Night Game Review

Grove City HS beat Pittsburgh Carrick HS 34-12 but it was a good game. The Pittsburgh Carrick team is under new leadership and the whole effort and spirit is respectable and positive.  Last year the score for the same first non-conference game was Grove City 40 and Carrick 0.  This year it was a real game and Carrick scored first and last.  Nice job, guys, coaches.

Several of my photography students are on the team and some of the students I’ve met in another capacity.  The Spanish teacher and his three teenage kids were in attendance as well and we were happy to be there.

It was about 65 miles north of the city and I was glad Steve went with me, especially for the long, dark ride back home.  The gentleman in the concession stand was giving away the leftover hot dogs after the game and wouldn’t take any $.  Nice hosts!    (Shot with Canon 5D Mark ii and a 70-200 L series Lens, steadied on a chain link fence top)

after the night game

Made in America – Clairton, PA

Clairton PA is the largest coke manufacturing facility in the United States.  Tons of it!

And although the opening in the The Deer Hunter (Best Picture 1978) shows a sign Welcome to Clairton: The City of Prayer  (the film’s story set in the industrial town of Clairton) it sounds like the filming was in various locations other than the city itself.

I really didn’t know much about coke manufacturing from coal for steel production but you can read about it here and I haven’t seen The Deer Hunter in years I can still remember the vivid scenes.

The headline reads U. S. Steel Completed Clairton Coke Battery Project in a Pittsburgh Business Times article by Malia Spencer.  Trying to make production emissions greener…..

My daughter-in-law was driving so I was shooting from the passenger seat of the family van.  A famous photographer ( I forget who but someone might know and comment) when asked to give advice to novice photographers replied, ” You have to get out of your car.”  Oops.

I wish I had but we were headed to dinner at Aunt Linda’s and Uncle Frank’s.

Clairton Coke Works (1)

 

Through the windshield

 

 

Clairton Coke Works (3)

 

 

 

 

Clairton Coke Works (4)

 

 

 

the train yard as we headed down the Mon Valley along the Monongahela River

Train Yard Mon Valley

Remember Uncle Frank’s ’53 Chevy?

Do you remember seeing Uncle Frank’s Chevrolet (1953) when he was just putting the engine in?

Here’s what it looks like now after all the work  (love) he has put into it!  Shot from the passenger window- the interior.

uncle franks chevy

 

 

uncle franks chevy (2)

 

 

Urban Deer

Crossing the street, a long block from school. I saw the doe cross first and sure enough she was followed by her two young ones. They were not afraid of me and took their time crossing Parkfield Street. Someone’s back garden was probably breakfast.

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Mom

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

Demonstrate the concept of FOCUS in a new post.  Focus. Out of focus. Chain link fence should be this week’s challenge for me.

Focus is an ongoing challenge not limited to this week.

I often shoot through a chain link fence.

Living in the city there’ a lot of it.

Sometimes the fence is in focus and sometimes it’s the  blurred fence and the focus on what I see behind the fence.  What I was going for in the first place.

A continuous study of depth of field.   I am constantly telling my students to develop a photographic practice so one can improve.

Chain Link Focus

 

 

 

Chain Link Focus (1)

 

 

 

 

 

Chain Link Focus (2)

 

 

 

 

Coney Island Focus (1)

 

Just look at the sharp focus on the garbage, the fence is almost invisible.  Why do I always try to shoot something with a barrier between?  And why am I attracted to trash?  Mmmmm.

 

 

Coney Island Focus

 

Closer object/ street light is in sharp focus……….ooops, no chain link fence in this one.

 

 

 

Coney Island Focus (2)

 

Through iron bars, does nicely, too.

 

NYC Focus (9)

 

From the school parking lot- through a chain link fenceNYC Focus (6)

Focused fence, out of focus houses. Bloomfield

 

 

NYC Focus (1)

Can’t see those cookbooks in the display for the window frame either.

 

NYC Focus (3)

Shadyside, after weekend.  Howe Street.

