Legend has it that Tom Petty wrote the third verse of Mary Jane’s Last Dance while looking down on Market Square from his hotel room.
“There’s pigeons down on Market Square
She’s standin’ in her underwear
Lookin’ down from a hotel room
The nightfall will be comin’ soon”
Who knows if it is true but Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers did play in Pittsburgh frequently and there are usually pigeons in market square. In any case, it is a fun place to spend some time in.
Wishing everyone safe travels to joyous family reunions free of arguments and full of great food and of course, multiple PIES!
Its not to early to order blank Holiday cards for a personal message, check my selection here.
Starting on 11/26 Worlds Apart Kindle Edition will go on sale for just $1.99 The 70% price reduction will continue through 12/3. Worlds Apart is the sequel to DreamMap. You don’t need to read DreamMap first but it helps to understand the characters better. You can get a Kindle copy of DreamMap for only 99 Cents by clicking here.
Set in Pittsburgh in the real world and many alternate realities, World’s Apart begins as Jake and Rose travel to Dublin and Jake agrees to help Stan find his missing niece. Rose travels home to discover that her father needs her help. Apparently Eligio is missing and Nathan fears he has been injured or worse. The search for those missing takes Jake and Rose to many different worlds where they remain separated. As one mystery is solved, another appears. As one evil is destroyed, another emerges. With the help of new and old friends, the two resolve the mysteries only to be led into deeper danger. Encountering magic and shape shifters, they must separately confront an ancient evil while remaining worlds apart.
To read a sample and order your copy click here
For our first outing in almost two years to someplace other than a restaurant we decided to see the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit on the North Side. It was an exhilarating and amazing experience. It literally made me gasp and my wife said it gave her the chills. The music was perfect for each series of images and sound was beautifully rendered. Make sure you are sitting down and experience a psychedelic experience without ingesting drugs.
To buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
A few years ago I began to offer “behind the scene” images from my two day assignment on the site of Dawn of The Dead (1978.) I published 47 of the images in my 2015 book; Zombie Nights on Amazon. I have begun to realize that true fans of this cult film don’t care if the images are sharp, free of artifacts and perfectly exposed. Recently in scanning my archives for another project I found images that I never shared on this blog or in the book. They just didn’t meet my standard of work that was worth selling. So here is the first of the new ones of the crew and George Romero.
You can purchase the book at the Amazon Link above or at the Living Dead Museum in Monroeville
To view or purchase prints that are in the book and some others of high quality visit my commercial site.
I found this unremarkable color image in my archive and decided it would look better in selective color. As the sun set it caused the buildings to light up as if a golden spotlight was shining on them.
To buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
When our new neighbors put in a fence I wondered how it would change our backyard. It only improved it by giving us a little more privacy I thought. Then I realized the real advantage. The deer that would every year travel up from Frick Park to eat our lilies would no longer have access to our back garden.
For the last two years we have had amazing blooms. This year they not only survived the deer but also a terrible storm that brought down trees but not our five feet tall lilie
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
Our perennial garden in Regent Square gets better every year. Now that we have figured out how discourage the wandering deer from Frick Park, each year our perennials grow larger and are mre numerous. Here are a couple of this years day lilies.
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
Pittsburgh has a great history with Photojournalism and Documentary photography. In addition to Charles “Teenie” Harris, Elliot Erwitt, W. Eugene Smith and Duane Michals all worked extensively in Pittsburgh. Of course, Andy Warhol also experimented with photography but was not a photojournalist. Pittsburgh still pays homage to these old famous photographers. Recently Carnegie Museum opened a dedicated gallery to Teenie Harris and has made his extensive archive available on line.
I wonder about contemporary photojournalists and street photographers. In the 1970’s as a young photographer I was invited to become a member of The Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. I had the honor of exhibiting work at the Carnegie Museum (see below). However, photojournalists are no longer in fashion with art associations in the area. There were great hopes when The Silver Eye Gallery opened. Alas, they only seem to be interested in fine art photography. I am not judging this, fine art photography is fine and deserves to be exhibited, but so does photojournalism.
If you are a young photographer in Pittsburgh like Justin Merriman and fortunate to have a newspaper job, you have a way to display your work. But what of the hundreds of great photographs that he takes that do not get published. Sure there are many online groups like B&W Humanist & Street Photography Corner on facebook but they do not offer the same experience as being able to stand in front of an image in a gallery and have the possibility of buying a print.
This blog is the only avenue I have to make my plea to gallery owners and art associations in the area. People around the world love street photography. Take a moment and browse the internet. There are literally thousand of groups interested in this form of artistic expression. Open your eyes, take a chance and give young photographers the same opportunity to display their work to an audience that I had.
One of the great advantages of being vaccinated is being able to visit our favorite stores instead of relying on delivery. One of the things I missed the most were our favorite bakeries. My favorite for bread is the Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill. Not only are the products wonderful but the people generally seem happy to see you and eager to help.
To see other images and buy apparel or prints, please visit my commercial gallery.
Imagery Photography 