Father Pitt

Tag: Monochrome

  • Skyline Abstraction

    Part of the skyline of Pittsburgh

  • Software Engineering Institute

    Abstraction from the Software Engineering Institute

    The twentieth century did not pass old Pa Pitt by entirely: sometimes he indulges in a bit of abstract expressionism. This is the Dithridge Street wall of the Software Engineering Institute in Oakland, as seen obliquely with a long lens.

  • Composition with Utility Cables

    An alley on the South Side, taken in 2008 with a Kodak Retinette.

  • Cathedral of Learning in the Rain

    Cathedral of Learning from Schenley Farms

    It started to rain while Father Pitt was out for a walk today, which gave us this atmospheric picture of the Cathedral of Learning looming through the mist like a heavenly palace behind the pleasant houses of Schenley Farms. This is why old Pa Pitt’s cameras live in a waterproof bag. Father Pitt himself is not waterproof, but he does dry fairly quickly.

    If you like black and white and all the greys in between, you might enjoy Father Pitt’s Monochrome World, a very simple site that collects his favorite black-and-white pictures from Pittsburgh and elsewhere.

  • View from the South Side

    A composition in cables and roofs, with the Bluff in the background and the U. S. Steel Tower behind that. This picture was taken in September of 2019, but not dredged out of the archives until now.

  • Seldom Seen Arch in an Artsy Way

    Seldom Seen Arch vignetted in black and white

    This was an attempt to make a modern digital photo look like a nineteenth-century art photograph. Note the rock climbers preparing to climb the stone wall.

  • Bloomfield in 1999

    Liberty Avenue, Bloomfield

    Liberty Avenue, Bloomfield, as it appeared in 1999. The picture was taken with an old folding Kodak Tourist camera.

  • Same Rowhouses, Two Different Cameras

    The same two houses on 40th street in Lawrenceville across from Arsenal Park, taken in 1999 with two different twin-lens-reflex cameras. Above, a Lubitel, a Russian camera with a plastic body but a decent lens and all the usual manual controls. Below, an Imperial, the sort of thing photographers call a toy camera: a cheap old plastic fixed-focus camera that takes 620 film.

    The house on the left has had its Gothic peak restored since this picture was taken.

  • Alcoa Building (North Shore), 1999

    Two abstract views of the newer Alcoa Building on the North Shore at the end of the Seventh Street Bridge. The one above was taken with a Lubitel TLR; the one below was taken with an Imperial plastic “toy” TLR.

    Obviously old Pa Pitt is still rummaging through his large library of old pictures.

  • Art Deco Row, East Liberty, 1999

    East Liberty was down on its luck at the end of the twentieth century, but this row was still filled. The buildings have not changed much since then, fortunately, since this is one of the better Art Deco streetscapes in Pittsburgh, which never really embraced Art Deco as much as many other cities did. Surprisingly enough, Sam’s (no longer Bostonian) Shoes is still here; the terra-cotta tiles have disappeared from the front of that building. Its neighbor Anthon’s is also still in business. Most of the rest of the businesses in the row have changed, but the buildings are still there, and since East Liberty is a trendy neighborhood now, they have a good chance of preservation.