Main Street Colorful Afternoon
Main Street Colorful Afternoon
The pear trees are blooming on Carnegie’s Main Street again, and though each year looks like the previous years I still can’t help myself from photographing and sketching the sight. This is one of the reference photos for my sketch, a bright late afternoon though a little bit overcast.
One of my favorite paintings of Carnegie, and also a favorite of others is also from this time of the year, and I realized as the pear trees began this year that I painted it ten years ago. It is called, not surprisingly, “Pear Trees on Main Street” and you can see it here where it is the signature image for my series “My Home Town”. Can’t wait to finish the new one.
And you can also see a slideshow of photos of the pear trees blooming on Main Street. It’s really quite a sight.
Meanwhile Last Year: Illuminated Blossoms
Illuminated blossoms.
The pear trees were blooming on Main Street on this day last year! Not a sign of any pear trees or magnolia, and even the daffodils are hesitating.
Sunny Main Street
Main Street Carnegie
Well, it was sunny, but instead of leaving it in its natural colors, I desaturated it to approximate a black and white shot because I liked the close-set details of all the buildings and light poles and bollards and bricks. I then added a yellow filter because it seemed to help define things better.
Colorful Stars on Main Street
Holiday lights on Main Street.
Carnegie’s holiday decorations light up the street.
Hmmm, how can I make a street I photograph all the time look a little different from the last year? Well, get out the cross-screen filter for starters so that each light or highlight in the images has extra interest; I like to set the cross a little off-kilter, not a plus-sign, not an “X”, but something in between. Next, use the 70-300mm zoom lens and manual focus so just the very first light and wreath are in focus and all the rest, all the wreaths all the way down Main Street to Washington Avenue, are successively blurred just a little each step of the way. Even the stop lights look festive, as noted in a holiday song. I liked the effect.
Last night as I was crouched to photograph this in a fairly dark spot on Main Street, I frightened a couple of teenage guys who apparently didn’t see me before I suddenly stood up very near to them, and the shuttle that takes residents from one of the local nursing homes on their errands stopped, opened the door and looked at me, then went on. I photographed this last year as well, and included a story of photographing where people don’t expect it, including hunching down in the dark by a wall wearing a cape and having the police stop to ask what you’re up to.
View of Main Street
View of West Carnegie
Walking around affords all sorts of interesting views you don’t see from the car. Walking a little out of the way affords views you haven’t seen before. Putting this together and planning for the right time of day pays of in an interesting shot. The leaves have fallen off the trees, an overcast day opened up just before sunset, and I finally got one of the shots of an area of Carnegie I’ve been planning for a while.
At this time of day, at this time of year, the trees are bare and otherwise large pools of shadow are open, and the sun, angled down after the autumnal equinox instead of shining from overhead, flows down the east-west leading streets and alights the details on the houses.
And here is this view in sepia, similar to my last view of West Main Street.
West Main Street from above, in sepia.
West Main Street
West Main Street
It’s only at a certain time late in the day that the sun lights these six blocks of West Main Street all the way to the west end of town. Bonus that the sky was reflecting on the railroad tracks. I tried my best to avoid the mail utility pole and “stop here at red” sign for what they blocked, but I love the busy-ness of wires and poles further down.
And just to show that the town still looks much like the small town it’s always been, here’s a sepia version of the same thing.
West Main Street Carnegie looking vintage.
A Party on Main Street
Main Street on Election Day.
The sun was turning golden in late afternoon when I walked down to my polling place today. Main Street looked lovely, and with this flag perfectly illuminated at the moment I walked toward it I thought what being able to cast a vote means to all of us in every town and city all over this country. We whine, boast, throw mud in each others’ faces, but in the end we have this one basic right that ensures us a say in what happens to us.
I thought of my mother and my older relatives, the children of immigrants who had left one tyranny after another and risked their lives to come here to freedom, that “greatest generation” always so proud to cast their vote, who I used to drive to the polls and be proudly introduced to their friends from grade school who were electoral workers. They left this to me.
