Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Kicking dirt at West End Elliot Overlook
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After an interminable interval, Our Lady of the Pentacle had finally boarded a flight, from the UK, and was on her way back home via the Pittsburgh International AirPort.
Me? I had time to kill while anxiously waiting to pick her up from that facility, and had positioned myself in a photogenic spot to pass the time until that joyous moment when a text arrived saying ‘I’ve landed.’
I picked the West End Elliot Overlook Park to go kick dirt, partially because it’s about a five minute drive to a highway onramp which would then send me hurtling in the direction of Our Lady in the automobile.
About a 25 minute drive at this time of day, more or less, from this spot to the airport. Perfect.
The tripod was set up, my lens cleaned of dust, and I got busy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This little outing of mine occurred just before sunset, and the Overlook is a great place to shoot ‘urban landscape’ for both sunrise and sunset. A city park, there’s a parking lot with a port-a-potty installed in it, and there’s always some people there. Some picnic people were observed, a few pot smokers, others sipping hooch from a bottle hidden in a paper bag. Lots of dog walkers, too. Nice quiet and cool spot, this.
There was maritime traffic down on the ‘Mon,’ with a Towboat towing an enormous raft of what looked like twenty empty barges under the Fort Pitt Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Ronald D. Koontz Towboat. Marinetraffic.com offers this page about the vessel, which hides what you’d like to see behind a paywall that renders the formerly great functionality of their site moot. Cory Doctorow has coined the term ‘enshittification’ to describe what’s going on with the internet these days, and I’m in agreement.
The future has turned out to really suck, hasn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the burning thermonuclear eye of God itself’s emanations faded, I was keeping myself busy. Panoramas, long exposures, the whole quiver.
If you’d like to see a full sized version of the panorama image above, click here for its Flickr page and zoom in. Go to town. Carnival!
The two bridges in the shot are the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River on the left, and the Fort Pitt Bridge over the Monongahela River on the right.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I kept checking my phone for the anxiously awaited text that Our Lady had landed at the airport. In the meantime, I kept shooting.
It’s been a long time since I did any ‘night stuff.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s West End Bridge over the Ohio River, which is frequently mentioned here. I’ll often walk over that span on one of my scuttles, after taking the T light Rail to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ.
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.
Things a-popping, everywhere’s ya looks
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a long interval of ‘have-to’s,’ your humble narrator finally found a little time for the camera’s exercises. I had the car with me, and drove to where I was going, violating my normal habit of leaving the car at home when out scuttling. Since I was hyper-mobile, I checked in on the Rook Yard of the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR outfit while on my way. They were doing ‘something,’ with that train set moving back and forth while workers adjusted the switches. Everybody has something to do.
Our Lady of the Pentacle was out of town, and Moe the Dog was thereby nervous and ‘faklempt’ without her for better than a week. She’s goodness and light, Out Lady is, and when she’s not here all the dog has to rely on is me.
I’m horrible, an intelligence of malign instincts housed in the decaying cadaver of a man, an outsider and abomination which somehow walks and breathes but never seems to stop talking. Poor Moe had to deal with me, but after a certain interval of service to the pup, one needed to get some exercise and wave the camera around lest madness take over.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I drove down to the Monongahela River shoreline, and the Colors Park, where there’s also a parking lot. After the Mobile Oppression Platform was safely stowed, one gathered his gear together and set out for a scuttle. It was just a few miles this time, and I opted for a familiar section of the Great Allegheny Passage trail to focus in on and where I’d slap the pavement with my feet.
The concrete factory next door to the Sly Fox brewery was unloading a minerals barge and piling the stuff up for processing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since this was going to be a short walk, it had been decided to try and walk as fast as I’m capable of these days. Cardio, yo.
It was a warm autumn day in Pittsburgh, with clear skies and temperatures in the upper 70’s. Your humble narrator ‘leaned into it.’ No headphones or audiobooks for this walk, which I’d already capstoned as being ‘Liberty Bridge to Fort Pitt Bridge and back.’ There and back again is just under three miles. A short walk, thereby.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back at HQ, Moe had really been working me during Pu Lady’s absence. I’m fond of telling the neighbors that Moe is very much Our Lady’s dog, but that I’m his favorite toy. That played out in an ever tightening circle of annoyance for me, and I desperately needed a break from the inter species dynamic for an afternoon.
Great care was exercised, in terms of moving about the world, given that Our Lady was on another continent and recent experience with the broken ankle revealed that your whole life can be turned upside down unexpectedly. Moe’s life was literally in my hands.
A ‘deadman’s switch’ was instituted with one of my neighbors. If she did not receive a daily text from me, her husband would then be instructed to break into my house after work and save Moe. I told them to just leave my body lying wherever they found it for the coroner to deal with.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! I was hoping a train or two might appear.
