One Step at a Time

 Out on a drive, visiting some of my favorite photo haunts, I naturally ended up taking a “few” photographs. Looking at them later I saw that a good many of them where of the same subject.

    The haunts I spoke of are places I visit whenever I am in the neighborhood. They are places that have grabbed my attention in the past, something there has stuck in my memory. Mostly, they are pictures that I want to take. It seems simple enough, go and line up the camera and snap the picture… Unfortunately, the many pictures I’ve taken in these places haven’t yet matched what I had envisioned.

    When looking at a scene, I often pre-visualize what I think the picture should look like. Sadly, the pictures in my head and the one on my computer screen or on the negatives are often different. The lighting may be off, the picture may have been taken too far away or too close or maybe the shot isn’t focused as well as it could’ve been. It can be tough meeting the expectations of my mind!

    While looking through the day’s pictures I noticed a trend. There were a lot of pictures of steps.

    Steps have always interested me as subjects for pictures. They take us places and often we pass them by, never finding out where they might lead. The steps can be opportunities; they can raise us up and let us see things we wouldn’t have otherwise. 

    Steps can be just short moves, a course of action that will take us elsewhere. Sometimes they are clear and obvious while at other times, they can be difficult to see and tough to traverse. Taking these steps can sometimes be rough, working our way through weeds and brush that has covered the treads.

    There are many steps we take every day, all through our lives. From getting up in the morning to dragging our sorry butts back again at the end of the day. These are just the physical steps we take, think of all the mental steps and challenges we take on a daily basis. Do we go up the steps or down, or do we just avoid them and tackle other problems, other steps? There are times you don’t know where they will take you and other times, the steps can save you!

    Steps or stairs, we find them everywhere. In our childhood they keep us away from places we want to go. Over time, we learn to overcome these obstacles and work our way, step by step, up and into the future of our lives.

    Back in the past, we crawled up the steps, each step another accomplishment. Bringing with it the pleasure of slipping back down again on our rumps, each tread accompanied with laughter.

    Little did we realize that we would be climbing stairs for the rest of our lives. Some would be a simple inch or two high while others would seem impossible to overcome. These would be the challenges of life, the desire to always achieve something higher.

    As we climb these stairs we occasionally stumble and that’s to be expected, it’s nothing to worry about, it’s all part of the process. We learn from these trips, slips and loss of balance.

    We start on these stairs when we are fresh from the womb. Learning to feed, learning who our families are and learning who loves us and sadly, who might harm us. There are millions upon millions of steps in the staircase which will lead us in the end, to our demise.

    Every morning when we wake up, we face the stairs again. Hopefully we can look at each step we take as a new height, a new accomplishment, a new personal best. By finding something exciting about each stair, every new height, we can fly up the steps.

    Pictures of steps remind me of the many opportunities I’ve passed by. They are a visualization of the tough, difficult journeys and goals I’ve strived for. They also remind me of all the successful attempts I managed to achieve. The pictures remind me to keep going up... one step at a time!

100000 Miles and Then Some

 

It wasn’t the first time that Frank and I started a trip in the rain. We never let a few raindrops keep us from having a good time. Frank had arrived early, and we were on the road by 5:30. The rain continued to come and go as we drove north.

    We stopped for a coffee in downtown Butler but were over an hour early. The shop hadn’t opened yet. We continued on to Sheetz. Their coffee is always hot and delicious. They have nice clean bathrooms also, something I always remember when I’m on the road!

    As is always the case, along with photography, geocaching was included on the itinerary. We found just over half of the ones we searched for, not our best day but we weren’t complaining.  The rain tapered off when we were outside of the car searching; still I was happy that I had worn my wide brimmed hat.

    While none of the caches were difficult, they often brought us to some beautiful areas. We visited a few streams, the water on the grass and fresh growth made everything thing look bright and vibrant. The reflections in some of the streams and the sounds of the water flowing over the stones in them gave me a feeling of freedom. All my worries and cares drifted away with the water. Some of the fields were covered with yellow flowers giving them a yellow tinted blanket. Purple and white flowers lined the roads, the rain glistening on them; it was great day to be out.

    Freedom Falls on Shull Run could be heard from where we parked the car. The trees overhead helped keep some of the rain off of us but my coat was drenched by the time we returned to the car. Besides the falls, we also made a quick visit to the old iron furnace stack located just downstream.

