Photo Assignment #2

So this week I'm taking a page from Tim Fabian and getting you guys to get out and shoot some photographs of Pittsburgh bridges or steps. Get creative and have fun with this. There are a ton of great places to go and explore all over the city. I know both of these are fairly over done in Pittsburgh, but get creative with this and use what you know to get a new photograph! I'll post some of my photographs up next week and we can talk about what we all found!

Check out http://pghbridges.com/ for more information, or to help you get some ideas where bridges might be.

October Photography Galleries!

So here's a list of Photography Galleries everyone should check out this month. All in the local area featuring all different kinds of photographers. I'll check a couple out too and give some feedback on what I thought!

• Color & B&W Photography by Charles Ferraro - Opening Oct. 2, 7-10 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays. Oct. 2 through Oct. 30. Artspace 105, 105 E. Eighth Ave., Homestead, 412-480-7246,  www.steelvalleyarts.org/. 

• Double Exposure - Photography of Charlee Brodsky & John Higdon. Wednesdays-Sundays. Continues through Oct. 3. Gallery Sim, 1735 E. Carson St., Pittsburgh (South Side), www.gallerysim.com. ( Ending this weekend!)

I Thought I Could Fly: Portraits of Anguish, Compulsion, and Despair

 I Thought I Could Fly - Photography by Charlee Brodsky. Through Oct. 14. Millstein Library, 150 Finoli Dr, Greensburg, 724-836-9687. 

This is my pick for the Month, I just recently started seeing Charlee Brodsky's photography.  I think she is brilliant and overwhelmingly talented. I definitely recommend checking out her work, I know she has inspired me for some new photo ideas. I will most likely be featuring her in another post to come!

• International Heritage Photographic Experience Exhibition - Photos by young photographers from around the world. Through Oct. 23. Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, 10 Children's Way, Pittsburgh (North Side), 412-322-5058, www.pittsburghkids.org.  

• Pop Photographia - Photos integrated into everyday objects. Through Oct. 16. Photo Antiquities, 531 E. Ohio St., Pittsburgh (North Side), 412-231-7881, www.photoantiquities.org. 

If you have any other ideas for galleries to check out feel free to post them and I'll make sure I get out to check it out.

Bill Wade

Bill Wade is a photographer for the Post Gazette. He has the ability to take a viewer into the photograph with him. I think this characteristic is what makes for a great photographer.  This is sometimes hard to do, but Wade does it with color, frame of the shot, and using his great eye to spot the perfect moment.
Wade also gets in a moment that usually isn't that news worthy and makes it extraordinary. Just by taking simple day activities and making them interesting is how great photography is put to work. I don't know to much about Bill himself, but I think his photographs speak for himself. He does the job right over there at the Post Gazette and gets photographs that people can appreciate and connect with. He has also had a couple of shows here in Pittsburgh in the Westmoreland area.  Keep your eyes open for his work!



http://www.post-gazette.com/journal/photos_byphotographer.asp?photographer=Bill+Wade&Page=1&x=46&y=14 check out some more of Bill Wades work or check out the Post Gazette everyday to see some of Wades up and coming work.

All images are Bill Wades are from his photo journal on the website above.

recap of the weekend

This weekend I attended the free Penguins hockey game at the new Consol Energy Center. I won't lie this place is amazing! As a sports fan in every aspect I was overall thrilled with every aspect of the Consol Center. It has everything you can imagine for a hockey fan, but a few great places for photographers as well. The outside of the Consol Center is the best part to photograph I think, especially for architecture photographers. If you go to the adjacent parking lot and get a full frame of the entire place its awesome. Inside was just as cool the whole place doesn't have a bad seat in the house so taking photographs from anywhere is good. Like most sports complexes it isn't designed for you to get a great photograph, but the images you do come away with are pretty awesome too.  If you get seats any where on the second level getting photographs of the players wouldn't be hard. Also capturing the beautiful fights especially the ones  Kris Letang are apart of could really turn out to be worth something!  I didn't have that luxury but I still had a great time and came out with some great photographs too.A few other great attributes to the interior are the huge windows that display the city nicely. It also has a hall filled with old, new, and local jerseys which I found fascinating. Overall great place! Check it out sometime!