 

NYC Focus

Thought this one went nicely with the series even though it would have been impossible to get a sharp focus of the reflection of the building.

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival

My friend V said let’s go to the Renaissance Festival. She’d been with her niece more than a decade ago and they’d enjoyed it so much they went the next year.  She saw it on the news.
We looked it up in the paper, got the details and set out for a fun Sunday, the last day before the students start school!

It was like  taking a trip back in time.  And a good photo opportunity.

Too bad I left my camera battery charging in the wall at home so I couldn’t use my camera.  Yep.  A cell phone captured the day.

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This nice festival goer said that the festival is a break from his mundane reality,

handmade Leather Boots
handmade Leather Boots

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Pretzel seller

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IMG_1524 IMG_1523 IMG_1522 IMG_1525 IMG_1533 IMG_1534 IMG_1541 IMG_1545 IMG_1550 IMG_1502 IMG_1508 Pretzel seller

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Little Italy Days Bloomfield Neighborhood, Pittsburgh PA

Saturday afternoon I went to Little Italy Days in Bloomfield with my friend V and this evening I went over with Steve.

The street was blocked off and it was quite festive.  Can’t put up the aromas of the various food items.

 Maria Merante with a tray of Lemon Knots

Maria Merante with a tray of Lemon Knots at Merante’s on Liberty Avenue

 

 

Little Italy days (2)

 

 

 

 

Watching Bocce
Watching Bocce

 

 

West Side Story Performance
West Side Story Performance

 

 

 

 

 

Violinist Through the East End Book Store window
Violinist Through the East End Book Store window

 

 

 

 

Little Italy days

 

 

 

 

 

Bocce
Bocce

 

 

 

Little Italy Days (13)At the rectory- Formerly St Joseph’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cannolis and Snow Cones
Cannolis and Snow Cones

 

Little Italy Days (15)

 

Live entertainment at Center Stage

 

 

Balloon Man
Balloon Man

 

 

 

 

 

Steel City Shaved Ice Truck
Steel City Shaved Ice Truck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Italy Days (11)

Simon and Garfunkel Cover

 

 

 

 

Little Italy days (3)

 

 

 

 

Little Italy Days (14)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ's Butcher Block
Grass Fed Beef and Free Range Chicken without Antibiotics Right on Liberty Avenue at DJ’s Butcher Block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self-Portrait in Someone’s Trash

 

 

 

 

 

On my classroom keyboard was a nice note,written on composition paper, from the computer man who stopped in yesterday  –

back up computer- hard drive must be replaced.

Now one thing I know is that discussing any sort of computer issue is instant snooze z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z

BUT look what I found today as I copied photos to a borrowed external hard drive!

A photo I took last Spring of my on the way to school.

I’m in the oval mirror.  Really.  And I loved the carport and the seemingly crooked pole.

Thanks for looking and thanks for all the good birthday wishes for Michael’s 8th yesterday.

I got to partake in the festivities via FaceTime along with the other grandparents in Virginia and it was fun.

Ninth graders come to school tomorrow for orientation.
Hendricks May 1 431

Magi With Gift on Vending Machine and the Ice Cream Sandwich Vacuum

What I found after lunch at the inservice today at Pittsburgh Filmmakers-

Sure this King has been shot a thousand times but it was my first sighting and he made me laugh out loud when I looked up and saw him.

 

Lost Magi

 

 

I did attempt to purchase an ice cream sandwich ( I know, I know….) from the frozen vending machine and the lid of the freezer compartment opened and the vacuum hose was at the ready to suck up a sandwich but the machine was empty and rejected my dollar bill.   Waaaaaaaaah!

The man at the equipment desk with the retro Pirates hat came to assist and told me that sometimes, if you are lucky, the ice cream sandwiches get stuck together and he has actually seen as many as FIVE get sucked up and dispensed.  Several colleagues waited with me, hopefully.   EMPTY!

 

Ice Cream vending machine

 

 

 

And here is the shot I got when I left my driveway on the second day of back to the school year.  Just had the iPhone camera once again.

early am fog