Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Beyond the bend
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, a humble narrator was executing a short constitutional scuttle of about five miles along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, found on the south shore of the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh. That’s the South Tenth Street Bridge pictured above, which I think I’ve finally taken an interesting picture of. It’s a fairly unremarkable span, and it’s a challenge I’ve been entertaining myself with for a while now.
It’s also the start of a huge encampment maintained by a population of homeless mendicants. The city of Pittsburgh has been dealing with these sorts of encampments all over its turf since COVID, and has been roughly uprooting the dwellings, tents, and shanties in the ‘Downtown’ area of the ‘golden triangle’ since I got here, in response to complaints by the business community about the situation.
These poor people had to go somewhere, and apparently it’s here, far away from the Downtown corporate world and the cameras of new crews.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the 1930’s, this would have called this a ‘Hooverville,’ shanties and makeshift dwellings composed of other people’s discarded items. During this walk, one noted that both sides of the trail were de facto neighborhoods. I observed a young guy doing missionary work here, bringing sanitary products to the residents. I also saw him cutting firewood for a camp of three elderly men at one point. He was wearing a T-Shirt signifying he worked for some local church. Good stuff.
Instinct is to pass some sort of moral judgement on our fellow Americans for ending up in this circumstance due to addiction or bad luck, but that does nothing to solve the issue and serves to dehumanize the homeless into a homologous ‘mono-issue’ population rather than individuals who all have different problems that have led to this circumstance.
Conversely, there are some fairly dangerous people amongst them and it’s important not to underestimate that. I don’t have an answer to the problem I can offer on this subject. Life on the edge is a hard life.
I’ve said it a hundred times (and especially so to members of ‘Team DeBlasio), that there’s not a ‘homeless problem,’ rather there’s thousands of individual ‘homeless problems’ with no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Few of them want to be living in a tent made of garbage alongside a river.
If you’re concerned about these people, think ‘existential’ instead of ‘penitential’ and drop off some old blankets or clothing nearby their campsites. At least they’ll be able to stay warm while living like this in the richest country that’s ever existed. That’s what I’d call the ‘Christian’ response, rather than putting them in jail for being destitute or something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
See what I mean about the South Tenth street bridge? It’s really hard to get an interesting shot of the thing… bah.
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.
Black & Gold
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has been hunting for this set of shots since the leaves began to turn. Allegheny Commons Park, and the 4 track railroad trench that runs through it nearby the National Aviary on Pittsburgh’s North Side, is where this particular location is found. The trees which line the trench are Ginkgos, a specie whose leaves turn bright gold in the fall. The primary source of traffic on these tracks is the Norfolk Southern rail outfit, whose trains are primarily black.
Kismet, huh? Black + Gold = Pittsburgh.
That’s Norfolk Southern #4243, heading south east on the trench’s track #2. 4243 is a rebuilt GE AC44C6M model locomotive, providing 4,400 horsepower worth of traction.
These were actually a surprisingly difficult set of shots to get. I had to keep returning and returning to the location, as I was completely out of sync with the comings and goings of locomotive traffic. One day, I sat there for more than an hour and nothing. A couple of days later, two hours and nothing. On a third day, I showed up with a sandwich and a thermos of coffee determined to just wait it out.
That’s the interval during which I got the shots in today’s post. I keep on saying ‘it’s a lot like fishing, this rail thing.’ You show up, drop your hook in the water, and hope you get a bite.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern is a HUGE company operating literally hundreds if not thousands of locomotives on North America, and their rolling stock is a quite commonly sighted commodity around Pittsburgh. Less commonly witnessed is the Allegheny Valley Railroad, a feeder line rail outfit local to the Pittsburgh area, pictured above.
I’ve been hunting for these guys too, and have described it to my new friends here in Pittsburgh as being a bit of a ‘white whale,’ as far as rarity and my desire to get a shot of them. I’ve hung around their tracks in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville, but have never spotted one in the wild.
Luckily for me, one appeared here on the North Side, heading north and westwards on the trench’s Track #1. AVRR #6006 was hauling empty mineral cars and garbage containers.
