Night on Bryant Street- Italian(2), Belgium, Japanese, Thai, a PayPhone, the Laundromat, a Market and a Bus
Monday night when we drove through the neighborhood in the rain, none of the restaurants were open except for Smiling Banana Leaf. (Thai).
Joseph Tambellini’s is the first exterior I photographed and you should taste the delicious meatballs.
Vampire’s Assistant at Midway Theatre, Forest Hills, Queens
A theatre lit up at night attracts my eye. (Is it theater or theatre? This sign ends in tre) I see theaters transformed and repurposed all the time so want to preserve the genre before they all disappear.
I shot the Midway Theatre when I visited my sister in NYC and we went out to Queens on the subway to meet friend Matt and eat at Just Like Mother’s Restaurant. You can read a blog about the mostly Eastern European fare, see some Borscht- if you click on the name.
I took this about three years ago (11/2009) but came across it when I was looking for a response to a weekly challenge and since theaters are a vanishing breed, I like to photograph them, read what’s playing. Thought this was an interesting selection. Always like to work on my night photography and think about how I would change the settings next time.
Incline in the Snow
I returned to the Duquesne Incline platform on Monday evening as I arrived from Ohio. Not quite as much snow as I thought there would be.
Taken just as the sun sank in the sky and the temperatures dropped. Will try again, a different winter day.
Couldn’t wait any longer to shoot when the sky was darker as it was too windy and cold. You might have liked the night time version better.
Roberto Clemente Bridge at Night
Roberto Clemente Bridge from a different angle. High up! What a view.
Photographed from the lovely Renaissance Hotel’s fourteenth floor – my fellow blogger’s room. The Allegheny River looked pretty chilly.
If you follow me you know how I enjoy working on my night photography. Love all the lights’ reflections, especially in the water. Too bad it wasn’t baseball season as we could have watched the game from her room!
I was telling Kathryn about how the bridge is closed when there are Pirates Games and you can walk across to PNC Park. Thanks for inviting me up to see the city at night. What fun. I think I need to book a corner room with a river view and just take photographs at different times of day.
Incline Operator
Meet Chuck Wise. He says his job has its “ups and downs.” You can find him on youtube he told me! Thanks for the tour, Chuck. I was showing fellow blogger Vastly Curious around the Burgh Wednesday night, all the fine sights ( the city view on Grandview Avenue in Mount Washington)
Brrrr it was windy out on the platform.
Churck Wise (like the potato chip he reminded me so I’d spell his name right) has been operating the incline for about 15 years, just as his Great Grandfather did.
He graciously allowed me to photograph and blog him.. Thanks Chuck.
Length of Track: 794 feet
Illumination Deux
Today when I read the Retiring Sort’s blog post with the beautiful Moravian Stars in NYC, I remembered a star display I photographed in January 2010. It was a block from West Penn Hospital on Friendship Avenue. It was magical and they were suspended between several row houses’ yards. Not sure if they had them up this year or not. This is a p.s. to the Weekly Photo Challenge.:Illumination.
The Mill on a Winter Night 2012
I have posted photographs of the mill at night before, and in the winter the leaves are off the trees so I can get a nice shot from West Mifflin hill, near VistaView Street. I think there are four Christmas light decorations on it this time.
This photo is looking across the Monongahela River to Braddock.
Many family members of blog followers have worked in the mills of Pittsburgh. This is the last mill.
Click to see the earlier view from the blog in April 2010. I liked reading that post because my friend Dorothy H. wrote a comment on the blog post about a poem she wrote in response to another mill photo I took. The mill is endlessly fascinating to me, the smoke always different shapes. The cloud cover affecting the light at night. The snow. The darkness.
I remember a class in photography suggested to return to the same subject, a different season, a different time of day, but the same location. Close to it.
Guess I am doing that assignment again and again.
and this view is farther up the hill, with the naked trees on the right.
Mark Tests My New Remote Cable Release in the Snow
Here I am in snowy Ohio and I didn’t pack boots to come out here for Christmas vacation. Must have been lulled by all that Spring like weather we were having in December.
Mark is the guest blogger cause when he got home at ten Saturday night he showed me a photo he had taken with his phone of the Christmas lights in the snow. I asked him to go back out for me and take one for the blog.
