September Morning on Main Street
East Main Street, early, Riley’s Pour House is open with their flags out.
“Around Carnegie this morning. I rode my bike to the grocery store early, but what made me think I’d be able to ride around on a beautiful summer morning without taking a few photos? Anything that was colorful and in the sun.”
Above is the photo that inspired me to post a gallery on Facebook, and one of my favorites. Below is the entire gallery; scroll over or click for title and caption.
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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.
Floating Window
Floating Window
Interesting how the lighting at night is more intense, even reflections, and things look like they’re floating. Some of them really are.
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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.
Exhibit: My Home Town
“Pear Trees on Main Street”, pastel, 12″ x 10″, 2003 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
My Home Town
AN EXHIBIT OF PAINTINGS & SKETCHES
Thursday July 30, 2009, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Babyface’s Carnegie Grill, 36 East Main Street, Carnegie
I love the look of a street lined with houses and trees, a variety of storefronts or someone’s laundry hanging in the back yard; people making their little bit or space unique. I’ve been entering these works in our annual art show, ”Carnegie Painted”, since the year 2000. I’ll have 24 pieces on the wall plus prints and notecards of those and more. Peruse the walls and see if you can identify the views of these familiar streets and places.
Well, those were the days. This was my 2009 annual exhibit, another event in July. Carnegie Painted was an annual exhibit hosted for ten years featuring paintings and sketches of Carnegie, encouraging artists to come and sketch en plein air. I entered at least two if not four images in the show each year for ten years, and in 2009 I selected the originals that hadn’t sold and some of my favorites as prints and put together this exhibit, and also chose 12 images to print as note cards.
Because I’ve sketched so much around Carnegie, these are some of my favorites because I remember not only the scene but the moment, stopping for 15 or 20 minutes on a walk down to the bank to do a sketch, in all seasons. Some were done from photos, but that’s because you can’t always stand and sketch in a snow squall, or standing in the middle of the street.
I still have just a few originals but all are available as prints. The most popular are available in my Etsy shop, so click click this link to find all that’s available on Etsy. Below is a gallery of all the images in the exhibit.
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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.
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 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.
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Purchase a canvas or a print of this image
Canvas print of “Main Street at Twilight”
Canvas print
This 16″ x 32″ canvas print is beautifully printed in archival inks on artist canvas and gallery wrapped around 1″ stretchers. Sides are finished in black. You can find it in my Etsy shop.
I can also prepare a digital print in a variety of styles and sizes.
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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.
Rainy Night on Main Street
“Rainy Night on Main Street”, acrylic, 24″ x 12″, 2007 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“Rainy Night on Main Street”, Acrylic • 12” W x 24” H • 2007
I pulled up to a stop sign and saw this view of Main Street at night in the rain. I took a photo with my ever-present digital camera (and actually have it in my gallery “At Night in the Rain” ) but at the time a friend had also given me boxes of leftover art materials from her aunt including canvas panels and acrylic paints and brushes. I could visualize this in acrylic paint, the fuzzy glow around the streetlights, the lights in the windows, the long, ragged reflections on the street, and so I did. I entered it in annual the “Carnegie Painted” art exhibit in 2007 and it’s also part of the gallery “My Home Town”, a collection of 12 of my favorite paintings of all the ones I’d entered in that exhibit over nearly a decade. The original painting is sold, but I have made prints of it in various sizes.
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This is shared on Friendship Friday on Create With Joy
Friendship Friday.
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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.
Cool and Warm
Cool and Warm
Abstract patterns in a shop window.
Those alien-looking organic shapes weren’t the only things I found on my gray day walk this week. Walking down Main Street in the dusky dark I also passed shop windows with bright lights inside, and holiday decorations just illuminated for the evening.
One of the shops has strands of silver beads and flat coin-shapes hanging in a curtain across the entire front window. The cool gray light caught the edges of silver beads and baubles in a shop window with flecks of warm yellow light inside flashed on the edges.