People die for this right all over the world, every day.
African-americans in this country died for this right barely 50 years ago.
Women in this country died for this right less than 100 years ago.
Veterans who served under this flag died to ensure this right to us in every conflict from our founding.
Standing there on the sidewalk with my camera pointed at this gently waving flag, waiting for the perfect moment, whatever that would be, I was intensely grateful for the safety of my street, for the people who honked and waved at me seeing what I was doing, for my freedom to creatively express myself without fear of reprisal, and I knew that, pacifist that I am, if any foreign nation came along to try to take that moment away from me I’d be on the front lines risking my life to keep this freedom for all of us.
I’m glad all I need to do is vote.
All Roads Lead to Carnegie, 2011
Main Street Banners
Our everyday banners in Carnegie line up neatly along Main Street and add color with a few awnings. In a few weeks these ornamental pear trees will turn to bronze.
I designed these banners for the Carnegie Community Development Corporation and Carnegie Borough to replace the set of turquoise banners we’d had for at least six years.
The phrase came from a stop I made at a convenience store out in the middle of nowhere while actually only about 15 miles from Carnegie—rural southwestern Pennsylvania is like that, wooded hills and open fields and numbered state roads. Remembering another visit out that way I knew one of the roads I was on led right back into Carnegie from out there, windy and hilly, but no turns.
I asked the clerk, “Which one of these roads leads to Carnegie?”
She paused and considered for just a few seconds. “All roads lead to Carnegie,” she said, as if it was a fact that everyone knew.
It’s true too. Carnegie, even though only six miles outside Pittsburgh, was once a hub for all the small towns to the south and west, and looking at a map, especially before the interstate, all those state and county roads do lead to Carnegie.
This is also one of the images in my photo exhibit, Carnegie Photographed.
Main Street at Twilight, 2011
Main Street at Twilight
The first block of East Main Street in Carnegie, PA at dusk.
I have no idea how my little hand-held digital metered the colors like this, but I heartily approve! Honestly, this is not touched up in any way, even though the sky looks as if I either added from another photo, I adjusted the color in that area or I just painted in another sky. The whole thing looks like a movie set.
The time of day was twilight, after the sun dropped below the horizon but still reflected on the sky and the thin overcast of clouds. I know I pointed my focus spot on the darkest area in the scene, way down at the other end of Main Street, the building that is actually on a hill in the next community, and that would have influenced the internal metering especially since the scene looks very bright although it’s only the street lights that provide illumination. I can assure you they are not that bright.
And likely the yellow lights also pushed the complementary blue of the sky a little brighter than it actually was. However it happened, I approve.
This was taken with my little Lumix point and shoot where I have very little control, but the other settings that would have influenced this outcome are two I’ve always set on these little cameras. First, I turn the stabilizer mode, which will help to eliminate blurriness in low-light conditions, to “off” because in these small cameras it simply changes the ASA setting to a higher number. This results in a photo that looks great in your view screen, but when you open it up on your computer it’s completely grainy. I use a tripod, or, as in this case, I find something to set the camera on or press it against and set the shutter for a 2-second timed delay so that everything is as still as it’s going to get when the shutter finally opens.
Second, I set the EV, or exposure value, setting two or three steps below the middle. Most cameras shoot light so that as much light as possible gets into the lens, but you also lose detail in the highlights and I find it doesn’t meter well for images with a lot of contrast, which is usually what attracts me.
So, I guess that’s how this one turned out like this.
This photo is available as a print in my gallery on Fine Art America. I can also prepare a print in a variety of styles and sizes.
The Tired Sunflower, 2011
The Tired Sunflower
She’s resting her head on one of the posts along Main Street, making a striking image of contrasting colors. Was this sunflower ready to lie down and become bird food…or did she have a little too good of a time on Saturday night?
Known by the company she keeps.