So he took out my camera(Canon 5D with a 50mm lens) and the new remote cable release that just got delivered via UPS and it was set at ISO 400 f.1.4. 1/60 shutter. I thought the result was excellent . First time using a cable remote and now he knows how to reduce camera shake. Tripod in the back of the freezing car and no way we’re setting up unless the snow stops falling.
Thanks Mark. Maybe tomorrow night I will borrow Erika’s boots and trudge around in the snow.
December’s Electric Bill?
Columbus Ohio. About two miles from Mark and Erika’s house. Erika drove the kids to see the lights. I propped the camera on the window and was able to catch it but a tripod and cable release would have been useful. Must be a lot of work to take down all the lights and decorations. holiday
Weekly Photo Challenge: Change of Seasons
Friday night in Laura and James’ living room, I was telling them what the weekly photo challenge was.
Laura said, “I have pumpkins on the front porch and Christmas decorations in a box.” So I went out onto the front porch but when I saw the neighbor’s Christmas lights and a mini-bus drove by, I knew I had the shot for the Change of Seasons challenge.
Change of Seasons. And the temperature is 50 degrees making it feel like a Spring evening.
The Music of Michael Jackson, Tuesday Night in Town
A friend had an extra ticket to the The Music of Michael Jackson Tribute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra who put on a stellar musical performance. People were on their feet, clapping and dancing to the familiar music as the star of the show gave it his all. It was a tribute not an impersonation pointed out the star, James Delisco. It was a fun night and an unexpected outing on a Tuesday evening. Thanks Barb and Penny.
The Heinz Hall was elegantly decorated for Christmas. Single glittery gloves were passed out and kids 13 and under got a chance to come up onstage for the last number, Thriller, and show their moves.
Photos by iPhone again.
Macy’s windows were filled with holiday displays. The giant Nativity scene and the Menorah display were by the old USSteel building, now UPMC. Preparations for the holidays are in full swing in downtown Pittsburgh. 
Porch Light, Moon Light
Murphy sat on the back porch before bed. When I went to let him in, I saw a popcorn looking sky from the moon and the glow of the porch motion light- on and off, on and off- as he turned his head. The deck wood looked red.
No time to get a remote cable and eliminate camera shake.
A deep breath as I propped the camera against the edge of the sliding glass door. Depressed the shutter button while I held my breath. No worries that WordPress forgot to issue their weekly photo challenge.
About to Pop and Professional Wrestling on Grant Avenue
You might remember the post where I wrote how I knew I should ALWAYS carry my camera with me. ALWAYS
Friday night Steve asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat. It was a long day at school. Sure.
We drove down to Park Brugges and the line was out the door. Plan B. We drove to BRGR and at least a 1/2 hour wait. Spoon, no reservation? A table might open up at nine. Okay.
Plan C. Let’s drive to Millvale and eat at Grant Avenue Bar.
We got to the front of the place and it was Millvale Days! Who knew? There was a wrestling ring and ropes and a referee and oh my goodness a Ferris Wheel and games and booths and bands and people. People all over the place. Snack stands and cotton candy trailers and NO camera. Well the phone.
We walked around and of course, I’d left my camera in my school bag. At home. Oh no.
These were shot with an iPhone with about 13% battery left.
The Swimming Pool in Raging Bull
My sister walked with us from the Parking Lot on the West Pier. We walked down St. Luke’s Place as we made our way to her apartment. Film locations abound in New York City but she thought this one especially interesting looking at night.
Mary goes to the library and can watch the swimmers right from the library window.
AND- Audrey Hepburn’s Wait Until Dark was filmed across the street on St Luke’s Place.(click to see location)
The pool location is Carmine Street Pool(click to see the scene from film) and it was about two am Monday night/Tuesday morning and really dark. There were some bright spotlights, too, and didn’t have time to monkey around with the ideal settings.
I set the camera on the timer so I didn’t get camera shake. Propped it on a concrete ledge of the fence base.
I took it from the angle where the Keith Haring Mural wasn’t visible and didn’t go back in the daytime as I’d planned. Next trip.
