Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Stairmaster
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
HQ is located in a suburb of Pittsburgh called “The Borough of Dormont,” which is – I’m told – a square mile in size. One of Dormont’s conceits when it was chartered is that there would be no ‘mean streets’ here, as every single roadway is instead labeled as an Avenue. It’s silly, but there you are. HQ is found at the bottom of a steep hill, where three of those avenues all dead end at a forested gorge. I’m still investigating my local vicinity, incidentally. The shot above is from about a block from HQ.
Recently, while walking Moe the Dog down one of those dead end streets, I stumbled upon a badly maintained, and heavily grown over, set of municipal steps. Pittsburgh has hundreds of examples of this sort of infrastructure snaking about in the hills and valleys, by products of the era before automobiles. It occurred to me that these steps would be handy, in terms of bleeding out some of Moe’s excessive puppy energies, but as is my habit – I’d need to check them out first before bringing him along – just in case. ‘Next time I’m walking to the T light rail’ said I, and now you’re all caught up.
This is the setup for this post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Novelty, on this particular day, was experienced by a humble narrator, which revolved around a trick recently learned about how Amazon.com works which ended up with me using some new gear.
Amazon recently had one of their ‘Prime Day’ promotions, which offer deep discounts on otherwise ‘never on sale’ items, like Canon lenses. The Prime Day thing revolves around the fact that sale prices pop up and then disappear, which is how Amazon gets you to spend time on their site shopping for other crap you don’t want, while you are forced into reloading specific product pages over and over. The trick I learned is to set up a wish list, populated with these specific items which you want to keep an eye on the pricing of. The wish list updates itself when something on the product page changes , and you can instantly see if an item on the list gets discounted.
That’s how I ended up with two new prime lenses I’ve been wanting, which I got for roughly 35% off of the normal price, with free shipping.
This particular walk was going to be an all day sort of thing, during which I’d be waving the new lenses around and seeing what they could do. That’s the flight of municipal steps nearby HQ, by the way, which was the start of the endeavor occurred.
That’s the circumstance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The municipal steps are in worse condition than they look, and they look pretty bad. The concrete planks you walk on are jiggly, the iron rails and foundation are rusted and often disconnected from the superstructure. In some spots, there’s no railing at all. The steps are set into a hillside at a comfortable angle, and scuttling up them from one street corner to the next transverses about six to seven stories of vertical space. They’re not treacherous, but seem fairly disused and forgotten, which is something endearing to me. I’ve since returned here with Moe, who enjoys bunny hopping up them.
The first new lens isn’t terribly exciting news – it’s a ‘nifty fifty’ F1.8 50mm lens, with the Canon RF mount. I’ve got the EF mount version (which is the non mirrorless camera version), and have for years, but you need to use an adapter for it on my Canon R6 camera – which is a pain.
The other new lens, which today’s post was shot with, is an F2.8 16mm wide angle dealie. Neither one is ‘perfect,’ I would mention. They aren’t ‘L’ series, which is Canon’s professional grade – a super expensive family of lenses, or ‘glass.’ Some of these L lenses are the same price as a good used car, and are built for pro sports or wedding photographers.
That’s the conflict.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 16mm definitely has a bit of a fish eye distortion thing going on, with chromatic aberrations and vignetting quite visible at the corners of the frame. Aperture wise, it’s built as an F2.8, but like many ‘bright lenses,’ narrowing it to F4 is a wise move. Every lens has a ‘sweet spot’ setting. The point of shooting a lot with any new lens is to experimentally twist the settings about until you find a rational compromise between them while discovering its particular quirks. I didn’t see much improvement in the 16mm’s performance with apertures narrower than F4, so I’m calling that as the sweet spot. Aperture equates to ‘depth of field,’ fall off, and overall sharpness.
The 16mm is pretty good on color, as well. Different refractory coatings on the various lens families will often create hue or color shifts that you have to watch out. My Sigma lenses, for instance, perform better on the ‘hot’ color spectrums of yellow and red than on blues. The Canon ones tend to create over saturated blues, but simply rock and roll when the subject is pale human skin (dark skin, on the other hand…).
That’s the exposition.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This set of municipal stairs in Dormont ends after a single block, during which you’ve moved upwards something in the neighborhood of 70-80 feet. Maybe more, perhaps less, I don’t measure (at the end of this long walk, the Health app on my phone reported that I had walked 21 flights of stairs, and just under 12 miles, in toto for that day). My reckoning, and what it felt like, was not unlike walking to the sixth or seventh floor of a building.
