Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Pitt
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is the Cathedral of Learning, which is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh’s campus. The locals and students refer to this university as ‘PITT,’ so there you go – I’ve learned something. Mission accomplished, you 42 story tall gothic skyscraper you.
A particularly abundant band of rain had appeared, the minute we left the Heinz Memorial Chapel, which sits directly opposite and across a planted plaza from the Cathedral of Learning, so it seemed logical that we should scuttle quickly over to its entrance and check out one of the public spaces within.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My companion, an accomplished fellow who has published photo books about Pittsburgh and has resided in this city since the time of the Reagan Presidential Administration, informed me that this ground floor section is a PITT student center. There were dozens of kids scattered all over the place. They were doing what modern kids do – ignoring everybody around them and staring into computer screens with their headphones on.
Y’know… I’ve got a pet peeve about that sort of thing, and believe that when you’re in ‘meatspace’ the goal should be to interact with the fleshy eidelons of your fellows, rather than isolating into the abject loneliness and curatorial space of an online world. I also advocate that you shouldn’t turn on a television at a party, as the point of such gatherings is interaction rather than consumption of entertainment products. Online interaction tends to reinforce bias, whereas disagreements and arguments with real people in the real world are often an eye opener, and forces one into considering points of view and opinions from outside your daily round or experience. Talk, not type, say I. If you can’t get punched, you’re not really committed to defending an argumentative point of view.
One makes an allowance for sportsball related gatherings, as a note, as far as turning a TV on at gatherings.
Personally, I don’t back off the possibility of enduring physical violence in return for the advocacy of my own ugly points of view in the meatspace, and confrontation with others on my opinions has grown me as a person and forced me into becoming nearly empathetic. It’s a good thing to find out you’re wrong about something.
Kids these days, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, the overly moist atmospheric conditions outside subsided, and my companion and I resumed our walking about. I’m told there’s other public areas at the Cathedral of Learning which are found ‘upstairs.’ Looking forward to someday conjuring up a situation, one where I might be able to see those spaces sometime in the future. We had miles and miles of rainy day walking ahead of us still, to get back to where I I had parked the car.
On the plus side: Hey, I say it all the time – cities always look their best when it’s raining.
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.
Heinz Chapel
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was hanging out with a friend while on a recent walk, and we were trying out one of my ‘clever plans.’ As mentioned in the past, one of the things that’s been driving me batty is the fact that there’s large sections of the Pittsburgh Metro which you basically have to drive to. This negates the point of, and puts a delimiter on, how far a walk can range as you eventually have to get back to the car. Solution?
We tried out an ‘I park my car at the end of the walk, whereupon you pick me up and we drive to the beginning point of the walk whereupon we park your car, then walk all the way back to my car whereupon I then drive you back to your car’ scheme. It worked out pretty well, this, but it was absolutely pouring during the interval we were walking. Whatcha gonna do? Best laid plans, amirite?
When it’s raining like this, part of the photowalk deal is finding interesting places that you can step into and wave the camera around, which is how we ended up inside the Heinz Chapel, in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section, which found on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh (or ‘PITT’ as it’s colloquially referred to hereabouts).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Heinz Chapel itself is pretty lovely, but we had less than a half hour inside available to us, as the staff were about to start a private tour of the place for some group. We were allowed us to briefly photograph the joint, but were in a bit of hurry due to the tour’s starting time looming.
Officially, it’s the Heinz Memorial Chapel, which opened for business in 1938, and its founding and construction were funded by Pittsburgh’s own Heinz family – as in the 57 varieties, ketchup, and baked beans Heinz’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d love to get in here sometime with a proper tripod and do some photographic studies of the interior space, but since we had a deadline I used my ‘platypod,’ and a 16mm wide angle lens was affixed to the camera. The platypod gizmo is an easy to carry camera accessory, and one which is almost always found in whatever camera kit bag that I’m carrying on any given day.
