Taking a look at the ‘Burgh

Pittsburgh Now

Various Artists

Through August 30

Silver Eye Center for Photography… Pittsburgh Now

Various Artists

Through August 30

Silver Eye Center for Photography

1015 East Carson Street

(412) 431-1810

You see Pittsburgh every day. You walk to class in Oakland, you go shopping in the Strip, you visit Point Park or catch a football game at Heinz field. But do you ever really see Pittsburgh?

“Pittsburgh Now,” an exhibit of the work of nine photojournalists and documentary-style photographers currently on display at Silver Eye Center for Photography, captures the beauty and magic of Pittsburgh that we can so easily overlook.

“Dilly’s Ribs,” a photograph by Heather Mull of Pittsburgh City Paper, catches the lively, expressive gestures of a cheerful duo working at a rib joint in the Strip. As they bend toward each other — the man holding a slab of ribs on a fork and the woman outstretching her arms and pursing her lips — you feel as though you’ve entered their world, a place where the smell of barbeque sauce, good-natured smiles and a friendly hello are all you need to enjoy life.

Lake Fong of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette makes Steelers pride tangible in “Steelers Fans: Terrible Towels.” From field level, you look up at a black and gold mountain of frenzied football fans. Bundled in puffy jackets and logo-emblazoned hats, they cheer as one: mouths open, terrible towels whirling above their heads in a literal blur of gold. You feel the cold, the excitement of the game and the love of the city standing behind their team.

The work of Dylan Vitone, a freelance photographer, takes on an entirely different, more contemplative perspective. “Insane Clown Posse” from 2004 is a panoramic, black-and-white, shot of a crowd of fans waiting outside of the former Club Laga in Oakland. The way the photograph is composed — long and narrow, dark and silvery, with rather aggressive-looking kids, faces painted like frightening clowns, staring at the camera in intervals along the sidewalk — makes you feel like you’re standing across Forbes Avenue, looking through a window into a private culture.

And while this photo is thought-provoking in itself, its placement directly above “Medallion Ball,” a panoramic, black-and-white, Vitone photograph of a group of girls milling about a Downtown ballroom in wedding dresses, raises even more points to ponder.

The “Medallion” girls stand, sit, and chat about the room as though they’re waiting with strained reserve for a wedding fashion show to begin. They are puffs of white against the black city sky visible out the window behind them. Next to “Insane Clown Posse” they are docile and sweet like fluttering apparitions — the exact opposite of the street takeover above them. Seen together, these photographs make you wonder about all the worlds within our city that are revolving somewhere beyond our sight every day.

Vitone has several other photographs of the same cool, thoughtful quality in the exhibition. The work of Steven Adams, Rob Long, Ken Neely, Annie O’Neill, Carrie Schneider and William D. Wade are also included in the show — each photographer capturing Pittsburgh from his or her own, intriguingly different perspectives.

The scenes, subjects, compositions and emotions encompassed in each piece vary widely, but in viewing the show’s 63 prints as a whole, you feel as though you’ve been let in on the secret beauty and magic of Pittsburgh. Traveling home from the show, you’re sure to notice the splendor of the city around you — sometimes we need to see our world through another lens in order to view it clearly.