The burn really set in after I surmounted the stairs and was then scuttling up a hill on the sidewalk instead, which had to be set against the hill at a 15-20 degree angle. Whoof – but, good cardio – it really got the ticker pumping, I tell’s ya, but I did have to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. The stairs got a thumbs up from me, on the other hand. Our Lady of the Pentacle approved them, subsequently, for Moe’s usage.
Moe finds them exquisite, as he can haul me up them at great rates of speed.
Right in the center of the shot, where those two houses are, is where the stairs return you to the street Avenue. The change in altitude between the stairs, and the spot where this shot was cracked out, is something like four car lengths long (16mm wide angle, so it looks longer than it was due to ‘fisheye’) and about twenty feet in altitude. Pittsburgh is crazy.
The new lenses are what I used for several of the shots that will be popping up here over the next couple of days, by the way. The virtue of these new ‘pieces of glass’ is that they are incredibly light and easy to carry. Any three of these prime lenses still weigh far less than any of my zoom lenses. The pro “L Series” 28-105mm F4 zoom which is my ‘go-to’, in comparison, weighs something like three and half pounds.
Long time readers will recall that during the pandemic I was often going out for night walks with just two prime lenses – a 24mm and a 50mm mounted on my old Canon 7D street camera, and subsequently a 35mm and an 85mm on my newer Canon R6 mirrorless unit. The kit of primes I’m carrying around now are 16mm f2.8, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.8, and an 85mm f2 – one lens on the camera, three in the bag.
A minimal kit that’s easy to carry, and versatile for day and night shooting. I’ve got one of two other things in the camera bag – wire release, rocket blower, lens cloth, a spare battery – that’s it.
My ‘full kit’ fills a 32 liter backpack, and weighs about 15-20 pounds when the tripod is attached to the bag. I’ve got the entire arsenal in there. It depends on what I intend doing during the day, which bag I carry.
That’s the resolution.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the top of the hill, whose roadways dead end nearby HQ at its bottom, here in the Pittsburgh suburb of Dormont, one encounters the T light rail tracks, and stations, which ride on the top of a ridge road that is called Broadway Avenue. Service on the light rail is fairly frequent, and I wasn’t there ten minutes before a Pittsburgh bound train set came along. We are about 5 miles away from the center of the city here in Dormont. It’s about a 25- 30 minute ride to the end of the line on Pittsburgh’s North Side, which is across the street from where the Steelers’ sports ball stadium is found.
Tomorrow, continuance of testing for these new lenses continues. All of today’s shots were captured with the new 16mm. The thing has real potential, night time shooting wise. Looking forward to seeing what I can make it do.
Back tomorrow with more – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
That’s the promise.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Whoopity Doo!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the North Side of Pittsburgh, one will the presence of a medium sized city park called the ‘Allegheny Commons Park West.’
The National Aviary is contained therein, and the surrounding streets have an unusual number of schools and cultural institutions. I’m told this can be a bit of a rough area at night, but you hear that about a lot of neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
During one of the post surgical checkups that Our Lady of the Pentacle had to endure, post facto of the procedure she was the subject of, I had a couple of hours to kill. I’ve been hungry for the shot of a Norfolk Southern train set moving through this rail trench, cut into the park, for a while now, and since I had some time to kill… I parked the Mobile Oppression Platform in nearby metered spot and then waited…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s NS’s #8041 in the shot above, which was built at the start of this century by General Electric and is a ES44AC model locomotive. Apparently, this sort of rig has lower emissions than earlier models, complying with the EPA’s ‘Tier 2’ standard. The AC stands for alternating current, and the tracks which it’s hurtling upon are part of the rail company’s “Pittsburgh Line.” The train is ‘coming into’ Pittsburgh, rather than leaving it.
As a note – I’m planning on returning to this spot when the autumnal leaves have fully turned. The trees are of the Ginkgo speciation, and their leaves turn bright yellow gold. Given that Pittsburgh’s official colors are black and gold, that’ll make for a nice ‘PGH’ shot – or so I reckon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has since returned to this spot, during other medical appointments, and I can report that this is a fairly reliable POV as far as train spotting goes. My cold weather plans for further explorations over the next few months involve following this set of tracks all the way up the Ohio River and to the Norfolk Southern Conway Yard. I haven’t scouted that one yet, but will be doing so soon enough.
Pittsburgh is so damn cool, and visually pleasing.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“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 my legs in Pittsburgh
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above was captured from the top floor of a hospital parking garage, here in Pittsburgh. A humble narrator had just dropped Our Lady of the Pentacle off for her medical procedure, early in the morning on a cloud struck day. I’d be returning here about six hours later to gather her up and bring her back home, then spent a good week or so trying to shield her from the necessities of life, and the affections of Moe the Dog. The second of two such intervals, responsibility at home precluded one from doing much else. Exigency, it affects us all.
