Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape
They call it challenge for a reason. Escape. Or trying to.
Escape defined : Break free from confinement or control (School is out June 17th)
Need to get away. Get out. Break free.
Attempted escape. Some of mine seem like “trapped” or “escape is necessary” . It makes me consider posting a photograph of our jail that they built along the Monongahela River, spoiling the scenic view. Escape from reality. A fire escape?
Me in the mail chute at the City County Building today when we took down the art show.
Fencing so the Cheetahs Can’t Escape!
Kayaks on the Allegheny River Photographed from the Roberto Clemente Bridge
Fence and Branch at the Softball Game
Did you ever feel like you can’t escape when you are in the middle of the car wash?
Take the keys and lock her up! Little sister tries to escape
A hopeful escape from reality and the rat race. I guess I need to buy a ticket. Oh well.
The Book Loft- Columbus Ohio. Reading is a terrific escape!
A roller coaster is good for a brief escape
at Kennywood Amusement Park
Ready for the get away
A Couple of Fire Escapes ( I was shooting the Bitter End, I think)
Central Park Pastorale
See others bloggers escapes-
JOIN
Found Shopping List
Sunday afternoon I drove across the Monongahela River to the Waterfront at Homestead, PA and did a little grocery shopping.
When I wheeled my cart to load the car, I saw this little list on the pavement of the parking lot.
I used to photograph found lists, little wrinkled slips of paper, write poems about them. Some lists abandoned in a cart- seemed like poems when I found them.
I’d think about the people who wrote them. Sometimes they’d written the oddest mix of items.
I have a friend who keeps a magnetized shopping list pad on her fridge and when she uses something up, she writes it down immediately so she can replenish the larder. I’m not that disciplined. I’ve written a list and then left it at home but it can help when trying to remember what I’d written down.
There are even tablets of preprinted lists and you just check the boxes of what you need to get at the store. That’s not my style of list, either. When I entertain I’m more likely to write a menu AND a shopping list. Cross things off as I put them in the cart.
What is your “list style”?
What’s Cooking Tonight?
River Catches Lights at Dusk
It’s been a week of bridges on the blog. Here’s one more. I thought the lights in the river look impressionistic. A soft focus on the bridge. Need to keep tripod or brace better against the light pole to avoid camera shake. You know how I like it when the sky grows dark and the lights come up. And I like to catch reflections.
Once known as the Homestead High-Level Bridge over the Monongahela River, it was rededicated in 2002 to honor The Grays Baseball Team of the Negro League so is known as the Homestead Grays Bridge. Built in 1936.
“It is notable as the first bridge to utilize the Wichert Truss, which uses a quadrilateral shape over each support.” says wikipedia.
My Maps App Took Me Here to Cross the Mon?
(I think I read somewhere- don’t use alliteration? Mmmmmmmmm.)
How did I end up here, looking to cross the Mon?
I couldn’t believe it when I landed right in front of this sign. Bridge Closed. It was just getting dark.
Turns out this bridge to Donora has been closed since 2009!!! The way you have to go now is a four mile addition to the trip.
The Monongahela River winds all around the place. I’d crossed it at Homestead at the beginning of my journey.
Then I found out later this bridge is slated to be demolished.
With the help of my son’s MIL, Marlene, on the phone in Hardy, Virginia, I found the Monessen Bridge and wound around and up and over to Donora.
You can’t always trust your Maps App. At least the sign didn’t say BRIDGE OUT! It was one of three routes. Better try a different one next time. I read about the major supports having deteriorated. Maybe the maps app just wanted to show me it for a photo op?
Took this right out of the passenger window
Last Sliver of Sun
Before I drove up the mountain, I went to one of my favorite spots on West Carson Street. This is what made me decide to head up to Mt. Washington to catch the incline in the snow as the sun set.
Incline in the Snow
I returned to the Duquesne Incline platform on Monday evening as I arrived from Ohio. Not quite as much snow as I thought there would be.
Taken just as the sun sank in the sky and the temperatures dropped. Will try again, a different winter day.
Couldn’t wait any longer to shoot when the sky was darker as it was too windy and cold. You might have liked the night time version better.
The Mill on a Winter Night 2012
I have posted photographs of the mill at night before, and in the winter the leaves are off the trees so I can get a nice shot from West Mifflin hill, near VistaView Street. I think there are four Christmas light decorations on it this time.
This photo is looking across the Monongahela River to Braddock.
Many family members of blog followers have worked in the mills of Pittsburgh. This is the last mill.
Click to see the earlier view from the blog in April 2010. I liked reading that post because my friend Dorothy H. wrote a comment on the blog post about a poem she wrote in response to another mill photo I took. The mill is endlessly fascinating to me, the smoke always different shapes. The cloud cover affecting the light at night. The snow. The darkness.
I remember a class in photography suggested to return to the same subject, a different season, a different time of day, but the same location. Close to it.