Main Street: 2011
West Main Street, Carnegie, PA
Looking down West Main Street in Carnegie on a sunny day. It’s perfectly flat and straight for several blocks, but each building is different, some are homes, some are businesses, some have signs, some have flowers, they are brick and wood and aluminum siding, they have decorations and they are plain, and even the utility poles add their complication of cross braces and wires.
Summer Morning, Main Street
Summer Morning, Main Street
It’s not a special day or special event or anything out of the ordinary, in fact it’s quite ordinary all around, just a quiet summer morning on Main Street in Carnegie, like so many I remember through the years. I wish I’d had my DSLR instead of the little point and shoot, but this captured the details and colors pretty well.
I’ve got quite a few photos of Main Street in Carnegie, many posted on this blog, since I’m there nearly every day sometimes visiting the Post Office and the bank as well as other businesses, and even after so many years—I bean visiting Main Street with my parents just a little over 50 years ago—I can always find something new about it.
I also have a photo exhibit of images of Carnegie, including Main Street and a few other galleries, and an exhibit of paintings of Carnegie as well. I don’t get much of a chance to get away, so I work with what I see around me.
Main Street, July 4
Main Street, Carnegie, July 4, 2012
Just another in my series of sun-and-heat-drenched photos of my town done in a sort of vintage look.
The Penny Post Card, not certain of the year.
I always associate Independence Day with small towns and parks and such. Carnegie’s Main Street looks much as it did when I was growing up, and that much like it did when my parents were growing up.
Below is a “penny post card” of Main Street from an unknown year and a slightly different angle, but you’ll recognize the image. See other photos of Main Street, Carnegie.
Blessings: 2011
Blessings
As proclaimed from a third-story apartment window on Main Street in Carnegie.
Thank you.
Illuminated Blossoms
Illuminated blossoms.
Even though I wanted to capture the colors I adore on Main Street, I loved the illuminated blossoms on the pear trees, blooming early and transient, I’ll have other chances to catch the turquoise and purple and red.
Carpicorn Watches over Main Street
Capricorn
This is a decorative element on the face of the Masonic Hall on Main Street in Carnegie. When clear evening sun hits it the facial detail is evident, but the sun wasn’t at the right angle yet this year. Still, I like the effect in black and white.
Blossoms at Night
Blossoms at Night
The pear trees along Main Street in Carnegie are blooming already. Here it looks as if each tree has its own inner light. The row of mature and well-shaped trees look airy and elegant against the turquoise dusk sky of a spring evening.
Traditional Details
Traditional Details
A little bit of filigree on the front of the Husler Building in Carnegie washed by early evening sun. They are made of embossed tin and have lasted more than 100 years decorating the front of the building.
This building houses the Historical Society of Carnegie and was originally a theater downstairs and dance hall upstairs. Later it was a bank then was bought by the daughter of the man who ran the theater decades before to house the Historical Society.
Main Street: 2011
Main Street, Carnegie, PA
Main Street in Carnegie in the late afternoon, late winter light.
I like the rainbow.
Evening Lights: Painting
Evening Lights, acrylic on canvas © B.E. Kazmarski
As I walked home from an errand this evening, this is what it looked like.
I didn’t paint this today or tonight but on a similar in April 2006; the warm temperatures make it feel as if it’s a month later than it is. But in that year for some reason the perfect turquoise twilight of spring and the clear fresh air was suddenly inspiring to me to paint the tiny lights reflected on Chartiers Creek, the wash of streetlights on the fronts of buildings and deep shadows behind and between, and that big sky above it all.
I also decided to paint all this in paints, not pastels or watercolors or anything else I was accustomed to using. I had been studying painting techniques and wanted that tactile, dimensional quality of paint, the wet that dried, applying daubs of pure color in one place and then letting two or more colors mix on my brush in another place.
Beginning with three 8″ x 10″ stretched canvases, brushes and paints I’d gotten for nothing from a friend whose painter aunt had passed away, I thought this was the best way to capture the deep colors of the night scenes.
To Catch a Cloud
To Catch a Cloud
Two trees use their bare twigs and branches to snag a passing cloud.