A personal note-
Drove home from NYC Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at 7:30 I start a new job as the Digital Photography Teacher at Carrick High School. After 20 years in Elementary Art it is going to be different and I am quite excited. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes and emails and for following the blog, leaving thoughtful comments and being patient when I don’t reply to each note. Making adjustments to the daily post as no more staying up past midnight to blog since I have to leave my house so early.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement
Four images. Fourth of July. Starting with………….
Fourth of July Parade with Ballerinas just before noon in a sweltering heat, a blazing sun, scorching pavement…..okay, enough descriptors.It was hot hot hot. Or should I say HOT HOT HOT. (sorry, Arrow) Today we were all practically listless. Laura and James power is back on after five days but Marlene and Donald have been without power for a whole week and hope tomorrow is the day. So the holiday took a different turn than planned as I wrote before. The evening was a challenge as I tried to shoot the sparklers with a slow shutter speed.-
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and for the sparkler portion of the evening. I sure wish I realized I had brought my tripod in the back of the car.
Found it there today when loading up some groceries.
Laura was on the move with her sparkler
Erika gets her sparkler moving too.
Daddy Mark puts on a sparkler show for the kids as they watch the fireworks over the pine trees. It was a fun time and a great birthday party.
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement as interpreted by fellow bloggers
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St. Paul Cathedral at Night- Pittsburgh PA
Oakland section of Pittsburgh. Looked like Europe to me. I was surprised to see it so bright as I guess I haven’t driven this route at night lately.
After the poetry reading at Pitt, I was driving by last Thursday night and noticed the illuminated facade so drove around the block and photographed the cathedral at night.
The building history is available here. The date of the building on their website is 1906.
3 Sleeping After Dinner at Lala’s & See if You Can Find Murphy
Dinner at Lala’s and James’ home. Building with Lego. I’m “grandmaing” the three youngest grandkids this weekend as the eldest is at a swimmeet in Cincinnati. With her parents, of course.
So we watched Laura and James’ wedding video they received this week and Jack and Michael were ring bearers and Anna and Maura flower girls so they liked seeing themselves but then Jack(4) goes in the kitchen at seven and says, ” Could someone please start making dinner!” We were caught up in reliving the November wedding. Laura baked some homemade pizza and I had taken a spinach pie. For dessert I’d made the Farm Journal Blue Ribbon Banana Cake with buttermilk and real butter instead of the shortening the recipe calls for.
We piled into the van and I drove home and barely a block away and all three kids fell asleep! When we got home I carried each one in, made a stop with them and then took off their shoes and put them in their beds. I’d sat in the van for a moment when we got into the garage and thought to myself, okay, now what will I do with all of them asleep. Michael really came in on his own power once I got him guided a bit. And Murphy was so excited to accompany the family for the evening.
I didn’t have a plan of what to blog tonight and thought WordPress would have posted the Weekly Photo Challenge by this time but they didn’t and I was “on duty” with the kids so hadn’t thought about what to put up.
Can you see Murphy? He is wide awake.
In the Crosswalk at Night- Black and White
Night photography is a satisfying challenge to me.
New Year’s Eve @ Columbus Zoo Lights
Available light photography at night is my challenge. I find it fun but not always easy. The one family shot I lit the family with the flashlight app from the iPhone so I could get some light on their faces. It was chilly but not bitter. We saw a rhinoceros, the tiger pacing, a sleeping polar bear but mostly it was the colored lights on every tree and branch, some reflected in a pool of water. My son Mark and his wife Erika, the four grandchildren(Anna, Michael, Jack and Maura), my DIL’s cousin Shannon who is like a sister to her and her daughter Parker were all willing to stand still in the lights as I tried to focus quickly. We had a lot of fun.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Self-Portrait
Along the Monongahela River by late afternoon light and at night on the way home from the Waterfront in Homestead. Two of my favorite views, anytime of day or night!
I had the cardboard “me” in the car already. We make people out of brown corrugated boxes. I always make myself as a model for the students, this year with gray yarn hair!
Some of you know I teach Art in the City K-8th grade. Not too many people get to make themselves out of scrap cardboard at their job. The “Flat Ruthie” (have you ever seen Flat Stanley?-I photographed him for granddaughter Anna’s school project) was driving around with me cause I was thinking it might make a fun Christmas card, myself and the skyline or something.