http://www.consolenergycenter.com/

Weekend hotspots

Here are a couple of places I think are great places to get some great photos

1. This weekend is the RAD day at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Museum of Art. This means only on Sunday September 26th both museums will be free to the people. This would be a great opportunity to not only check out the exhibits but also do some people watching ( In the most not creepy way possible.) You can't go wrong with huge Dinosaur photo's. http://www.carnegiemnh.org/ 
or http://web.cmoa.org/

Image from http://ppitours.net/Museums.html

2. The Penguins are hosting a Pregame on Saturday September 25th. This game is special because everyone that got tickets to the game got them for free! It will be filled with kids and college students acting a fool! (This is always a good photo opportunity.)  This is also a good chance to take some photos of the Convention Center if you haven't already.

3. The Great Race of Pittsburgh is happening this weekend. This could produce some great running/ sports shots. Rain or shine it will be a great event. http://www.rungreatrace.com/index.html

Image from http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.org/2010-GREAT-RACE-SET-FOR-SUNDAY-SEPTEMBER-26/

4. Look for some Shepard Fairey Murals!

Photo Assignment!!!

So here is the first of many photo assignments that I think might be fun to try and get accomplished in the next couple of weeks. Shepard Fairey came to Pittsburgh a while back and left all these great murals all over the city. The assignment is to try and get as many of them photographed in a fun way. You can use it as the background to profile pictures, take a landscape shot including the mural, or just be creative with the pieces. We can post our progress on here and talk about where each place is. This will also give everyone a chance to get out and explore the city for themselves.

Tim Fabian

When you think artist a couple words come to mind dark, eccentric, and typically crazy. Tim Fabian is a local photographer in Pittsburgh who fits all these characteristics to the max (But in the best way possible). He works at Filmmakers and has taught a couple of classes here at Point Park University. I've had him in class before and he is a killer photographer and has an extremely outrageous personality to back it up. He takes simple things like bridges and stairs and makes them amazing pieces of photography. He has two major books out that I know of and both are worth checking out. Some other projects he has been working on lately include a series called "Birds on a wire." He uses different tools and techniques to adjust the images. He uses colors to the max which really helps draw the attention of the viewer.  He is an all around great photographer so check out his site and his books! http://www.timfabian.com/index.cfm

Maxo Vanka

This week's photo spot is Millvale's St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church.

St. Nicholas is covered top to bottom with Maxo Vanka's unique murals. There are eleven murals that were painted in the spring of 1937 which depict the old and new world along with Maxo Vanka's view of the strong mother. In 1941 Maxo Vanka returned to work on 11 more murals.

These murals are not your usual "I love Jesus" murals they're controversial and depict social commentary about war, capitalism, and the changing of times. Maxo Vanka was given free range when he was hired to paint the inside of St. Nicholas Church and he took advantage of this opportunity.

I'm giving you a heads up this is hard to photograph. The lighting in the church is useless. So finding available light is key to making good photographs here. The best part about photographing here is that every inch has a new surprise and holds something interesting in it. This is where as a photographer you can take advantage of the small space and use it to compose great images.

Maxo Vanka has set up a beautiful canvas for photographers to work with and its our responsibility to thank him with each photograph. That's why I picked St. Nicholas as the photo spot of the week. It holds certain treasures that not many people know about and it is filled with an outrageous presence that it takes a minute to compose yourself when in it.

So take advantage of this great opportunity to experience Maxo Vanka's extraordinary work. You can visit the church's website http://www.vankamurals.org/ or visit Pittsburgh Center for the Arts which is holding a Maxo Vanka Exhibit http://pittsburgharts.org/gallery_vanka.php .