    The rain added to the flow coming over the falls. At its base the water was clear showing the depths of the pool below. During other visits we have seen swimmers here and chances are that this coming Monday, Memorial Day, there will be some here enjoying both the cool water and the sounds it makes as it rushes over the edge.

    We stopped and watched heavy equipment working in a pit on the side of the road. Deep in the ground they looked like Tonka toys from where we stood.

    We drove through lots of small communities filled with small houses. In many of them we saw the older houses on the fringes, sometimes overgrown and even forgotten. I wonder what happened to the people who lived there, did they move, was it health problems or maybe they have passed away. Some are extreme with vines growing up their sides, the decorative landscaping of the front yards overgrown and trying their best to hide the house from view, toys and tools rusting away in the yards. In some cases the houses are barely standing. A few years from now, they will be lying on the ground, gone from both sight and memory.

    Our trip took us through the town of Franklin, the county seat of Franklin County. It is a beautiful town with a nice collection of restaurants and shops. A stop was made at the Iron Furnace Coffee shop, it seemed appropriate.  I couldn’t pass up getting one of their tee-shirts. Celebrating two of my interests, coffee and iron furnaces, it was great. All it needed was a mention of books on it and I’d be over the edge.

    Heading south on rt.8, we stopped to look at a heron rookery. Turkey buzzards were flying around the area and we could see herons standing on their nests watching them, perhaps guarding their offspring.

    A mile further and we pulled over to the side of the road. This would be our last planned stop, the Victory Iron Furnace. We loaded up with our camera gear and dropped down into the woods. We had to crawl over a deer fence but there were several spots where it had collapsed, making it easier for us. Working our way down the steep hillside into the valley we encountered a few downed trees which blocked our passage. Other than these detours, getting to the stream at the bottom was fairly easy. The stream, Victory Run, was our next obstacle. Last time I was here it was shallow enough that I could hop from rock to rock to get across. The recent rain had swollen it. 

    Did I mention that a little rain never held us back? The water was only a little over my knees!

    The furnace is only visible when you near it. The flat area in front of the stack, where the casting house used to stand, is filled with trees, weeds and jagger bushes, effectively hiding it from sight.

    This iron furnace was only in operation for about 7 years.  Built in 1843, the Victory Furnace was built up against a high hillside. Many furnaces were built like this to ease putting the various materials that make iron into the top of the furnace.

     I found a piece of slag on the ground near-by. Slag is a byproduct of the iron making process. Impurities float to the top of the molten iron. It is removed from the furnace before the iron is cast. Slag can be found near any old furnace. The piece I found was probably over 175 years old. Bits of un-burnt charcoal and wood can be seen in it.

    As with most of Pennsylvania’s iron furnaces, almost everything that once stood here is gone. A flat area on the hillside above the furnace was where the charcoal house once stood and the level remains of a road can be seen in places, now traversable only by foot.

    The trip across the stream and up the hillside to the car was uneventful though we were both happy to be back.

    Almost 20 miles further down rt.8 we came to a spot I had been looking forward to all day. My odometer turned over to 100000 miles! I don’t know the reason why but I always enjoy watching and noting things such as this. I can remember as a kid watching my watch as the date changed. It doesn’t always change right at midnight! I guess it is a human condition, a variation of birthdays and New Years Eve parties. I had to stop and take a picture!

    We arrived back at my house 9 hours after we left. Both of us felt pretty good after that amount of time in the car. I’m looking forward to an even longer trip soon across the state!

    Heavy thunderstorms descended on my house about an hour after we got home. With news reports about heavy rain and a tornado in some of the areas we had traveled through, it seems that once again we had timed things just right! I have to add, it sure felt good getting out of my wet clothes and into a hot shower!

An Amtrak Journey

This may not be exactly what you were expecting... let me tell you a bit more.

    I’m not sure what it was exactly that brought the idea into my head. I was thinking about photography. This moved into catching a picture of a train coming through the city, with the buildings behind it glowing from the rising sun. “There had to be a spot where this could be caught!”

    I started by consulting my maps and a web site called “The Photographer’s Ephemeris”, a site that shows the direction and times of sunrise. I found out that Amtrak has a daily train to NYC, leaving the Pittsburgh station six days a week, leaving at 7:30! Looking at the maps, a couple spots presented themselves.

    During the upcoming days, I visited them. Some appeared better than others, there weren’t as many as I had hoped. My first attempt was from a parking lot beside the tracks.

