Photographer captures ‘Burgh’s light and dark

‘ ‘ ‘ A few miles from Downtown Pittsburgh, tucked away on the fourth floor of Pitt’s Barco Law… ‘ ‘ ‘ A few miles from Downtown Pittsburgh, tucked away on the fourth floor of Pitt’s Barco Law School Building, sits the exhibit, ‘Pittscapes,’ photographer Kaoru Tohara’s visual representation of the city of Pittsburgh. ‘ ‘ ‘ It could sound like a city advertisement or just another crazed Pittsburgher’s tribute to his beloved, bridge-filled, Steelers-crazed home.’ But Tohara grew up far from Pittsburgh, living a large chunk of his life right in the center of Tokyo, Japan. According to the associate director of public services at Barco Law Library, Marc Silverman, the gallery ‘finds people from all over the country, not just local people’ for their numerous showings. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘A fair number of the people that we show here have no connection to Pittsburgh,’ he said.’ ‘So Pittsburgh is not an extremely common theme.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Tohara’s ‘Pittscapes,’ which will be available for public viewing from Sept. 5 to Nov. 7, 2008, is just another set of prints on the library’s walls, but through his unusual choices of subjects and viewpoints, Tohara is trying to bring something new to the table. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘You will recognize parts of the city, but that’s not what he’s going for,’ said Silverman. ‘These are not the type of photos you would see in a textbook or guidebook to Pittsburgh.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Though Tohara is not a native to the city, he could definitely be considered a resident.’ According to his one-page commentary that sits next to this work, he moved to the top of Mount Washington several years ago, where a person can truly see the inner and outer workings of a complicated city. This mountaintop perspective combated his prior belief that from the street level, Pittsburgh ‘does not look like a city,’ but instead, a place ‘formed without order and plans.” He explains that upon first seeing the city, the streets reminded him of downtown Tokyo, ‘intricate streets with lots of curves around rivers and hills ‘hellip; not straight or grid-like.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ His photographs reveal this alternative outlook on the city’s structure.’ Instead of focusing on commonplace architecture, he uses trees and dark night skies to frame buildings and roads that most would pass by without looking twice. ‘ ‘ ‘ Tohara’s exhibit is about half black and white, half color photographs, and his prints vary in size from small portraits to large works that must be viewed slowly in order to capture the whole image, which Tohara calls ‘murals.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘The two halves are doing different things,’ explained Silverman.’ ‘The color photos are taken at night, the emphasis is on unusual, not natural color that you can only get at night, using photographic processes.’ For the black-and-white, more of the emphasis is on design.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ In the photos titled, ‘Don’t Walk’ and ‘No Turn on Red,’ Downtown streets are illuminated by the spectrum of colors created by towering lampposts and flickering traffic lights.’ Even an abandoned PNC Park comes to life when the camera captures its surrounding man-made luminosity. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Ce-Ce Moon’ is a gigantic close-up picture, focusing on the ending ‘ce’ in ‘science’ and the beginning ‘ce’ in ‘center’ on the Carnegie Science Center sign that brightens up the North’ Shore.’ Against a black sky background, three quarters of the print is filled with red and yellow, the colored letters being the main attraction.’ One can’t help but notice the moon off to the right, though.’ It is only a tiny white spot compared to the brightness of the sign engulfing the page. ‘ ‘ ‘ Many of the black-and-white photographs display simple images, but focus on them from a peculiar point of view, giving them a different overall presentation.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Steps’ is simply a picture taken diagonally, looking up at a set of steps.’ The staircase leads to a row of overlapping stone arches and reflecting windows that rise for a few stories of the building. The photograph titled, ‘The Center Post,’ depicts a tall thick post with connecting power lines that shoot out from either side.’ These straight lines are framed by spindly, winter trees in the foreground. ‘ ‘ ‘ Never in this exhibit does Tohara show us humanity itself.’ Instead, he shows us what humanity has made in the city of Pittsburgh, its overlapping highways, curving rivers and varying entertainment venues.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Each location is shown in its most raw form, abandoned by the public, but representative of modern technology all the same. ‘ ‘ ‘ In Tohara’s self-written commentary, he said, ‘The man-made environment reflects its unique geography and the history of the people who came to work in the coal mines and steel mills.” ‘ ‘ ‘ When Tohara is not observing his metropolis from behind a camera lens, he is teaching others how to view their surroundings in this way. ‘ ‘ ‘ After graduating from the photography program at Ohio University and receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University, Tohara settled in Pittsburgh to teach photography at both Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ He employs both his professional training and his outsider outlook to view Pittsburgh through a foreign, somewhat disconnected scope.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ As he explains, ‘I want to capture the scent of the people who exist behind the buildings, streets, bridges and tunnels.’