Sleeping was my main goal during this interval, and my personal exercise schedule suffered, which resulted in a creeping bodily stiffness and a sound not unlike crushing handfuls of popcorn emerging from the knees, while walking up and down stairs. After receiving the ‘all clear’ from her medical professionals, Our Lady insisted that I get the hell out of the house and go ‘do my thing.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One rode the T light rail from HQ to the end of the line on Pittsburgh’s North Side, an elevated station across the street from the site of pilgrimage and worship for the Yinzers – a sports ball stadium wherein dwell the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is Acrisure, formerly Heinz, Stadium. The Pittsburgh people call it Heinz, not Acrisure.
My plan for the afternoon was to ease into the walk, but to also include as many flights of stairs into the equation as possible. Ligaments, tendons, and joints – they all formed up into an internal rhythm section. My headphones were plugged into the appropriate orifices, and I was listening to a playlist of Black Sabbath albums.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path I had chosen for the day was informed by the several hospital trips we had made in the prior three weeks by car, and the bridge we drive over in this pursuit. Ultimately, I’d be riding the T back home at the end of the walk, which I’d pick up at the first stop it makes in the central zone of Pittsburgh, at the Station Square stop. It was lovely out, with Pittsburgh displaying an uncharacteristically clear sky, not macerated with dynamic banks of cloud.
It was ‘shorts and a sweatshirt’ weather, which is my favorite sort of atmosphere. For one reason or another I was drawn into using my zoom lens at its widest setting – 24mm – for much of the first half of the walk.
Come with? More tomorrow 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.
Rear View Mirror
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator is stretched a bit thin for content at the moment, given that most of the last month has been consumed by a medical drama experienced by Our Lady of the Pentacle. She’s doing great, after an elective but necessary set of procedures, although I don’t want to puncture her privacy by talking specifically about it here. She suffers enough, my bride, via her husband’s ‘open book’ mannerisms and his incessancy.
Today’s post includes shots which didn’t make it into the daily posts over the last few weeks. Pictured above is the driver’s side POV from the Mobile Oppression Platform, gazing back at a massive traffic jam I found myself trapped in one afternoon after a horrific vehicle collision which occurred about a mile ahead of this position, on a road called Liberty.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since shooting this series of shots of CSX trains rolling past that brewery I like to carouse at, there has been little opportunity for such hedonist pursuit. There’s a whole series of train shots coming at you in the next couple of weeks, many gathered in the short intervals of Our Lady’s Doctor’s appointments.
Moe the dog has been utterly confused by all of this unfamiliar activity, as the world has not been explicitly revolving around his constant need for fun, play, and tiny mammal terrorizing. It’s been a 7 a.m. to midnight kind of deal for me, as you literally can’t take your eyes off of him lest he start chewing on the Declaration of Independence or continue with his attempts to commit Squirrel genocide one bite at a time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve also been uncharacteristically static, not getting my exercises in. All of the internally lubricated parts have stiffened and my knees have started making popcorn sounds when I’m walking up stairs. Luckily, Our Lady has received a cautioned ‘All Clear’ from the Docs and I can soon resume my peregrinations again.
The shot above depicts the Saw Mill Run waterway running through a narrow st the oft mentioned, and nearby to HQ ,‘Seldom Seen Greenway’ trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Before all the drama began, during a visit to the nearby community of Homestead, this absolute unit of a church caught my eye just as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was setting. Can’t tell you much, or in fact anything, about it other than it was quite stout.
I’ll be back, and hopefully will be able to get inside of it for a lookie-loo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One remains fascinated by the T light rail here in Pittsburgh. Can’t tell you why, except to say that street cars are something truly novel to me. You can take the boy away from the subway, I guess, but…
This one had just dropped me off in the Dormont section of Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another CSX unit rounding the bend nearby that brewery on the South Side which I’ve been attending, this one from either late August or early September, is pictured above. I cannot for the life of me figure out the schedule these companies abide by. Sometimes there will be three or four trains in an hour, whereas others you can sit there for three hours and nada. At least there’s beer. The Norfolk Southern people seem a whole lot busier here in Pittsburgh, and you’ll see a few examples of that in the coming weeks.
Anyway, the interval of staying at HQ to care for a recuperating Our Lady of the Pentacle seems to be at an end. She’s once again whirling, ever whirling. Back to the streets for me, and the odd out of town day trip every now and again.
