Saks Fifth Avenue

Saks Fifth Avenue

The title says it all, but here it has a great view of a secion of the city reflected in its front windows.

Perspective on a Mural

"Yesterday's Tomorrow", looking up

I just love to look at this mural in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, and I think it’s because unlike most others it’s not really figurative and it has an intentionally limited color palette. It does represent a city scene, but it could just as easily be a collection of shapes. It’s entitled “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” and  was designed and painted by Brian Holderman. The mural can be seen at 900 Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh. For reference, here’s a distance shot, below.

"Yesterday's Tomorrow"

 

Look Up! The Peaks of the City

US Steel Tower and Presbyterian Church on Strawberry Way

Pittsburgh has a mix of tall and short, gothic and modern, stone and steel in its skyline, and on a perfectly clear autumn day even minor details are enhanced by shadows. I typically enjoy photos of the contrast of gothic archictectural influence from the mid industrial age when buildings could have no undecorated spot with the streamlined ultra modern influence from the height of the steel era.

Stylistic Contrast

Look up and see the gargoyles staring down at you!

Gingerbread and Gargoyles

Sometimes a convergence of details comes together and simply provides a nice varied view.

Ornate

Old Church Roofs and Towers

Medieval Battlements

 

 

 

Two views of the same church, actually seen from the back on Oliver Avenue.

 

 

 

And, finally, just an interesting facade.

Nice Facade

Some Last Looks at Autumn: In the City

Just Yellow Leaves

We know autumn is stunning on the hills and along the trails; a walk in the autumn woods can wash my soul clean as new. But that exciting splash of color among square and stolid buildings, hiding in the shadows of narrow streets but touched but the afternoon sun—now that is a welcome sight, and just as likely to cleanse the soul of the press of people and work on city streets. These yellow trees, some hybrid magnolia, I believe, having seen them bloom in spring, are planted in a curving line in a sculpture court at the corner of Sixth and Penn Avenues in downtown Pittsburgh.

Under Yellow Trees

Here people actually get to enjoy sitting under lemon-colored trees, near a granite sculpture of an eye. Just before I took this photo, several people who had been sitting there got up and boarded a bus. Darn! They looked great under the trees.

A Study in Complimentary Color

I may like this one the best since the impact of the trees on the urban landscape is clear.

And here’s one more, not as dramatic in color, but both the trees and the sculpture help to break up the vertical lines and rectangles in Mellon Square Park, a little farther uptown.

Respite from Rectangles

Deck the Walls

Deck the Walls at AAP's holiday art show

The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh’s “Deck the Walls” show opened last Friday at Gallery 707 on Penn Avenue, right next to a show at Gallery 709, and there were performances at the Benedum and a few other things happening, and the Cultural District was happening with people and color and activity.

709

A view into the gallery next door…

City Lights

…and a view out of the gallery.

The weather was still warm enough for people to gather outside.

Cultural District Stop Sign

And dance a little.

Dancing on the Sidewalk

The Night Bicycle

Who will ride this one home?

This foot is not pedaling the bicycle. Yes, I sat on the sidewalk with my camera pointed at the bicycle waiting to get a good shot of feet passing by.

Bicycle and Foot

 

Someone Got Your Goat?

Got Your Goat?

I see no small amount of similarity between these two…perhaps it’s the expressions.

Someone Got Your Goat?

As much as I love my woods and streams, I love to photograph the city. On my occasional trips into Pittsburgh, the camera is always in hand. This particular day I knew I’d be attempting to photograph Heinz Field while the Steelers played the Packers (no one would ever call me a sports fan of any sort, but I’ll photograph an event), so the good camera went with me.

I also like the distance view because in this one, the gentleman is such an anachronism!

I’ll have several other photos to post from this city visit as well as a subsequent one. On the original visit, I was dropping artwork at a gallery for a show. On the second visit, I went to the opening at night, and the city at night is really beautiful.

What is it About Black Cats and Halloween

Ever wondered why black cats appear with witches and demons and skeletons at Halloween? The reasons are numerous, and when I studied English literature in college the story was that persons who had been cast out by their community for practicing non-Christian beliefs, including traditional healing, literally lived on the edge, in the woods, just like the witches in old fairy tales. And cats, preferring to live in more secluded places like this, tended to stay with these outcasts. Whether cats were considered, in part, evil because of their personality or evil because they tended to hang with suspected evil people isn’t really clear, but cats gained that connotation and were just as persecuted as the humans they accompanied.

But there are other stories, too, and not just about Halloween. I’d like to share with you an e-newsletter from a fellow member of the Cat Writer’s Association and author of 22 books on animal care, Amy D. Shojai. If you look on many books on ntural or standard pet care published by Rodale Press, or collections under the Chicken Soup for the ________ (fill in your favorite) label, you’ll see her name.

Please read through her valuable tips on animal emergencies and keeping animals safe at the holidays as well, then scroll down to the bottom for truly fascinating information: http://community.icontact.com/p/amyshojai/newsletters/petpeeves/posts/pet-peeves-issue-14! Keep those precious companions safe inside and away from the candy!

Scenes from a Movie, 2

Scenes from a Movie 1

That lovely little crescent moon didn’t come out as clearly as I would have wanted, but the woods were lit jut enough for them to reflect that eerie monochromatic appearance.

Scenes from a Movie 2

Scenes From a Movie

Scenes from a Movie 3

I was photographing those pumpkins and happened to look up the trail, and the eerie light from the spotlights and the fire truck parked at the next entrance up looked like a scene from “Paranormal” or “Blair Witch” or any other movie shot in the woods at night and scared the heck out of me. Here are the first two. I’m not sure you can see the detail in the trail at the bottom of the photo.

Scenes from a Movie 4

Sparks

Sparks

What is autumn without at least one bonfire? The crisp air nearly asks for the sharp scent of burning wood and the crackling of kindling in the cold night air, the sparks rushing upward to disappear just overhead. Perhaps with bonfires included in these autumn celebrations we are expressing that primordial fear of the coming darkness, the long nights growing longer, and the rituals of our ancestors that held the night at bay until it began growing longer again.

“Bonfire” is derived, in short, from “bone fire”, an annual ritual of Celtic peoples who burned animal bones at Samhain to ward off evil spirits, and of later European people who burned the oldest bones in crowded churchyards or cemeteries to allow space for new interrments and to ensure that those disinterred would not haunt them at All Hallow’s Eve, when uneasy spirits were known to come calling.

This particular bonfire burned only scrap lumber, wooden pallets and downed trees at the Nightwalk on the Panhandle Trail.