That’s CSX #7225, heading away from Ohio along the outfit’s Pittsburgh Subdivision (aka Keystone Subdivision) tracks along the Monongahela River. Tankers, that what it was hauling. Could have been fuel, or chemicals, can’t tell you what was inside. I also fundamentally do not care.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I still had a few days of solo service to the dog ahead of me. Our Lady is British, and she had headed home to visit her Dad and Brother as well as her passel of old friends. A hellish interval for me.
I hate the loneliness. I’ve become ‘institutionalized.’ Moe the Dog ain’t a great conversationalist.
Back next week with something different – 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.
Skedaddling through the sky
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A wide angle 16mm prime lens had been affixed to my camera while walking over the Birmingham Bridge, which spans the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh, and an attempt was made to tap into the lens’ potential.
You have to be mindful, with a lens like this, of weird optical distortions.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s one of them now.
It really matters where the ‘what’ you focus on is ‘in’ the frame with this lens, due to severe barrel distortion. A hemispheric knob of glass forms the lens’ objective, rather than a flat element on the face of the thing.
I wasn’t listening to anything interesting on this walk, preferring to stay cognizant of my surroundings while moving through an area of urban density.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last shot with the wide angle lens, as I crossed over the bridge and got to the south side of the river. I sat down again, and refitted a zoom lens to the camera. Options.
I looked down and saw a set of rail tracks, thinking to myself that it would be super cool if a train came through just then.
Then I heard a train’s horn…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX was rolling through, hauling a line of mineral cars. Y’know what? It was ‘super cool.’
Sorry, but I’m going to have to say this bit again…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It looks like coal, or maybe ‘coke,’ which is cooked coal. I don’t know for sure, and long practice has taught me not to make assumptions about the things I see and photograph. I can say pretty categorically that it’s ‘minerals’ in those train cars.
This is a practice which I learned to follow on the fabulous Newtown Creek, which is that ‘unless you know for a fact what ‘something’ is, don’t try to ‘sound smart’ and guess.’ The hardest thing in the world for someone like me is to just utter the phrase ‘I don’t know.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a quick stop off at a Saloon for a rehydrating pint of Guinness, accompanied by a quick sit down and conversation with some amiable company, one set off for the final destination of the evening – a restaurant and pub which specialized in British food, of the specifically Scottish variety. Our Lady of the Pentacle is from England, so… homeland chow for her.
Back tomorrow with something different – 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.
Down, up, over
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described in prior posts, your humble narrator was recently cavitating through a section of Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood known as ‘Millionaires Row’ along Fifth Avenue. The latter byway then offered me egress through the Oakland section, whereupon I arrived at the veritable edge of this parcel of reality.
Fifth Avenue offers vehicle traffic an entrance to a high speed arterial road, called I-376, known colloquially as the ‘Parkway ‘east’ or ‘west.’ A particular annoyance for me is that there is no accommodation in place for pedestrians or bike riders to cross at the entrance ramp to this parkway, so you have to just wait for a break in the never ending stream of automobile traffic bleeding off the local grid and then onto 376. Dangerous.
Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In this section of the country, the Governments need to install signage adjuring ‘no pedestrians’ or ‘motor vehicles only’ at on ramps for high speed roads. It may seem like overkill, that, but there’s a pretty sizable Amish and Mennonite population hereabouts. You don’t see them too often in the city, but they’re out there riding about in their horse drawn buggies. It’s also not uncommon for me to see some ‘english’ dude walking along the highway’s service lane or on the other side of the guard rails either, I’d mention.
For the Amish, everyone who’s not ‘Dutch’ is ‘English.’
It’s similar to the way that NYC’s Hasidim see the world: you’re either ‘Jewish’ or you’re ‘Goyem.’ Even other Jews, from different sects, are considered to be ‘goys’ to the fundamentalist eyes of the Hasidim.
Fundamentalists, huh? A bad joke from the neighborhood I grew up in, which was on the border of one of the Orthodox’s ‘zones’ in Midwood, was ‘Now Hasidim, now ya don’t.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Inviting pathway, no?
After following this pavement, and then being forced to cross against traffic at a bridge’s off ramps – because a cross walk was occupied entirely by idle construction equipment – one negotiated the shattered pavement of the Uptown area, and began to make my way towards the pedestrian entrance of the Birmingham Bridge.
There’s a lot of obstacles, and zero signage. Luckily, I’ve walked this section before and knew where to go. I was being eyeballed by a ‘creature of the street’ so it was decided to walk a little bit faster in order to avoid trouble.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s actually startling how few intentional pedestrians there are here, outside of areas like Oakland. It’s all about the motor vehicle in Pittsburgh.