I’ve got two bag setups, if you’re curious. One’s a ‘sling bag’ and the other is a knapsack. Both get an insert packing cube sort of thing which is customizable. I’ve got two of those which are set up in slightly different fashions. The Knapsack is great and voluminous, but the form/function of the bag gets in my way when I anticipate changing lenses frequently, as I was planing on doing this particular afternoon.
The sling bag is a lot better for that sort of thing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The problem with the platypod is that it’s essentially a table top camera support, meaning that you’ve got to find a surface for it to rest on – as opposed to a traditional tripod which is freestanding. Saying that, the platypod is brilliant when you’re in a natural setting.
The four ‘feet’ of the thing are connected to its central plate by quarter inch 20 turn screw holes (which is pretty standard for camera ‘stuff’). There’s a set of spikes which come with the thing which you can press into soil or whatever to anchor the camera plate down to the planet, but I made a set of ‘feet’ for it which use silicone furniture casters so as to not scratch or damage finished surfaces, nor mar the paint on the hood of my car when I set it up for that sort of circumstance.
It’s also pretty compact, which permits the capture of odd angles like ‘worm’s eye’ views, with the camera sitting just above ground level.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was dark within the Heinz Chapel, which called for the sort of camera support described above, but I could have gotten away with handheld/high ISO shots if I wanted to – as in the shot above (f4, ISO 3200, 1/60th of a second). My preference, however, for shots like these is a narrow aperture of f8, ISO at 100, and set whatever the exposure time to whatever it’s required to be. Higher ISO equates to noisier images, and I like the smoothness of lower sensitivity.
I’d really like to spend a bit of time in here at some point, and get all ‘tricksy’ with the shots, using exposure and focus blending. One exposure for the stained glass, another for the walls, etc., combine them all in my digital darkroom. That sort of thing, all artsy fartsy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Heinz people told us it was time to split, as their private tour was about to begin.
One last handheld shot, and then we stepped back outside into the rainy day. Being the kind of nerd I am, I had to inform my companion of the fact that it wasn’t actually raining, rather we were experiencing a precipitous mist. Didn’t change the fact that it was pouring rain, but it was an opportunity for me to start a sentence with ‘Actually…’ and seem intelligent by offering trivia, and that is something I cannot resist.
Look at me – I’m smart, not dumb, like people say.
As you’ll see tomorrow, we were lucky enough after stepping out into the precipitous mist to have another fairly epic public space to visit, and seek cover from the rain. 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.
Disfunction Junction
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A gorgeous spring-like day saw a humble narrator walking all over Pittsburgh, as detailed in last week’s posts. The end of my longish scuttle occurred, and I settled in at an often visited brewery which is located along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and the ‘Colors Park,’ where outdoor seating and active railroad tracks used by the CSX outfit are found.
I’m very fond of this spot, as it’s a grade crossing (the tracks intersect with a local street) with signal alarms that alert you when a train is nearing, and thereby you have ample warning to get into position and frame your shot. Also, there’s beer.
Choo Choo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One ended up having more than one glass of beer, I’ll confess, and it was dark when I set out for the T Light Rail station to acquire a ride home. I was testing out the ‘fail zone’ of a newish 50mm f1.8 lens on this leg of the day, I should mention.
The 50mm lens is pretty bare bones, electronics wise, and doesn’t offer ‘image stabilization’ technology inside the housing. My camera has an internal sensor based stabilization system, which gives me about three stops of wiggle room, but when I attach a stabilized lens to the thing I get an amazing eight stops worth of mechanical assist. The lack of stabilized glass on the thing caused me to throw away a few train shots, which just weren’t sharp enough to ‘make the grade.’
I made a mental note about sticking with my stabilized f1.8 35mm, or 85mm f2, for handheld night shots like the one above.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back home in Dormont some five miles away, and just as I was leaving the T Light Rail station, a Pittsburgh bound T train set was seen leaving the station. Couldn’t resist.
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.
Good and great
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator was lucky enough to wake up again, one recent day, and soon discovered that the atmospheric temperature would be in the high 60’s during the afternoon, which triggered me into taking a fairly long walk. I was determined to work a few flights of steps into this one, and the path I chose included several such obstacles to my continuing happiness.