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.
More Montour, please, and onions
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator likes to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ as much as possible. Our Lady of the Pentacle announced that we had arrived at a shortfall in terms of the stock of fresh fruits and vegetables in our refrigerator, with said statement coinciding with one of my ‘every other day’ jaunts of exercise schedule. We have been buying this form of comestible from a farm’s retail operation, in Pittsburgh’s South Park suburb, which is about a 30 minute drive from HQ. Coincidentally, one of the sections of the Montour Trail is about a 10 minute drive from said farm stand. Hence…
I didn’t think that there would be much interest in seeing the onions, apples, broccoli, cucumbers and other stuff which I bought later on. On the other hand, the Montour Trail is freaking great. The veg was delicious, btw.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a former rail road right of way, and the Montour Railroad’s primary occupation once revolved around coal. You can read all about the company at this Wikipedia link, the Montour Trail at this Wiki page, and for a series of visits I’ve made to the various sections of the trail click here.
There are several ‘rail to trail’ locations all over Pittsburgh, which make for an ideal form of scuttling. You’re separated from traffic, mostly, and the trails are surrounded largely by woodlands. There’s critters and often flowing water, and every so often a Porta Potty is encountered if you were in the mood to have a tinkle. The surface of the trail is generally asphalt or crushed limestone at railroad grade (1 foot of elevation for every hundred feet horizontally), and you could theoretically follow this path from Pittsburgh all the way to Washington D.C. on a bike, or on foot. There’s also several designated camping sites located along the Montour, with the path proceeding through the gorgeous Laurel Highlands and into the Western Maryland Panhandle. Appalachia, amirite?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Saying all that, I ain’t taking a 152 mile long walk just to end up in D.C., and I’m trying to visit somewhat more local sections of the trail, bit by bit. On this particular day, one was taking a short walk of less than 4 miles. 2 miles in, 2 miles out and back to the dedicated parking lot where I left the Mobile Oppression Platform. Cardio, yo.
Why do I call my car the ‘Mobile Oppression Platform’? Well, back in Queens, where I was the chair of Community Board 1’s transportation committee, one had to regularly endure the performative outrage and politcial ire of the bicycle people. If somebody got hit by a car, it was emblematic or whatever snake oil they were selling this week or that. One particular eidelon of the street safety crowd describes automobiles as – alternatively – ‘two ton death machines,’ or ‘mobile oppression platforms.’ She didn’t realize that Dr. Zoidberg from the TV cartoon Futurama had got there first. When Toyota insisted I give the car a name, Mobile Oppression Platform is what I chose. You can use M.O.P for shortness’ sake.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
All in all, a very pleasant experience was enjoyed by a humble narrator, although the path in this section wasn’t exactly rich in features you’d want to point a camera at. I was quite interested in this masonry bridge, however, due to its stoutness. The point of this walk was walking, exercising the internally lubricated parts of my legs, and first elevating and then sustaining my heart rate for an interval.
The constancy of my walking around thing is something I’m commanded to do by the team of physicians who help me maintain a median level of health. Running would work too, but I only run when something is chasing me. Also, running offers up a spate of other possible injuries you could incur during the act or over time. Overall regular practice of long distance walking is a fairly low impact form of exercise which offers a number of other benefits. I always bring the camera along to keep it interesting, and to push me into going new places.
Give me a choice, I’d be sitting at home in a La-Z-Boy chair, which was the very first thing I bought after moving here last year. That’s some chair, I tell’s ya…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After about two miles I encountered an obstacle, pictured above, and that served up as good a moment as any to reverse course and head back to the M.O.P.
There is a moving waterbody found alongside this section of the Montour Trail, which is called Montour Run. It’s the water which that stout masonry bridge spans. I’m pretty sure it’s engineered, likely something the rail people created as a drainage system for their berm riding trackway. Don’t know, I’m putting 2+2 together and presuming.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Thankfully, I found an open sewer or two along the way, which poured their filth and degradation into it. Ahhh… What am I without sewage to talk about, after all? It was a fine concoction, whose miasma told me it was residential and maybe a couple of days old. I learned many things on Newtown Creek, including how to effectively smell from a fellow called ‘Ned the Nose.’
I made it back to the M.O.P. in fine fettle after walking a bit of the Montour Trail, and then drove over to the farm’s market building to fetch the requested vegetables and fruit. A few weeks ago, I bought peaches at that joint which were the size of frigging softballs, but that’s another story. This time around, the hero of the effort were these freakishly large tomatoes. I also bought a basketball sized Cabbage.
Back next week with something a bit 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 