I’m famously not an ideologue on this subject, but it’s quite startling.
It’s probably because parking is fairly easy in this city. Odds are you’ll find a free or meter spot pretty close to where you’re going, except Downtown or Oakland where you have to pay for the privilege in a garage. Even then, this is not NYC, so commercial parking seldom costs more than $10 – and usually it’s less than that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Me? I like leaving the car at home in the driveway when I can, and getting around on foot. Since I don’t have to worry about getting back to the parked car, thereby, I’m free to wander and indulge in serendipity.
Additionally, if I want to stop off at a bar at the end of the walk and have a beer or two (which is often) I can without having to worry about intoxicated driving.
As you can see, I made it to the Birmingham Bridge. I took the opportunity for a quick ‘sit down’ on that concrete barrier that the lamp posts are attached to, and changed lenses. The zoom lens went into the bag, and a wide angle 16mm prime lens was affixed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Crepuscular Rays. That’s what those shafts of sunlight penetrating the clouds are called. You’re looking at the Monongahela River, which is likely pretty familiar to long time readers at this point.
I was heading over towards the South Side Works area, which would then place me within the East Carson street corridor. Both areas have a surfeit of bars and restaurants, and thereby there’s a fairly thriving nightlife economy. East Carson operates and looks a lot like first or second avenue did back in NYC’s East Village.
As mentioned, I was meeting up with Our Lady of the Pentacle for a dinner out, which is a fairly rare thing for us these days. We normally cook at home, in a nicely sized suburban style kitchen.
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.
Oakland 2 Uptown
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One last mansion, from Pittsburgh’s ‘Millionaire’s Row’ on Fifth Avenue in Shadyside. This one is called called the Hillman house.
The next section of this particular scuttle would see me moving through a very, very different section of Pittsburgh, called Oakland.
A quite urban section of the City, it’s replete with ritual centers for the various religious denominations, universities, and you’ll observe vast campuses of hospitals and college buildings.
Traffic is always heavy here and it’s the only place in Pittsburgh, other than nearby a stadium on a game day, that I’ll regularly observe thousands of pedestrians milling about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, I’m going to properly explore Oakland – on foot – in a block by block fashion, but on this particular outing my goal was to get through it as quickly as possible. Your humble narrator had an evening assignation with Our Lady of the Pentacle, during which we were going to meet up for a dinner ‘out’ at a restaurant, and I was anxious about getting myself over to that comparatively far flung area where we’d be meeting up.
When you’re on foot, most places are far flung.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Fifth Avenue corridor in Oakland is a congested mess. Street construction is never ending, and they’re building a couple of new hospitals, and there’s ten million college kids milling around, and grinding red light related traffic is omnipresent. I don’t fear driving through here, because I’m a former New Yorker, and this still ain’t what I’d call ‘traffic.’
If you’re not being forced into pushing your car’s transmission lever into the ‘park’ modality while sitting still in a trench on the BQE, or find yourself admiring Maspeth from up on the LIE, it ain’t traffic.
The Yinzers, on the other hand, would seemingly rather have bamboo shoots inserted under their fingernails rather than sit in this sort of slow down. Road rage is always on display here in Pittsburgh. That makes this sort of traffic dangerous to move around on foot.
As a note: the middle pedal in front of the driver’s seat activates the brake. Cars don’t just move forward – they can slow down, and stop too. Also, you can turn the steering wheel fully during a turn, it’s not just small adjustments and then driving up and over on the sidewalk’s curb.
These are people who have lived and learned to drive without the gentle guidance of the NYPD showing them the way, to be fair.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Polio was cured somewhere along this stretch. Jonas Salk, vaccines, scientific miracle – all that. Remember this as being part of ‘reality,’ as it’s also called ‘history.’
One managed to negotiate his way through the crowds of students, and started thinking about the next leg of this scuttle. I had already decided to attenuate certain plans…
It should be mentioned that this walk occurred on the one year anniversary of the broken ankle incident. My original plan had involved some ‘showing off,’ thusly, but I thought better of it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was planning on spitting in the eye of my stair based PTSD by walking down the most insane set of City Steps which I’ve encountered so far in Pittsburgh – the ones leading down from ‘The Bluff’ nearby Duquesne University. In a rare moment of comportment, one reconsidered that plan and decided that it would be ‘daring the universe’ to do so.
One will be scuttling those steps again, just… not yet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Plan B involved crossing the Monongahela River via the Birmingham Bridge, just under a mile away, and downhill at that. More on that one tomorrow.
Remember: if it looks bad, don’t look, and always save the last bullet for yourself.
“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 