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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.
Saturday Smiles
Lemon Smile
I encountered the last of a row of exuberant sunflowers on my way back from the post office this morning. I wish I would have had my DSLR to blur out some of those backgrounds and get even more dramatic closeups, but these are fine. Enjoy!
Orange Smile
Shy Smile
Russet Smile, with a little green bee.
Smiling Quartet
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Something Summery
Petunias
Something summery! Petunias in the planters on Main Street.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
Main Street Autumn Evening
Main Street Autumn Sunset
This camera didn’t quite catch the tangerine sky on the horizon, but it did catch the glow of that color on the buildings, the gradated blue sky with wispy clouds, and the evening star are all there to wish us well on a quiet autumn evening on Carnegie’s Main Street.
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 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.
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Purchase a canvas or a print of this image
Canvas print of “Main Street at Twilight”
Canvas print
This 16″ x 32″ canvas print is beautifully printed in archival inks on artist canvas and gallery wrapped around 1″ stretchers. Sides are finished in black. You can find it in my Etsy shop.
I can also prepare a print in a variety of styles and sizes.
This photo is also available as a print in my gallery on Fine Art America.
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.
“The Jewel on the Hill” and “Spring Dusk on Main Street”
The Jewel on the Hill, Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall
Walking home through Carnegie on this date in 2005, carrying just my little 2MP digital camera that didn’t even have a zoom and a small lightweight tripod, I managed to photograph two of my favorite photos of all the photos I’ve taken, above, “The Jewel on the Hill” and below “Carnegie at Dusk”. Though I’ve got plenty of photos to share, and even newer ones from Carnegie, today I’ll celebrate these two, two of the photos that convinced me to take another, closer look at my photography.
So we call this treasure in our town so named for its builder, the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. This is actually an older photo but with a story, plus I recently installed an exhibit of photos of this facility at this facility, which is also one of my favorite places to go and which is also one of my regular customers for freelance design work. Quite a lot of connections.
Anyway, this photo is one we’ve used repeatedly as the signature image for the facility, and was a real stroke of luck and timing. I was walking home on a clear, warm spring dusk in late April, 2005, April 24 to be exact, and arrived at the bottom of Library Hill at just this moment. The sky was fading from brilliant turquoise to cobalt, the still-bare trees were etched against it in silhouette, and the grand building itself stood partially lit by the sunset but with all interior and exterior lights on, solid and stately, serving its public in its 104th year. By the time I had snapped a half dozen or so shots the light had changed completely and the moment was gone. That was part of the timing, the other part that they had only temporarily installed the foundation lighting but never used it again, and this was part of what gave the building that lovely definition against the dark hilltop. A few minutes earlier or later, the previous or following week, and this photo would never have existed. And it was taken with my first little point-and-shoot 2MP digital camera—I don’t know how it came out as clearly as it did!
Read about the exhibits and find links to slideshows of the images at “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” and “Carnegie Photographed”.
A little background on the names…in 1894 the leaders of two small communities on either side of Chartiers Creek, Mansfield and Chartiers, decided to merge in order to provide better services as one community instead of two individual administrations. Andrew Carnegie, who had owned a mill in Carnegie, had by then sold off his mills and begun spending off his worldly wealth by building libraries. These town leaders had a proposal, that he build a library and a high school for the new community and they’d name it after him. He did build the library but said they were on their own with the high school; nonetheless our town is named “Carnegie” in his honor.
He also set up the Library itself a little differently from the others he’d had built. Where others are named “(name of town) Carnegie Library” or “Carnegie Library of (name of town)” and were built with his expense but maintained by the community, this Library bears his full name and given an endowment for its maintenance. Also, more than just the Library space, a Music Hall was incorporated into the design along with a gymnasium in the full basement.
You can read all about this unique facility on its website at www.carnegiecarnegie.org. I’ll also mention that the website design is mine, and you’ll see many more of my images in the photo album.
