After spending much of the day photographing in Wheeling, West Virginia and Bellaire, Ohio my camera club friend Tom and I decided to head back home, west towards Harrisburg. Our plan was to detour to Pittsburgh and try to make it there just before sun down so we could photograph the city from Mount Washington. Our journey was on schedule until we decided to stop in Triadelphia, WV, to grab a bite to eat at the local Applebee’s. Even though it was Black Friday the restaurant was not that busy. We managed to get seated right away and our waitress took our order after a short look at the menu. And then…. it took forever to get our food. Tom had a chicken dish and I had a salad. Nothing extravagant, but it took a long time to come out of the kitchen.

Despite having grown up, spending my first 20 years or so in Pittsburgh, I could not remember the street at the top of Mount Washington. It’s Grandview Avenue. All I could remember was Carson Street, which as it turns out, is the street at the bottom of Mount Washington. Not knowing for sure, we wound up setting the GPS for the address of the Duquesne Incline and hoped for the best.

After an uneventful drive we arrived at the Duquesne Incline Lower Station at about 4:35 PM. The sun light on the buildings was awesome but we were at the bottom of the mountain. We parked in the Station Square parking lot along the Monongahela River and attempted to catch a incline ride to the top before the sun went completely down. The line for the incline was out the station door across the elevated bridge over Carson Street and almost down into the Station Square Parking lot…!! It took us another hour and eight minutes to get to the top of Mount Washington, a trip that normally takes about 5 minutes. Needless to say we missed the sun light.

Once at the observation platform, at the upper station, we photographed the Pittsburgh skyline, in the dark for about 45 minutes. We both got some great photos of the city, all lit up, including Heinz Field, The Science Center, Fort Pitt, Point State Park and a beautiful lighted Christmas Tree near the point fountain. Last evening I presented this photo at the Harrisburg Camera Club’s print critique and received a good review and many complements. In fact, today I received an inquiry for the purchase of a matted copy. Yeah…!!! I hope everyone enjoys it.

Albums | Bridges In Bellaire, Ohio | HCC Digital Image Competition Night