    I had to wait for a good morning; wanting the sunrise reflecting on the buildings meant that I needed a day without rain or heavy clouds. This can be difficult in Pittsburgh. Finally a day arrived that met my criteria. I got there early, the parking lot was empty. I parked near a set of signal lights, hoping to catch the engine coming between them. The camera was set on a tripod, the scene was framed, all I needed now was the train.

    Just before it was due to leave the station a car pulled up, the window rolled down and a security guard asked me what I was doing. I explained and was told that I was on private property and would have to leave. I talked and maybe even begged a bit and was granted 5 more minutes. Just as this was given to me, the train came into view. I snapped my pictures, thanked the guard and tore down my set-up. I won’t be returning to this site again!

    The pictures were OK but I felt as if I could do better so… My next spot to attempt my picture from was a bit further away. I figured I could get a sharper image by adding a bit of distance from the train, making the speed of the train less noticeable, showing less blur.

    The sun was rising a bit earlier each day making the chances of sunshine on the buildings a little better but as I already said, the weather always plays a part in any outdoor photo shoot.

    The next site was on a bridge that spanned the railroad tracks, about 1000 feet further away from the last site. The day I chose was cold and the ground had a light layer of snow on it. Clouds were in the sky. I was glad I had brought gloves! The train came right on time but the city wasn’t lit up. My best picture from that day showed the snow blowing off of the top of the train; the city wasn’t in it.

    I returned a week later and tried again. While I got the city in the picture this time, once again the morning sunlight I had hoped for never developed.

    Looking at the pictures intrigued me. I decided to forget the city and go for another location. Out came the maps again. I found what looked like a good spot in-between Shadyside and Homewood. I took a ride to scout it out and it showed possibilities. A signal tower sat on either side of the tracks; maybe I could capture the train between the pair. The sun (if there was one) would be illuminating the front and side of the train.

    I returned with the camera to see what I could get. The sun was up, things were looking good. I decided to skip the signals since the lights wouldn’t be visible in the picture. The train came and a couple pictures were taken.

    These pictures were starting to become an obsession now! I decided to try again with my 4X5 camera so 3 days later I returned. I caught it between the signals this time, but the train was blurred, the shutter speed was too slow. Drat, always something!

    I started looking further out the line. Looking at the maps I noticed the tracks went underneath the George Westinghouse Bridge in East Pittsburgh. Oh it takes so little to grab my attention!

    My buddy Frank and I planned a trip out to where we thought we’d get a good view of both the bridge and the tracks. We had found a geocache a few hundred feet away a couple years ago. A bridge once crossed the tracks here and the pier provides a wonderful view of the valley. A section of the old brick road leading to the bridge is visible poking through the dirt and weeds. Stepping over a broken wooden roadblock takes you to a comfortable spot complete with a concrete shelf to put excess camera gear on and provide a windbreak.

    While we were setting up and then waiting, we watched a westbound freight pass by. Ten minutes later the Amtrak train came, about 20 minutes after it left the city. High hills are on either side and the light wasn’t the greatest…so we decided to come back another time.

    A week later, we were back again. The sunlight was just hitting the top of the bridge. We surveyed a few other sites in the area before we set up. Frank decided to go a little lower down the road while I stayed on the bridge pier. We got some nice shots including a few with the moon in them but we still weren’t satisfied. Was I pulling Frank into my obsession?

    We returned one last time. (at this writing) It was eleven days later on a Saturday morning. There were occasional drizzles as we drove back to East Pittsburgh. We brought Kelle and Ann Marie with us this time, for company, perhaps good luck and to share the excitement of the hunt.

    This time we set up underneath the smaller bridge in front of the Westinghouse Bridge. While the on and off rain never came down hard, the bridge provided a cover for us.  It also gave us a different view of the train and the bridges.

    I brought my 4X5 camera along and I set up a bit closer to the tracks than Frank. The women hung out beside the car. We heard lots of train whistles while we waited but none of them were from the train we were waiting for. Then we heard it, there was a definite difference in its sound! The headlight first appeared between the branches of the trees and then there it was, speeding towards us. I took a few shots with the digital camera and then depressed the shutter release on the bigger camera. A couple more digital shots of it as it raced away from us and then I started tearing things down. All that preparation for only 10 or 20 seconds of excitement, was it worth it? As far as I was concerned, it was!

    We repacked the car and headed for a place to get some breakfast to celebrate a successful trip. Even if the pictures don’t come out as we planned for them, we were still happy!