Spring Dusk on Main Street
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.
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.
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.
Main Street: 2011
Main Street, Carnegie, PA
Main Street in Carnegie in the late afternoon, late winter light.
I like the rainbow.
Two Photo Exhibits
The Jewel on the Hill, Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall
I’ll take a break from my regularly-scheduled photo today to tell you about my two exhibits of local photography. “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” and “Carnegie Photographed”, are once again on display in the Reception Hall at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. Stop by to peruse them and read the notes on the photos, or if you aren’t local, I have provided links to slide shows of each of the exhibits. Photos are for sale, and each sale benefits the ACFL&MH Capital Campaign.
Of Harps and Fig Leaves, an Exhibit of Photographs
This exhibit of sixteen of my color photographs of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall includes a variety of views, from grand and distant to detailed and intimate. The exhibit opened for the 2010 benefit event on October 2, Marianne Cornetti Returns, and will hang in the Reception Hall as a permanent exhibit between other shows and exhibits. The Reception Hall is open during regular hours; please visit www.carnegiecarnegie.org for more information and directions. I have also included a list of the included images, below, with a link to a brief slideshow of the images.
The genesis of the show
"Clawfoot", detail of the original organ bench and replica carpet in the Espy Post.
When I bought my first camera, a Pentax K-1000, one of my first subjects was Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. I lived two doors down, I was practicing with black and white film, and the massive, elegant building surrounded by tall trees was a feast for my eyes.
I’ve been visiting this place for books since before I can remember, but even today looking at the shelves of books interspersed with the tall Corinthian-topped pillars I can still remember feeling very small standing in the quiet of the big room and thinking it was the grandest place that could ever exist.
As an adult, when I began to return again for books, I also began wandering into as many rooms as I could gain access to, enjoying what is now the Reception Hall on a sunny winter afternoon, peeking into the darkness of the Music Hall, imagining myself on the stage.
As renovations began and I was spending more and more time here, all the memories combined with all the activity and inspired an exploration of the space recorded in photos using my new Pentax camera a digital SLR K10D.
"Grand Entrance", those limestone pillars and doorway have stood the test of time.
About the Photos
The photos include “The Jewel on the Hill” shown above, one we’ve used repeatedly as the signature image for the facility. Each photo has a story of its own genesis, but this one in particular was a real stroke of luck and timing. I was walking home on a clear, warm spring dusk in late April, 2005, April 24 to be exact, and arrived at the bottom of Library Hill at just this moment. The sky was fading from brilliant turquoise to cobalt, the still-bare trees were etched against it in silhouette, and the grand building itself stood partially lit by the sunset but with all interior and exterior lights on, solid and stately, serving its public in its 104th year. By the time I had snapped a half dozen or so shots the light had changed completely and the moment was gone. That was part of the timing, the other part that they had only temporarily installed the foundation lighting but never used it again,a nd this was part of what gave the building that lovely definition against the dark hilltop. A few minutes earlier or later, the previous or following week, and this photo would never have existed. And it was taken with my first little point-and-shoot 2MP digital camera, I don’t know how it came out as clearly as it did!
Here is a list of the names of the photos in the show, and you can view a quick little slideshow of them here. But you’ll have to visit the Reception Hall to really see them and know the rest of the stories.
1. Grand Entrance, 2003
2. The Jewel on the Hill, 2005
3. Welcoming on a Winter Night, 2008
4. Familiar View, 2007
5. Overarching, 2008
6. Clawfoot, 2010
7. Of harps and Fig Leaves, 2006
8. Hats, 2009
9. Autumn Expectations, 2009
10. Party on the Stage
11. Cubbage Hill, 2009
12. Champagne Reception, 2008
13. Book Stacks, 2005
14. View of Carnegie, 2008
15. The New Seats, 2009
16. Classic Curve, 2007
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“Carnegie Photographed” Photo Exhibit
Spring Dusk on Main Street
This exhibit includes fourteen of my photographs of the town of Carnegie in all seasons, from details to distant views. The exhibit will hang in the Reception Hall as a permanent exhibit between other shows and exhibits along with “Of Harps and Fig Leaves, images of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall”.
