shots, I’ve decided. Miss it.
Problem is that Pittsburgh is a very, very daytime focused place – or at least my style of life here has been. I get up early these days, about six in the morning, and am usually back in bed by about eleven at night. A huge change for me, this is, given how thoroughly nocturnal I used to be back in NYC. It’s darker here, I should mention, as there’s far less scattered light pollution bouncing off of concrete and buildings.
It’s funny, I feel like I’ve been slacking lately, although in reality I’ve been pushing the physical envelope as much as I can, post broken ankle wise. Every one of the longish walks I’ve been showing y’all has resulted in a day or two of painful soreness, but echoing in my head is ‘everything’s ok now, push harder.’ In reality, everything is definitively ‘not ok,’ but I’m trying. Everything will be better if I just work harder.
Really do miss the night stuff, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Next door to Dormont is Mount Oliver, and amongst other things, that’s where Moe the Dog goes for his dog training. He’s good at being a dog – to be clear – what with all the barking and the pooping so he doesn’t need any help on that front, but Moe has a lot of rough edges and bad habits we’re trying to coax him out of.
After dog training, it was time for me to figure out a route for my next walk. As mentioned, ad nauseum, one the goals at the moment is to pick routes which will provide certain otherwise hard to impact muscle groups in my legs which atrophied during my hermitage a decent workout. I also want to ‘see some stuff’ along the way.
On this walk, I had the whole kit with me – tripod, prime lenses, zoom lens. For this sort of carry, I prefer a knapsack, and the one currently on my back is from the Patagonia brand. Water resistant, lots of internal pockets, multiple compartments. The bag itself weighs practically nothing. This particular bag can – and has – held more than I had packed into it on this outing, but this was a day trip and not an overnighter. Additionally, I have to be concerned with how much the bag weighs which I’m slinging it onto my back because… you guessed it… the ankle.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. Patrick’s street, in the South Side Slopes/Allentown zone of Pittsburgh, that’s where I had a Lyft driver drop me off. I’ve been up here a few times in the past, but have never walked this particular route before. It’s almost like I’m systematically working my way through the street grid of an intriguing neighborhood, isn’t it?
I’ll show y’all what I saw along the way, on what ended up being a four and change miles scuttle, much of which was walked downhill at quite a steep grade. Interesting neighborhood, this.
Back tomorrow with more, 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.
Stretching and strengthening
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This time around, I made it halfway up the hill I live at the bottom of before I had to give the ankle a rest. I did utter a series of nonsense sounds while doing so, ‘unnghhhahh’ or ‘ahh ah ooh,’ that sort of thing. The plan for this walk involved going places which aren’t terribly interesting on the surface, but are somewhat close to HQ geographical wise. Just ‘a walk,’ this time around.
The endeavor I’m involved with at the moment is encapsulated in the title of today’s post: stretching and strengthening. The stretching part involves the tendons and ligaments which were damaged during the shattering of my ankle, and the consequent dislocation of the left foot back in September. It’s amazing how profound this injury ended up being, and long lasting. See, I am special.
After all this time – six months – I’m just now getting back to a somewhat normal pattern of life, and movement. The ankle still hurts, as a note.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the top of the hill, a left was hung, and I started walking up a more gradual hill, towards the ‘main street’ section of Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont. I’m still trying to understand the organizational chart of the Pittsburgh metro, as in ‘which’ elected office or agency handles ‘what.’ This Commonwealth business is still novel to me.
That’s the T light rail, moving away from Pittsburgh, and entering Dormont’s Potomac Avenue station pictured above. The PRT (Pittsburgh Regional Transit) people have been all over the local news for the last few days, ringing the alarm bell that they have run out of money. It seems that they have been propped up by first Federal Covid relief and then Infrastructure Bill money, sent by ‘Uncle Sugar’ in Washington for the last several years, and that they now find themselves more than a hundred million in the hole for 2026.
They are appealing to the State legislature in Harrisburg for a funding rescue, as Washington will no longer offer them financial succor, and the PRT claims that they will need to institute draconian cuts to their services in order to remain solvent. They offered their ‘Doomsday Scenario:’ complete elimination of over 40 bus routes, one of the T lines, and a decimation of their current schedule down to hour long waiting intervals between buses and even longer ones for the T. The doomsday plans includes layoffs for bus drivers and mechanics, train operators and engineers.
Entire communities would lose their bus, and or transit, service. Guess what? The cuts are mainly in the less wealthy ‘exurb’ places where people explicitly rely on mass transit to get to work or for their kids to go to school.
Lousy, this.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A right turn was next hung, and your humble narrator began moving south east. Pittsburgh has lots and lots of alleys, which are described as ‘ways.’ Narrow, it’s where businesses keep their dumpsters and where the junkies gambol and jump and play. Land has always been scarce back home in NYC, and alleys are a lot rarer there. Hell, if this was NYC, they’d probably try to build a long thin ‘shotgun’ style building to profitably fill that space pictured above with ‘affordable housing.’
Me? I was just pushing against the ankle’s restraints, taking long striding steps in order to condition that web of rubber bands secreted under my skin back into regular ‘ready to exercise’ condition. It’s all about stretching right now, and conditioning my muscles back into active duty mode after all of the sitting over the last six months.
Not too long after this post publishes, this afternoon in fact, I’ll be at the Orthopedic office for a check up and they’re likely going to shoot radioactive waves through my leg, in order to photographically vouchsafe the repair condition of my broken skeleton.
Fun. 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 