Guess I am doing that assignment again and again.
and this view is farther up the hill, with the naked trees on the right.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections
This week’s challenge is reflections and to see more responses to the challenge, click here
Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far
When I received an email with the challenge of the week, I read the suggestions about landscape and horizon and went to find them.
I have a ton of landscape images but suddenly I saw all these photographs in my library with people in them.
Walking somewhere. And me, following the walkers. A city far in the distance. Near and Far. Here are my interpretations of Near and Far, starring my family, the cities, the Hot Metal Bridge decorated with colorful bras for Breast Cancer Awareness and an unknown marathoner with her pony tail flying.
Photographed in Columbus and Pittsburgh.
There are at least 100 other bloggers interpretations in the list of ping backs on the Daily Post
When a Dog Smiles at the Camera
You have to take a picture. I asked the owner’s permission. She looked as if she had just been on a run or about to go on one with some friends.
His name is Oliver!
Oliver is a Heinz 57 mutt and he was smiling for the camera!
He’s six months old and has that puppy energy and enthusiasm. What a happy guy.
I’d just come out of the end of the year faculty meeting/gathering at the Hofbrauhaus on the edge of South Side Works near the riverfront trail.
So thanks Oliver (and your owner also- sorry I didn’t get your name)
I know Murphy smiles for the camera, too.
What a great personality! 
Tugboat Pushes Barges on the Mon
Shot through a chain-link fence.
I was in the passenger seat and I had my camera out. The 70-200 lens.
We were headed to the wedding reception from McKeesport to Greentree. (Lots of double ee)
Crossing the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge. A truss bridge.
And there was a tugboat pushing filled barges on the Monongahela. (Monongahela means “Falling Banks”)
Pushed the shutter and shot shot shot as fast as I could, no chance to change settings. Lucked out with the cables on the edge and the gull in flight. The chain link fence gives the photo a soft haze and fuzz to the sharpness.
I’d asked my friend to drive a little more slowly but everything whizzes by when you are moving and it was unrealistic to go slow on the bridge. Couldn’t have done it if I were driving as there was no place to pull over. It was a squeeze.
and might as well show you the failed shots, the ones with the bridge cables, the blocking the view, the actual fence.
Photography can be exasperating. You would like to get it right.
There was no time for a turnaround, rerun, do-over.
It was the one shot that worked. Lucky day. Oh yes, at least three below that didn’t.
As If “Not Littering” Were/Was(?) Enough….. Which is Correct?
Okay Grammarians. Here’s your chance. I can’t decide which is correct.
1. As if “not littering” were enough to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
2. As if “not littering” was enough to keep Pennsylvania beautiful.
The more I read them the more I think I should go with- #3 choice-
Is just “not littering” sufficient?
or
“Not littering” isn’t the only thing necessary………
No way to dial a #1-800-Grammar line and find out which is correct.
It’s after eleven PM. The English teachers, working or retired, I know are fast asleep.
Surely someone can help me out with the proper wording of the title.
Maybe it will occur to me in the middle of the night.
Or just check out the sign and don’t worry about my inability to decide.
Shot near Rankin Bridge on Route 837.
This sign is on the entrance to a car junkyard.
Carrie Furnace Reflection in the Monongahela River
With the sun sinking as I was headed to Swissvale to deliver Girl Scout cookies for Anna, I saw Carrie Furnace and the river in a warm glow. I pulled into the Rivers of Steel parking lot and got out of the car and photographed a few shots of the reflection. And then I saw the full moon in the frame! Good to return to a location shot before and to try to capture a different light and scene. No barge today. A travel channel video on the history and a tour of Carrie Furnace is here. The autumn view is here.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Winter
If you've been following the blog for awhile you might remember this as the header last winter,too.
To see other bloggers’ responses to the weekly challenge, click here
*click here to see Flat Ruthie Feed the Horses Cardboard Me Travels to Hardy, Virginia
Monongahela River Like a Mirror
I drive across bridges at least twice a day. I go to work on the arch green bridge(Birmingham Bridge) and sometimes come home on the yellow bridge(South 10th Street) but this day I crossed the Liberty Bridge.
Pittsburgh: The city of bridges. The change in light, water movement or in this case stillness, is ever changing.
The South Tenth Street is the one that was lit up for the filming of the Tom Cruise movie.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Self-Portrait
Along the Monongahela River by late afternoon light and at night on the way home from the Waterfront in Homestead. Two of my favorite views, anytime of day or night!
I had the cardboard “me” in the car already. We make people out of brown corrugated boxes. I always make myself as a model for the students, this year with gray yarn hair!
Some of you know I teach Art in the City K-8th grade. Not too many people get to make themselves out of scrap cardboard at their job. The “Flat Ruthie” (have you ever seen Flat Stanley?-I photographed him for granddaughter Anna’s school project) was driving around with me cause I was thinking it might make a fun Christmas card, myself and the skyline or something.