Two Shows in One Room
The Night Gallery, 3rd Street Gallery exhibit and jazz
Once we had “Of Harps and Fig Leaves” hung in the room, ACFL&MH executive director Maggie Forbes suggested this show to fill the other walls of the room. The 3rd Street Gallery hosts a show entitled “Carnegie Painted” each year, and as a central point in the community, the Reception Hall of ACFL&MH has been host to paintings from that show through the years. I certainly have enough photos of Carnegie to fill a few rooms, and, as with Harps and Fig Leaves, I had a difficult time choosing only 14 images.
All the photos are 11″ x 14″ framed with white mats and black 16″ x 20″ frames and the consistency of the exhibits in the big room, all photos, same mats and frames, is very appealing.
About the Show
Softly Falling Snow, Ross Colonial Cemetery on Library Avenue
A camera of some sort goes with me everywhere, and by living and working here in Carnegie, plus a good bit of walking and bicycling the subject of my photos is often my little town.
From local newspapers to Carnegie’s website and map, my photos have often been used to illustrate Carnegie, capturing Main Street at dusk or the Memorial Day Parade, a detail of everyday life gone unnoticed, or a hidden treasure I’ve found while exploring.
A news photo, those used for publicity, is different from an art photo. While many of the photos I have on f ile are perfect for a quick glance in print or web they’re not always the best subjects for permanently-placed enlargement to be seen and studied in detail.
It’s truly been my pleasure to browse six years of photos and choose 14 which I hope will illustrate the familiar beauty of the streets we travel every day.
Good Night Little Town, a view of Carnegie from a nearby hill
About the Images
The image at the top, “Spring Dusk on Main Street”, is one of my favorites and I think shows the quaint appeal and openness of Carnegie’s Main Street. The decorate street lights are on sensors and come on automatically at dusk, but each of them comes on at a different time. I wanted to catch that pure turquoise sky with enough light to see its color, but not all the lights were on when the sky was best. I had to stake this one out, and returned to Main Street three times during this week to make sure I got the one photo where all the lights are on and the sky is perfect.
Here is a list of the names of the photos in the show, and you can view a quick little slideshow of them here. But you’ll have to visit the Reception Hall to really see them and know the rest of the stories.
Amid the Gold
Banners and Flowers
Good Night Little Town
Icy Berries
Last Day of the Year
Memorial Day
Ornaments
Softly Falling Snow
Spring Dusk on Main Street
Superior
Sycamore Sentinels
Tangled Shadows
The Night Gallery
Welcome
Hours for the exhibit
The Reception Hall is open during regular hours; please visit www.carnegiecarnegie.org for more information, directions and contact information. Remember that these exhibits hang between other exhibits and events at ACFL&MH, so please contact me or call Library to be certain the exhibits are up.
Framed prints size and availability
Each image is 11″ x 14″ matted with a plain white mat in a 16″ x 20″ matte-finish black frame. The photos on display are the property of Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, but you can purchase a framed print. Prints are for sale at $75.00 each, and a portion of every sale supports the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
Canvas prints size and availability
These images are a full 16″ x 20″ printed on quality canvas and gallery-wrapped on canvas stretchers (the canvas wraps around the stretchers and is printed all the way around) for a clean, modern look. Canvas prints are not on display, but you can purchase one by specifying you’d like the canvas print. Canvas prints are also for sale at $75.00 each, and a portion of every sale supports the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall.
You can purchase them directly through the Library & Music Hall or contact me with your interest.
Again, the slideshows…
Of Harps and Fig Leaves
You can view a quick little slideshow of them here.
Carnegie Photographed
You can view a quick little slideshow of them here.
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.
Today 