    Thinking about the various shots I’ve taken, I figure this will probably be the last time we come out to this spot. I can let this series go now. I developed the 4X5 negative, it came out OK, it’s the photo at the top of this story.

    I don’t think I’ll be chasing this train any further. It was nice knowing when it was going to pass as compared to just standing trackside and hoping a train goes by. Should it pass me again, I’ll take another couple pictures of it. I’ve been taking shots of this train long before this year.  

A past shot of the morning Amtrak train coming into the Horseshoe Curve

The search always continues, whether or not I get anything isn’t important, it’s all about the hunt

Reliving the Past

During the past couple weeks I have been limiting my travels a bit due to a pinched nerve in my neck. While the trips I've taken had been enjoyable, I paid for them the next day.

    My friend Frank had recently found a couple pictures from a trip we had taken down to West Virginia a while ago and shared them with me. We both remembered the trip but there were a couple questions we had about it.

    We weren’t sure of when we went and we also were puzzled about the pictures themselves, since they were taken on film. We thought that we had both switched over to digital cameras when we had taken this trip.

    We knew that we had been in West Virginia, that was one clue. We also remembered a geocache we had found while on it, one that had been hidden near a mine and a furnace of some type. Another clue was my Jeep. It sat on the edge of the picture, that fact helped narrow down the time period.

    I started looking through my pictures trying to find some from that day. My collection of photos is organized by the date they were taken, not by subject or location, not much help for this! I checked through my furnace pictures, organized by name. In these photos I found a file titled “Unknowns”. Inside there was a folder titled “Unknown Furnace or kiln in WV 100702”. Ah ha! Inside I found 15 pictures of the furnace I was thinking of. Frank was in some of them also. 

    My labeling system is rather easy. The date is listed by year, (10) month (07) and the by day (02). This would mean that these pictures had been taken on July 2, 2010, about 15 years ago. So, now we had a date.

    Another question was, where are the rest of the pictures taken that day? I went to my external hard drive but those photo files only went back 4-5 years. I needed to go further back. I dug into my older shots, saved on memory sticks, camera memories and CDs. Thankfully they are in order!

    On a memory stick I found a folder entitled “100702 Trip to WV with Frank” Inside this folder was 127 pictures taken that day. Success!

    It is always fun reliving the past, so let me take you along on a trip to West Virginia.

    Stepping back into the past…

Sunrise

    Frank and I always attempt to be on the road early. Should there be a nice sunrise, we would like to be able to catch it! A short distance past Friendsville, Maryland we pulled over on the side of the road to catch the sun coming up over the mountains. We were about a 100 miles into our trip, about two hours away from my home. It was 6:05 in the morning. We had left home at just the right time!

    Moving towards the west we entered West Virginia. One of the places we wanted to visit was a section of RR track that we called West Virginia’s Horseshoe Curve. Now whether anyone else calls it this I don’t know. I’m not sure where this even is other than in WV.  It gave us a spot to aim towards. 

The “Curve”

    We found the spot about an hour and a half after sunrise. We took some pictures, found an old cemetery and waited for a train to go by. After waiting for a while, we decided to call it quits and continue on. 

House exploration

    While exploring an old, deserted house, Frank realized that he had lost his hat. It had his fishing license on it so we headed back to the RR tracks to see if we could find it. There it was, sitting on the road. Just after he picked it up…we heard a train laboring up the hill.  

The train!

Continuing up the mountain

    We caught some nice pictures of it as it passed us. There was a reason that the hat was left behind! The story of the “lost hat” is a story we tell often.  We would have never gotten a picture of the train on the curve if it hadn’t been forgotten!

A cache

Outside the mine

Inside

Cache hidden inside a mill

The Virginia Furnace

    We did some caches as we continued south including one near a limestone mine and a kiln. We stopped at an old grist mill and an old iron furnace where other caches were hidden. There was lots of history that we visited on this trip!

The Grafton Rail Yard

Leaving the yard

    We later ended up in Grafton where we took pictures of the rail yard and the turntable that sits on the edge of Three Fork Creek. We headed back towards home after that. It was almost 7 when we got back to Frank’s house, truly a long trip!

Bob and Frank’s camera

    The pictures we found brought back some good memories and answered a couple questions. We found out the date, and on one of the last pictures, what camera Frank had been using, a Pentax ME Super. He got a digital camera soon after. (Now he is experimenting with film again I’m happy to say!)

    It is always fun reliving the past by looking at old pictures. They help us (especially ME!) remember. 