In 2009 I was in a self-portrait show at Silver Eye Center of Photography. I can’t tell you how many images I shot of myself in my kitchen, trying to look young and thin. Figured I could achieve both effects with myself as a cardboard puppet. No wrinkles on the smooth cardboard.
Along Beechwood Boulevard looking to Homestead
Holiday Spirit on Not My House
Not a sprig of evergreen or a single bulb at my house. Not an angel or a garland or candy cane.
And then I drive by this place! WHOA.
Serious decorations. I wonder where they store them the other eleven months. The traffic must stop as gawkers drive by. Like me.
By a friend’s special request, the first holiday house spotted and captured at night. Last year, or maybe it was the year before, I used to drive around and shoot inflatable turkeys and then Santas on rooftops and even an inflatable nativity scene and when I got out of the car I could hear the air blowing. Somehow I lost interest in this subject matter. On the way to Virginia, one lawn had 37 inflatables the inhabitants told me. After that spotting, I just didn’t feel moved to try and capture the blowing hot air filling the bright, colored cloth. Everyone had them on their lawn or so it seemed. I stopped saying, “Holy Cow, I can’t believe that display!” and raise my camera to shoot.
It’s not that I am Scroogella or anything. I enjoy other people’s efforts to brighten the darkness (and sunset comes before 5PM these days), I just got out of the “seeing” the decorations and photographing them. .
But I’m back- what else could I do? This scene could not be ignored.
These lights demanded my attention and capture.
Discovered because I went to a CD release party in Regent Square. Who knew it was waiting around the corner?
But then
Night Neon & the Double-Wide Grill
Friday night music was great at the Club Cafe on the South Side. I loved the contrast of the neon’s warm colors of Jack’s and cool blue neon of Club Cafe. I know the “e” is missing but I liked the image of Jack’s going around the corner so I chose this one. I took this shot from across the street as we left to go home.
But wait, we didn’t go right home-
Even though we were exhausted, R invited us to go to the Double-Wide Grill where the onion rings satisfy that deep urge to eat something not really good for you but doesn’t it taste great. (seem to be doing a lot of that type of eating lately) You know I have a thing for old service stations and auto mechanics, right? The old fashioned kind. I did not photograph the food. Hmmmm. But you get a feel for the place.
And when we left I took a shot from the outside and the old gas tank had the amount 37 cents on it. Remember that price per gallon?
Jack's Bar at the corner of Carson and South 12th Street, Southside
Order a basket of onion rings and enjoy!
Vintage gas pump with the 37 cent price- remember when???
A close-up in case your eyes (like mine) couldn't see the 37!
Light Up Night 2011 Pittsburgh PA
On the way home from school I wound around and up Sycamore Street to Mount Washington. Parked and pulled out the sweater and blazer in the back of the car and layered as best I could. No tripod, no cable remote. Took this with the Self-Timer and propped the camera on an iron fence on the Duquesne Incline platform. Watched the sky grow dark. Met people from Dallas, Las Vegas, a couple of Pitt students and New York City and photographed them with the light up night behind them. An Art Institute Special Effects major was shooting a time lapse exposure and we chatted. Did I mention it was in the low thirties? With a wind chill factor that made it seem really chilly.
A week ago we were in the Columbus Athletic Club bowling and preparing for the wedding celebration. Didn’t feel like driving right home after school and had stayed late to get ready for next week. An art room always needs attention.
My blog header is Light Up Night 2010 shot from the Monongahela Incline.
Tom Cruise Movie, ONE SHOT, Lights Up 10th Street Bridge Wednesday Night
The movie is causing a buzz and some traffic around the Burgh. One Shot is the name of the film after a novel by Lee Child. On the way to my photo class I saw the lights set up on the bridge and a few giant movie lights on top of some buildings. Heard on the radio Armstrong Tunnels would be closed. Remembered my photo for the weekly challenge of fall, with the 10th St Bridge in the autumn light and thought I would go my usual school route. Here is the series of bridge shots taken on the way home from class Wednesday night. A circuitous route but worth the detour in my opinion.
I could hear and see a car race and screech across the bridge as I photographed. Next time I will bring a spotter to keep watch as I pulled the car over but it is dark and a bit creepy up on the top of Arlington Avenue, my route home from school. I have shot from this angle before and here is the link to the daytime photo.
Photo four has a bright movie light on the right of the photo.
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