#6006 is a 1993 vintage locomotive, part of a group built for Conrail, but ended up being owned by Norfolk Southern. AVRR’s 6001-6006 locomotives were rebuilt and upgraded before coming into the smaller outfit’s service, and came online for AVRR in 2021.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Track #3 was suddenly occupied by Norfolk Southern #7663, which was headed southeastwards. There are multiple ‘rights of way’ which Norfolk Southern uses in Pittsburgh. These particular tracks lead to a junction, one which allows egress either along the north shore of the Allegheny River or to a crossing of the Allegheny at the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge which allows access to a set of tracks which are run through the center of the city (and are the same ones that Amtrak uses).
There’s another NS right of way found along the Monongahela River on the south side of the city. #7663 is a GE ES40DC locomotive built in 2007.
A group of ‘old white guys with expensive cameras’ – aka rail fans- had formed up at the point of view which a humble narrator had been stalking.
I had a few nice conversations while we collectively waited for the action to start. One fella had driven in from Ohio, and a father and son in law combo had come in all the way from Baltimore.
A couple of Pittsburgh natives were there too, including one talented fellow who clued me in to a couple of POV locations which I’m going to explore over the winter months.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Track #4 saw a return trip of AVRR #6006 occur, which was hauling what seemed to be a full train’s worth of cargo rather than the clearly empty one that it had had taken north west. In between shots, I ran over to use a nearby Porta Potty to blow some ballast.
I cannot mention this enough – as a former New Yorker – the wonder I continually experience in Pittsburgh regarding the fact that they deploy Porta-Potty bathrooms at nearly every public space you might find yourself at, including nearby the spot I was occupying.
Acknowledging human biology and public health by funding a simple solution for keeping people from having to piss in the street like dogs, without spending tens of millions of tax dollars on ‘comfort stations’ (which are seldom open) in random parks… just imagine that.
They do a lot of things right, out here in the Steel City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All of these leaves have turned to slime and rotted away by the time you’re reading this in early December.
There was about a ten day interval during which the Ginkgo leaves were golden. One of my fellow photographers was armed with one of those radios that serious railfans carry which allowed him foreknowledge of when a train might be approaching and he announced that this was going to the end of the show for a couple of hours.
My desire to capture this scene was sated, and I packed up my kit in preparation of heading back to HQ. One informed the two fellows from Baltimore about the Brewery location along the CSX tracks on the South Side which I’ve shown y’all several times. This was information which they eagerly received, and I offered my observations to them about what time those tracks seem to be busiest.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a wider version of the squared off shot of NS #4243 in the first shot, and presented ‘out of sequence,’ but I really like it. Captured seconds prior to the square cropped one in the first/preview image.
I’ve been trying to mix things up a bit lately, as you’ve likely noticed. Any reaction to these experiments? I think the square ones are a little friendlier to ‘the phone’ format, or at least they render up a bit larger than the horizontal landscape shots do.
As always, if you want to take a closer look at any of these photos (or… ahem… buy a print from Flickr and help support a humble narrator) click the image, and it’ll open the Flickr page which hosts it and offers a mechanism to order. I’d make a few cents on the transaction.
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.
My October obsession, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve displayed shots of the freight rail traffic moving through a trench at Allegheny Commons Park previously, and mentioned my desire to return in the late autumn when the Ginkgo Trees which overfly it turn to their autumnal coloration. The most common heraldry you see down on the tracks belong to the Norfolk Southern RR outfit.
Black trains, yellow foliage – very ‘Pittsburgh,’ no?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As it turned out, I had been quite lucky in prior outings at this location, as far as frequency of traffic goes. A couple of days before these photos were captured, I had sat here for two hours without anything interesting happening. This time around, I waited for about 45 minutes, but all the trains were going the wrong way. I wanted to capture one with the train heading towards me. I’ve come to analogize this sort of activity as being a lot like going fishing. You prepare, get there, drop a hook in the water. As far as catching a fish? Depends.
As a side note – the locomotive in the shot above and below belonged to the Allegheny Valley RR outfit. AVRR has been a bit of a ‘white whale’ for me, as I knew that they existed but hadn’t managed to witness one of their locomotives ‘in the wild.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Funnily enough, this ended up being one of those times that I was quite in tune with a large group of people. A crowd of ‘mainly old white guys with expensive cameras’ were gathered here each and every time I made the attempt to get ‘the shot.’ Pleasant conversation and a sharing of knowledge was on hand, but we were all a bit frustrated by the lack of train traffic – which is pretty uncharacteristic for Pittsburgh.