The T light rail carried me over to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ, whereupon one pointed his toes in a generally southern direction, and proceeded to follow them. Several existential questions were positively gnawing at me on this particular day, however, and a location suddenly occurred to me where I could make a quick stop for consideration of my quandaries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have very few eidelons to which I assign the title of ‘all that’s good and great.’ I’ve mentioned a morality check of mine, in the past, as being “What would Superman do.” If you’re about to do something questionable, running it past the Kryptonian filter is a good idea, but always remember that Supes gaslights each and every one of his friends – including the woman he loves – (except for Batman, of course) – and he doesn’t seem to do much in terms of solving the big picture stuff on his adopted planet. I’m pretty sure Superman could eliminate world hunger in under a week if he wanted to, for instance.
The Man of Tomorrow always has to tell Bats the truth, since the Dark Knight probably already knows the score anyway. It’s hard to get anything past a Billionaire who calls himself ‘The Night,’ and or ‘Vengeance.’ That means you should always take what Superman says and does with a grain of salt if it doesn’t involve pinching off active volcanos or redirecting tidal waves, and that you should also acknowledge some serious issues about a Billionaire who dresses up in black leather, spends his money on an arsenal of esoteric weaponry, and beats up poor people at night.
The ultimate moral authority to judge your actions against thereby, in my mind, is always going to be Mr. Rogers and luckily I live not too far from his actual neighborhood. A Pittsburgh native, Fred Rogers was, and there’s a well deserved monument to him found on the north side of the Allegheny River.
Note: I actually perform the same act that Rogers always did when I get home from wherever, changing out of my outside clothes and shoes for a clean sweater and ‘house sneakers.’ In actuality, this habit of mine started after having read Marcus Aurelius, but when I realized that a stoic habit was what Fred Rogers was displaying to me as a child… that guy…
I like to sit down next to his statue and ponder my problems sometimes, meditating about kindness, and the maintenance of an open mind towards people and ideas which I don’t like very much. There’s a lot of that flying around at the moment, and it bums me out.
You ever listen to his 9/11 message?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Robert Berks was the sculptor who fashioned this metallic homage to Mr. Rogers, I’ve learned. I’ve wondered if the statue’s monumental stature was consciously decided upon to cause grown up adults feel like children, again.
The memorial plays recordings of the great man talking and singing, and it’s always a pleasurable spot to visit. The siting of the thing is pretty cool, I’d mention, nearby the beginning of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the Allegheny River’s North Shore, and in direct proximity to the sportsball stadium used by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Meditation time was over, my problems weren’t solved but at least I’d filtered out anger and self aggrandizement as motivations in my decision making. You can’t be prideful or self absorbed when you’re sitting next to Mr. Rogers, or at least a representation of him.
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.
Diesel
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lucky, lucky. While walking the last third of a constitutional walk on a chilly afternoon, a second CSX train appeared while I was on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail here in Pittsburgh. That’s the Fort Pitt Bridge behind it, if you’re curious.
CSX #845, I’m told, is part of General Electric’s ‘Evolution Series’ locomotive line – a model ES44AC-H locomotive. Read all about it here, nerds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was actually quite cold out by this time of day, with winds kicking up and temperatures falling. Funnily enough, not 36 hours later, the temperatures would be in the middle 70’s with extremely pleasant conditions. They all told me when I was talking about moving out here – in Pittsburgh, if you don’t like the weather, just wait about 20 minutes and it’ll change.
Saying all that, I wasn’t properly insulated and despite the exercise, a humble narrator was growing a bit chill. it probably had a lot to do with the actual drop in temperature and upscaling of the wind, but there you go.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was getting close to the end of this particular walk, which offered two cool views of train traffic up, so I considered it a ‘lucky’ day.
Too often, my rail timing is off and all I get to see are empty tracks. I’ve got to resume my vigil at Seldom Seen Greenway soon, and wait out the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR’s schedule until I get a desired shot there. I’ve made multiple attempts, but no bueno.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 