Fine Detail
Fine Detail
I’ve been spending some time there lately, taking photographs of an upcoming performance, so it’s only natural that I photograph the grand building itself. The late afternoon sun at an angle had just the right amount of highlight and shadow to show up all the Italianate filigree on the Music Hall entrance, including the “C” medallions for “Carnegie” between the doors.
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Details
Details
Details of wrought iron scrolling from a railing.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
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.
Look Up! The Peaks of the City, 2009
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
Colored Windows
Window Light
I grew up in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches with their highly ornate and pictorial windows, but I always liked this style of church windows as well, featuring the glass itself as well as the arrangement of the pieces. It’s especially fitting for a tiny chapel which would be overwhelmed by a figurative window. This simply let in colored light, and along with two other windows provided just this little bit of color in the dimness.
Often the patterns for these windows were entirely abstract, but just like looking at clouds, I always saw something in them. In this one I see a person praying. Now that’s not so outlandish.
Patterns: 2010
Textures and Patterns
Buildings settle into where they are and straight courses of brick waver, roofs sag just a bit, chimneys shift comfortably, paint peels; the people who live there settle into patterns of use, windows open, blinds down; ever the opportunist, nature sends out roots, drops seeds, and grows wherever the conditions are right, adding her patterns of growth.
Patterns and angles, the bricks going one way, the ivy another, the shingles yet another, and shadows on all of it, a city house no doubt has stories to tell.
Sketch: West Main Street, August Afternoon
West Main Street, August Afternoon, pastel, 7″ x 9″ © B.E. Kazmarski
I started a little plein air sketch on West Main Street in Carnegie this afternoon but had to get back home before I did much before blocking it in. I finished it from photos this evening.
Long Standing
Long Standing
This is the side wall of a very old garage, and the side door into it. It’s not typically too remarkable, but on a bright sunny day at just about noon when the sun shines nearly directly down, even the uneven mortar bits between the bricks has shadows, and instead of being washed out by direct sunlight every detail has depth and color. The aged door is thick with paint, but obviously still opens.
It must have been a much smaller building at one time as you can see where there was apparently an addition to the left of the door where the courses of bricks run crooked. There must also have been an awning or roof of some sort over this side of the building by the band of caulking left on the bricks above the door, and even the shape made by the darker purple bricks.
I had originally thought this would be a neat B&W shot and prepared it both ways, but really like the color better.
Turquoise Doorway: 2011
Turquoise Door
Someone’s entryway on the North Side of Pittsburgh, with a turquoise patina that contrasts very satisfyingly with the old red brick of the row houses. There was too much traffic in the street to back up far enough to get the entire door, and too many cars parked along the street to catch it from across the street. Still, 909 has a very nice doorway.
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.
Pinball Mural
Mural
The world headquarters of the the Professional & Amateur Pinball Association are in Carnegie, PA, in one of the old industrial parks. This is the mural on the back of their building. This building used to be plain cinderblock and brick, and this colorful and professional mural is a welcome change. Even the Jersey barriers, placed there because vehicles would regularly misjudge the distance and hit the building, are painted with colorful images. I doubt anyone hits these things now!
Pittsburgh’s Flatiron
Pittsburgh’s Flatiron
Most cities have a Flatiron building–it always seems there’s one spot where the streets come together at an angle and leave an awkward space, and being downtown, someone has to build on it. Downtown Pittsburgh, being built into the “Golden Triangle” where the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers come together to form the “Point” at the headwaters of the Ohio River, seems to have triangular buildings on every other corner.
This is just a tiny building in the middle of downtown, now housing Wood Street Station/Wood Street Galleries but originally the Monongahela Bank. Built in 1927 of limestone and marble, with a metal canopy with ginkgo leaf patterns etched in the glass.
Those tall windows are well-suited to an art gallery, and it also houses the offices of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Gothic
Union Trust Building
Guess where?
You’ll never guess. It’s on Grant Street in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. This is the Union Trust Building with its roof of terracotta tiles and dormers and facade of limestone, one of the first “indoor arcades” or malls in the country, built in 1916 by Henry Clay Frick, modeled after a Gothic-style European building. Apparently he had a little bit of extra cash in his pocket.
Here it takes in the reflected morning sun reflected from the building across the street.
Creekside House
Creekside House
I’ve been enjoying photographing some sites and buildings around town, in the present day though they look quite old, and presenting them in black and white or in a sepia or otherwise aged appearance. Snow works well for this, as well as the excess of midday summer sun.
This house is on the other side of a tiny little creek, but it’s only accessed from an alley and across a footbridge made of railroad ties with no railing, and I’d always wanted to photograph it from the angle at which you can’t see any other buildings so it looks as if it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Someone still lives there, and someone has lived there constantly for decades; the house is very well-kept. This access would seem an imposition today, but people didn’t used to be so particular about such things, a home was a home.
Grand Entrance
Grand Entrance, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
The the shallow angles of the staircase to the second floor of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, colorful in the late afternoon sun streaming in the window wall out of view to the right. The geometry of the steps and color blocks appealed to me with the two non-geometric figures in the foreground, lots of symbolism about goals and climbing and achievement as we went to see the Impressionist exhibit. You’re not supposed to photograph in the museum, but how can I visit a place that awakens my creative self without taking it in and expressing it creatively? I caught a few photos, though not of the art, just of the space.
Today 