I was glad that I got these, but my desire was to capture a shot of the trains coming towards me remained. Upon returning to HQ, I informed Our Lady of the Pentacle that I’d be returning to this very spot in a couple of days, this time with a water bottle and a sandwich. My plan was to wait it out, as long as it took.
That later effort paid off, as you’ll see next week 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.
Heinz Chapel
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Heinz Memorial Chapel pictured above, which offers 57 varieties of interdenominational religious services and…
Actually, it’s a ‘sacred space’ dedicated to and built by the Heinz family of Pittsburgh. The Heinz Chapel opened in 1938, at a ceremony led by the son of Henry John Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company.
Now simply branded as ‘Heinz,’ the company are the purveyors of various preserved vegetables and condiments, which includes their category defining Tomato Ketchup. The scion died in 1919, and his three children carried on with his desire to memorialize their grandmother Anna Margaretha Heinz after he passed on.
The Heinz family is still quite prominent in Pittsburgh, through their philanthropic Heinz Endowments fund, and for serving in the endless sea of Politics. If there was a Batman here, he’d secretly be a Heinz, rather than a Wayne.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was rather late in the day when I arrived at the Heinz Chapel, which unfortunately severely limited my time there to a ‘run and gun’ sort of visit. They roll up the sidewalks in Pittsburgh pretty early, I should mention. This was about 4 in the afternoon.
Luckily, the person who was serving as the attendant allowed me usage of the lavatory, which had become something of an urgent need, and I then had just a literal minute to grab a shot of the chapel itself before she would be turning off the lights and locking the doors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I said about St. Paul cathedral – wow.
This is a spot which I’m definitely going to revisit soon, as I’d love to capture some of the abundant detail within the chapel from behind the lens.
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.
St. Paul RC Cathedral
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
St. Paul Cathedral’s construction, here in Pittsburgh, was completed in 1906. The cathedral was designed by the architectural team of Egan and Prindeville, in the Gothic Revival Style and its design was inspired by Germany’s Cologne Cathedral. It’s the seat of the Pittsburgh Diocese, administered by its resident Bishop – the Most Rev. David A. Zubic, and St. Paul Cathedral is the mother church of all of the Catholic parishes in the Greater Pittsburgh area.
The top of its spires are 247 feet high, its internal chapel seats 2,600 people, and it’s one of the anchors of the Schenley Farms historic district. It’s quite a church building.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One strode up to the place, whose main entrance doors were open. As is my habit, when passing by the holy water thingamabob – after entering the chapel section within – I stuck a fingertip into the consecrated fluid, and since nothing adverse occurred one continued on. The people who run this place dress like wizards, so you gotta check.
A student was practicing their art on the pipe organ within, which lent a certain atmosphere to the entry. After my eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight without…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Wow. Just, wow.
There were a couple of attendants preparing the place for an upcoming mass, and an academic instructor was talking on a two way radio and offering critique to that student organist from down in one of the pews, but other than them – I was there by myself in this ‘sacred space.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I affixed a wide angle lens to my camera, and secured that device onto the small platypod mount which I always carry on these sorts of adventures. I set the camera up for longish exposures, of 5-6 seconds, and got busy.
What do you Goyem call this location – is it a pulpit, or an altar, or what? I once referred to a similar ritual focus spot found at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC’s Soho as a stage – to a Monsignor – which won me a ‘tsk, tsk’ from the prelate.
I confess my ignorance when it occurs, something which I consider as being one of my better traits – a ray of light amongst all the horrible habits and negativity which causes everybody to hate me, eventually.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Looking back towards the entrance, you can see the pipe organ setup in the center of the shot. The original Pipe Organ at St. Paul was donated by Andrew Carnegie, but that unit was replaced in 1962.
As mentioned, a student organist was practicing their craft, and being instructed via radio from the pews. Devotional music was thereby bouncing around off of the walls and it was quite a lovely experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the attendants informed me that they needed to begin preparing the Cathedral for a scheduled ceremony, and gave me a deadline as far as how long I could continue shooting. The fellow was actually quite gracious, pointing out several small details for my consideration.
This is definitively a location I’m going to return to, here in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section. I will also say it again – WOW!
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 