This changeable March weather brings heavy rains, high winds and clear blue skies with puffy clouds, all in the same afternoon.
Along Chartiers Creek and the railroad tracks just off Main Street in Carnegie, PA.
Colorful Stars on Main Street
Main Street Wreaths
Carnegie’s holiday decorations light up the street.
Hmmm, how can I make a street I photograph all the time look a little different from the last year? Well, get out the cross-screen filter for starters so that each light or highlight in the images has extra interest; I like to set the cross a little off-kilter, not a plus-sign, not an “X”, but something in between. Next, use the 70-300mm zoom lens and manual focus so just the very first light and wreath are in focus and all the rest, all the wreaths all the way down Main Street to Washington Avenue, are successively blurred just a little each step of the way. Even the stop lights look festive, as noted in a holiday song. I liked the effect.
Last night as I was crouched to photograph this in a fairly dark spot on Main Street, I frightened a couple of teenage guys who apparently didn’t see me before I suddenly stood up very near to them, and the shuttle that takes residents from one of the local nursing homes on their errands stopped, opened the door and looked at me, then went on. I photographed this last year as well, and included a story of photographing where people don’t expect it, including hunching down in the dark by a wall wearing a cape and having the police stop to ask what you’re up to.
All Roads Lead to Carnegie
Main Street Banners
Our everyday banners in Carnegie line up neatly along Main Street and add color with a few awnings. In a few weeks these ornamental pear trees will turn to bronze.
I designed these banners for the Carnegie Community Development Corporation and Carnegie Borough to replace the set of turquoise banners we’d had for at least six years.
The phrase came from a stop I made at a convenience store out in the middle of nowhere while actually only about 15 miles from Carnegie—rural southwestern Pennsylvania is like that, wooded hills and open fields and numbered state roads. Remembering another visit out that way I knew one of the roads I was on led right back into Carnegie from out there, windy and hilly, but no turns.
I asked the clerk, “Which one of these roads leads to Carnegie?”
She paused and considered for just a few seconds. “All roads lead to Carnegie,” she said, as if it was a fact that everyone knew.
It’s true too. Carnegie, even though only six miles outside Pittsburgh, was once a hub for all the small towns to the south and west, and looking at a map, especially before the interstate, all those state and county roads do lead to Carnegie.
Main Street at Twilight
Main Street at Twilight
The first block of East Main Street in Carnegie, PA at dusk.
I have no idea how my little hand-held digital metered the colors like this, but I heartily approve! Honestly, this is not touched up in any way, even though the sky looks as if I either added from another photo, I adjusted the color in that area or I just painted in another sky.
The time of day was twilight, after the sun dropped below the horizon but still reflected on the sky and the thin overcast of clouds. I know I pointed my focus spot on the darkest area in the scene, way down at the other end of Main Street, the building that is actually on a hill in the next community, and that would have influenced the internal metering especially since the scene looks very bright although it’s only the street lights that provide illumination. I can assure you they are not that bright.
And likely the yellow lights also pushed the complementary blue of the sky a little brighter than it actually was. However it happened, I approve.
This was taken with my little Lumix point and shoot where I have very little control, but the other settings that would have influenced this outcome are two I’ve always set on these little cameras. First, I turn the stabilizer mode, which will help to eliminate blurriness in low-light conditions, to “off” because in these small cameras it simply changes the ASA setting to a higher number. This results in a photo that looks great in your view screen, but when you open it up on your computer it’s completely grainy. I use a tripod, or, as in this case, I find something to set the camera on or press it against and set the shutter for a 2-second timed delay so that everything is as still as it’s going to get when the shutter finally opens.
Second, I set the EV, or exposure value, setting two or three steps below the middle. Most cameras shoot light so that as much light as possible gets into the lens, but you also lose detail in the highlights and I find it doesn’t meter well for images with a lot of contrast, which is usually what attracts me.
So, I guess that’s how this one turned out like this.