Delving into the Undeveloped

 I had about 3 weeks worth of pictures in my camera. You’d think that was a lot of pictures but the roll of film only has 12 negatives on it. I had been careful not to “waste” any pictures with impromptu shots, so from the first to the last shot was about 17 days. During that time, I could only hope that something worthwhile was captured. I had to wait until I developed the roll to find out.

    On Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving I set out my supplies, checked my chemicals and removed the film from the camera. Then, after a good cup of coffee, I was ready to start.

    I needed an open workspace, so I used the base of my enlarger in the darkroom. I dusted the enlarger itself and wiped off the base. I didn’t want any dust particles landing on my film. I set out the developing tank, its lid and the spool where I could easily grab them in the dark. I set the spool on its side with its opening at the top. I set the reel in a U-bolt which I have been using to help keep it from rolling. I also had a pair of scissors sitting near-by.

    After I turned out the light, I felt around to make sure I knew where each piece was. I looked to make sure there weren’t any new light leaks since I did my last roll. Satisfied that I knew where everything was and that I was in total darkness, I slit the paper band on the roll and started unwinding the film.

    The film I was working with was black and white, 120 Kodak T-Max 100. This size of film is a lot more flexible than 35mm film and it can be tricky lining it up the opening of the reel. It had been almost two months since I had done a roll this size and I was glad that I had practiced beforehand. After a couple attempts, the film went in as planned. I only hoped that I hadn’t put any creases or marks on the negatives.

    There is always a fear that I’ll drop the film or part of the tank during the loading process. I don’t want to be feeling around on the dirty floor in the dark looking for the lid or even worse, the strip of film! I put the reel into the tank making sure the lid was on properly and then turned on the light.

    I cleaned up and re-covered the enlarger before I did anything else. If I didn’t do it now, I figure that I’d probably forget about doing it and everything would be even dustier the next time I used it. This is something I learned from my machinist days.

    The chemicals were put in a water bath to bring them to the proper temperature, 68° Fahrenheit. I had previously looked at the Massive Dev Chart online. (Massive Dev Chart Film Development, Film Developing Database) This is a great site to determine what the times for various films and developers should be.

    I wrote the times for all the steps on a piece of paper and hung it up near the timer. After a couple more sips of coffee I was ready to go. I set my timer and started the first step, a prewash.

    After finishing the developer, stop bath and fixer steps, I was able open the tank and see if everything had gone as planned. Even though I have done this numerous times, I am still apprehensive about what I’ll find when I open the tank. I removed the lid and slid the reel out and was happy to see images on the film! Now, I only had to worry about whether any of them were any good! It really isn’t as worrisome as this but I have had rolls go through that I inadvertently exposed to light, and I’ve developed a few rolls in which the camera wasn’t working properly. It is always a good feeling to see that everything came out OK.

    Finally the washing process was finished along with dipping the reel into some Photo-Flo, I was now able to unwind the filmstrip from the reel and see what I had taken. After 2 weeks, I tend to forget exactly what pictures were on the film and it is always a nice surprise to re-live these bits of the past once again. Looking at the strip as it hung to dry, everything looked OK. I didn’t see any bends or creases made by my attempts at loading the film onto the reel. The negatives all looked properly exposed and looking quickly, everything seemed to be in focus. I closed the door and let the film dry.

     So far, so good! It was now time to do some Thanksgiving preparations.

    An hour later, the film was dry. I took an archival filmstrip holder and labeled it. Then I cut the negatives into strips of three and slid them into the holder. Using a light box with my digital camera positioned overhead, I took a picture of the proof sheet and then a picture of each of the negatives. Using Adobe Photoshop I cropped the negatives, straightened them and then made a copy, inverting the negative into a positive. I saved the negatives and the positives in a file on the computer with the days date and a brief description of what they are. The “actual” negatives were placed in a 3-ring binder with other negatives from the current year.

    With the pictures on the computer, I will be able to look them over and decide which ones can be used to make prints. This will probably be done some time later in the winter, on those days when I don’t want to go outside into the cold.

    I cleaned up the tools I used and put the chemicals away. The area is now ready for my next chore…doing my laundry. Once again, I came out with another good batch of negatives. Practice makes perfect, or at least close to perfect. 

    You should give film developing a try; take a step back in time and experience the fun of doing things the old-fashioned way. It is a great hobby. I find that it is a great sense of achievement when I open up that tank and see properly developed negatives! If I can do it…so can you!