“Surrealism” Series

Sometimes, I get an idea stuck in my head...but I don't know why it's there. Maybe it's there simply because I believe I can do it. I want to test myself, and see how far I can stretch the limits of reality, using the only artistic medium I know. I want to take pieces of old photographs and make something interesting and new with them...and that's exactly what I did here. Why exactly is the Cathedral of Learning perched silently on a floating island above the city? Why are there waterfalls on this forested island leaking into the ether? What exactly is going on here? I leave that to you to decide.

So, it was a beautiful day in central Ohio, and I was out visiting family. We were having fun, everyone running around the park or sat around the benches so that they might escape the bright, sweltering sun...and yet there I was, hunkered down on my stomach, camera pointed at this one tree for what felt like a solid half hour. Every shot, it felt, was a mistake. Was this one good? No, the aperture was too wide and the sky was washed out. Was this one good? Nope, too dark. How about this one? Gah, it's blurry! Photography is a test of patience, I swear. There was something about this singular tree though, as unassuming as it was on the surface...it just attracted me to it. I kept trying, kept shooting...and by the time I got home, I very quickly figured out what I wanted to do. What you see is the result!

Some time ago, during the 2020 lockdowns, it seemed that everywhere I visited had turned into a strange ghost town version of itself...and that includes this expansive view of the city of Pittsburgh, which at the time had a drab, melancholy feel to it despite how sunny it really was that day. So...over the past several years, I have come and gone from this photograph, trying my best to turn it from a near-empty cityscape, into something truly alive and colorful. To that end, I'd taken inspiration from the works of Japanese creators such as Hayao Miyazaki in reimagining the city not as it was, but as I imagined it; a vibrant and colorful wonderland of possibility, bright and flanked by hand-painted sakura blossoms beneath the most cerulean of skies, dappled by the warm rays of a springtime sun. I hope I managed to do the image in my mind justice!

This is the home of the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland. Something is very off about Oakland on this fine day, however. The city mirrors itself and contorts inward, all attention focused toward the beating heart of Oakland, its mind and soul; the Cathedral. The Cathedral of Learning is Oakland's nexus; the linchpin upon which the collegiate town revolves, and therefore in this vision of the city it is the center. It looms above all, and it gives the city and its people a sense of purpose. Yeah, I've been toying around with the surrealism some more! I hope you enjoy the latest fruits of my labor, and find it just as vexing to the senses as I'd hoped it would be :)

Pareidolia - noun par·ei·do·lia - per-ˌī-ˈdō-lē-ə Definition: The tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. Example: What do you see here, floating in the sky? It could be any number of things conjured from the remarkable pattern engines locked deep within your mind...but I cannot tell you what your pareidolia wants you to see; only you can. The world is only what we interpret it to be, after all.

Don't adjust your monitor; this image is presented exactly as intended. Has the building been tilted, or was it constructed this way? Do the clouds flow sideways along its tan and postmodern exterior, mimicking the building in its attempt to reach into the heavens? Well, let's be real here. Of course not! This is a bit of digital trickery, and a happy bit of experimentation on my behalf. I'm always looking for new things to try after all, and this is my latest in such endeavors; the Highmark Building (or Fifth Avenue Place, as I prefer to call it) caught in the light of a summer's sunset, with the sky taken from another photograph and tilted diagonally to create this surrealist piece. Enjoy!

One frosty, below-zero February morning, my brother and I decided it was a good idea to get in the car and wander downtown, so that we could find what the brutal cold had done to our city...and we were not in the slightest bit disappointed. What you see here is the Allegheny River, frozen solid, still and unmoving. We stood atop an ice-locked pier, looking out over the city, gripped in what felt like an endless cold, and marveled at the sight. How often do we even get to see the rivers frozen to this extent? Our very breath condensed and froze upon our faces, but it's views like this, not to mention the hot chocolate upon our return home, that made it all worth it.