you guys are going to have to bear with me. i had troubles reformating my laptop and didn't have time to get a bootleg copy of the Adobe Suite for PC. in short, my photos on this road trip are not going to be edited. this may not bother you, but i am definitely going bonkers.
so, after crashing with some bros that already had a hotel room, it was off to Pittsburgh. Tim just moved there from Raleigh and the city was a convenient halfway point on my way to Guelph for my best friend Robin's wedding. like i said, it's wedding season. i arrived Sunday afternoon and kicked it with Tim for a few hours. he had to leave for St. Louis early in the morning, but left me a key to the house and free day for roaming the 'Burgh.
so, after crashing with some bros that already had a hotel room, it was off to Pittsburgh. Tim just moved there from Raleigh and the city was a convenient halfway point on my way to Guelph for my best friend Robin's wedding. like i said, it's wedding season. i arrived Sunday afternoon and kicked it with Tim for a few hours. he had to leave for St. Louis early in the morning, but left me a key to the house and free day for roaming the 'Burgh.
please understand that both sides of my family are from PA and when i say 'from PA' i mean, 'from Steeler Country'. none of that Philadelphia nonsense. if you don't get it, i've got to leave it at that.
[Carnegie Science Center and Heinz Field, complete with Duckie]
in addition to not having Photoshop to edit my images, i've also been disappointed with my writing so far. blogs used to flow much better for me. what happened? then i realized that it used to be a lot more personal (and useless) before i did this documentary thing with pictures. somehow i've got to use this blog as a precursor to my senior exhibition. that is a forewarning that i might start babbling.
back to Pittsburgh. it is such a beautiful city in all the ways that i like. it's plopped down over the hills, naturally splitting into different areas by the rivers. i don't think i've ever seen a city so affected by geography, the land being the essence of the development. Tim's roommate, Lyndsey, didn't have many options for getting around the city. we talked about the T and the bus system, but after trying to decipher the schedules for downtown, Oakland, Southside, Mt. Washington AND trying to fit them together... yeah, i just walked.
their place is on the very end of Southside at Handler St. (hike up through some woods and you can look down on the practice field!) and i've been down Carson St. before, so that wasn't a problem. i went across the 10th St. Bridge, the way i had driven in the day before, and ended up by the county jail, which i had mistaken as an apartment building with a lot of gymnasium noise. silly me. more on the beauty of the city: i'm an artist. i love edgy and grunge. there is not more appealing of an envrionment than a blue-collar cityscape.
[steel steel steel]
their place is on the very end of Southside at Handler St. (hike up through some woods and you can look down on the practice field!) and i've been down Carson St. before, so that wasn't a problem. i went across the 10th St. Bridge, the way i had driven in the day before, and ended up by the county jail, which i had mistaken as an apartment building with a lot of gymnasium noise. silly me. more on the beauty of the city: i'm an artist. i love edgy and grunge. there is not more appealing of an envrionment than a blue-collar cityscape.
[steel steel steel]there is also the age factor. Pittsburgh has been around for a while and seen plenty of ups and downs; it's had the time to establish a character. i never took Latin, but i think the courthouse was built in 1884. in the bridges alone, you have a timeline of the city displayed by the dated engineering and aesthetics.
[the Pittsburgh courthouse]after walking a good bit downtown i went back across the Smithfield to Station Square and got on a cheesy boat tour. i can only walk so much in one day and definitely wanted to at least view the other parts of Pittsburgh. the Point was very impressive. just looking at it from a visual standpoint, it is a very dominate composition.
[the Allegheny, the Point and the Monogahela]i really wanted to go up the Duquesne Incline for photos of the Point (and do that again at night), but it was again the walking issue. i got off the boat and it was almost 5pm and the Mon Incline was right across the street.
[downtown and Southside from above Station Square on the Monogahela Incline]from left to right are the Smithfield St. Bridge, the T and the Liberty, Birmingham and Hot Metal St. Bridges. aerial shots of Pittsburgh are amazing. the Monogahela River is known to be dirty and Lyndsey said that one of her friends took a picture from a plane that showed, where the Mon merges with the Allegheny, the Ohio River was distinctly split through the middle in two different colors for a good distance. anywho, Mt. Washington, at night, with the fisheye... so i can get the city lights draping the hills.
this town touches my heart in so many ways. i wish i was a settle-down type. Pittsburgh would definitely be my top choice. it kinda always has. there are a lot of things from my past that are so deeply rooted, i didn't even realize how much they affected me on the surface. the South is great. i call it home, but Pennsylvania is who i am. got a little growing up to do, though, i suppose. i'm itching to investigate the Continental Divide and it will be my next long-term destination. big mountains are my lover. yet, Portland is good-looking AND might be a better provider. we'll see. ;)
this town touches my heart in so many ways. i wish i was a settle-down type. Pittsburgh would definitely be my top choice. it kinda always has. there are a lot of things from my past that are so deeply rooted, i didn't even realize how much they affected me on the surface. the South is great. i call it home, but Pennsylvania is who i am. got a little growing up to do, though, i suppose. i'm itching to investigate the Continental Divide and it will be my next long-term destination. big mountains are my lover. yet, Portland is good-looking AND might be a better provider. we'll see. ;)
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