In 2009 I was in a self-portrait show at Silver Eye Center of Photography. I can’t tell you how many images I shot of myself in my kitchen, trying to look young and thin. Figured I could achieve both effects with myself as a cardboard puppet. No wrinkles on the smooth cardboard.
Along Beechwood Boulevard looking to Homestead
Outlook Drive View of Last Working Steel Mill- 12-4-11
The View from Outlook Drive, West Mifflin
You might remember(or click the blue words) the night view of the same mill from April 2010.
Tug, Barges and Carrie Furnace on the Monongahela River- Autumn Afternoon
After school I drove down the slopes to the flats and headed to Homestead to buy a special cable for an external hard drive so I could retrieve a summer photo for Erika.
I turned onto Waterfront Road towards Best Buy and saw the late afternoon light reflected and warm the rusting metal across the Mon. Pulled over and stood on top of a guard rail to capture the sinking light on the Carrie Furnace, remnants of Homestead Steel Works and then I heard the tug and saw it pushing the barges up the river. It was a mighty scene on the river and the limitations of photography or my ability to capture it thoroughly, the seeing and feeling it, became clear once again.
The Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation sponsors tours but the last one was October 15th so will have to wait until 2012.
If you want to get a real feel for the Blast Furnaces and the incredible history, interviews with employees and historical photographs I recommend watching at least video # 1 at this website. I especially liked the man reading the last names of the workers he found in some type of log at the site. He spoke of reading obituaries of workers who gave 30-40 years of hard work for the Homestead Steel Works What a compilation of footage of Carrie Furnace. Closed in 1986.
Bras Across the Bridge
Sponsored by American Eagle. After Breast Cancer Awareness Month the bras will be laundered and donated to charity. A friend spotted them and emailed me and suggested the Hot Metal Bridge display for the blog. Of course, it was the day I did NOT bring my good camera. I took a Pano on the iPhone.
Bras Across the Bridge
Weekly Photo Challenge: Fall
Tenth Street Bridge in Fall light on Monday morning on the way to school. You can see the Liberty Bridge behind the Tenth Street Bridge. Bridges and their construction fascinate me. This morning shot from the Birmingham Bridge (I pulled over and stopped with the flashers in the bike lane and there was almost no traffic) But the reflection in the Monongahela River is what made me stop. The river mirror-like this morning, so still. October is my favorite month to shoot and I am going to make a point of leaving for work earlier so I can catch the Autumn Dawn. How great it would have been if the trees had changed colors already but they are just beginning. And V I think I see Prospect Middle School up there on the left top of Mt. Washington (33 years of fortunate students) !!! Oh my.
The Tenth Street Bridge Looks Miniature
The view from the South Side Slopes, on they way home from school last Wednesday. I’ve mentioned Pittsburgh’s topography in previous posts. The scale in this photo emphasizes the hills and valleys, the Monongahela River. Late cause it was Meet and Greet for the parents. The setting sun casts a nice light. Everything lush and green. I don’t remove wires from the photos. As is. Pretend it’s a zipline. I haven’t driven this route for a few months. It’s all new- again.
What’s Under the Rankin Bridge
Back in “real time”. Not that I didn’t enjoy the chance to dig in the archives- but Monday night I was driving by the Rankin Bridge from Swissvale and saw the setting sun on the side of the bridge. Shone like a yellow bridge (it’s actually blue) with the late golden light on it but just an ordinary shot, straight on. It did not “speak” to me. Drove another 50 feet. Stopped at the red light ahead. Saw this view. It seemed to go on forever, the repeat of the braces. Rolled down the window and was able to capture the underbelly of the “Steel cantilever spandrel-braced deck arch “. You can’t tell from this angle that the Monongahela River is seventy five feet below. Or that the bridge is 2,427 feet long! I got that good info from here.
There are a lot of bridges in Pittsburgh. Don’t see underneath them too often, though. You might remember this view from the Rankin Bridge of a barge being pushed by a tug.
If you suffer from gephyrophobia it would be difficult to live in Pittsburgh.
And a new Keep or Pitch post is up today after unannounced hiatus = Back to School adjustment recovery period-
‘Twas the Night Before Superbowl, Fans Asleep in Their Beds-Visions of a 7th Ring, Float in Their Heads
But not overconfident. Just hopeful. And the Packers fans are dreaming the same vision I’m sure. (Actually photographed Thursday night Feb 3rd.)
Settling Down for a Long Winter’s Nap
And then you turn on the TV-
warm up
for the big game.
Have to wait all weekend long.
A two hour delay for Monday–
school, already called!
View of Homestead Over the Mon
Heard Giant Eagle was packed and fans are loading up their carts with salsa, ribs and Tostitos and chips. Iron City and Yuengling, some Penn Pilsner at the Beer Distributor– you can’t purchase beer in the grocery store in Pennsylvania. Fans are careful to follow rituals and are aware that their actions might jinx the outcome. Some can’t stand to watch.
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