[Leica] Pilgrimage to Pittsburgh- long

["Sal DiMarco, Jr." <sdmp007@pressroom.com>]

On board the Amtrak "Pennsylvanian" heading East.
Fellow Luggers & Leggers,
    Well, the Pilgrimage to Pittsburgh to see the W. Eugene Smith show at
the Carnegie Museum of Art is almost over.
    It was a very worthwhile experience.....
    The train ride from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was enjoyable  and the
time just flew.
    After I arrived and checked into the hotel. I met Mervin Stewart and
Stan Yoder, both Pittsburgh Luggers and LHSAers Setsuko and Jim Martin and
Vahan Shahinian from the Detroit area. They made the Pilgrimage by car.
    The first order of business was to ride up the Duquesne Incline and
shoot
a dramatic photo of the Three Rivers area of Pittsburgh.
    Well, the trip up and down was great fun, but picture wise, a bust. The
weather failed to co-operate. The snow and rain created enough of a haze to
make picture taking worthless.
    After we came down the incline, it was off to dinner at the Station
Square Restaurant.
    The Station Square Restaurant originally was the Pennsylvania Railroad's
Pittsburgh train station. With ten story-ish high ceilings, marvelous tall
columns, the building was restored to its originally turn of the century
elegance and the food was great too.....
    Earlier, Mervin asked me to bring some pictures along. So after dinner
we adjourned to my hotel room for a good rummage through my camera bag, a
small slide show of the photos from my recent show in the Oscar Barnack Room
of the Leica Gallery in New York City and a tray of Mervin's wonderful
photos from around the world including some almost fifty year-old
Kodachromes
which were as good today as they were shot.
    Sunday after breakfast it was time to head off the Carnegie......
Mervin met us at the Museum and used his status as a member of the museum to
get us in as his guests. Thanks Mervin
    Walking into "Dream Street- W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project,"  I
found my breath taken away by the awesome beauty of the show.
    As you go though the show you see the mind of this troubled genius at
work.
    We are even treated to a look at his project proposal to the Guggenheim
Foundation
for a grant, some other related to the project, and a copy of his letter of
resignation from LIFE magazine after the publication of his Albert
Schweitzer story.
    Most of us have probably seen most of the photos in the show, but there
may have been a few new photos. One, I found interesting came from the same
take as the small black boy hanging on the  Pride Street street sign. It was
a wider view with several kids watching the boy climb up the pole.
    Looking at W. Eugene Smith original prints reminded me of how great a
printer he was.
    Another thing I found interesting was the inclusion of some contacts
sheets to see how Smith "worked" a situation. Smith never showed editors
raw contact sheets.
    The third and last room was, for me the most interesting. On one wall
they showed you his 5x7 work prints. and some of his early layouts.These
"work" prints were what he showed editors. Well, the work prints were
beautiful too.
    On another table, were photo copies of the photos from the Pop Photo
Annual layout and you were invited to create your own Pittsburgh layout.
    Lastly, on a table were laminated copies of some of Gene Smith's
greatest photo essays, The Nurse Midwife, The Country Doctor, The Spanish
Village, and the Albert Schweitzer- Man of Mercy story. Also a copy of the
1959 Pop Photo Annual eighty plus page Pittsburgh page layout.
    As almost a counter point to Smith Pittsburgh work were laminated copies
of other Pittsburgh stories, a LIFE magazine story by Margaret Bourke-White
(5/14/50), a Fortune Magazine piece using Pittsburgh handout photos (June
1952) and a National Geographic story on the city (July 1949).
    While, personally I have never felt W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh essay
showed his sensitivity and compassion as well some other work, this exhibit
proves me wrong.
    The show will close on February 10, 2002. It is a purely Pittsburgh show
and will not be shown anywhere else. It is a MUST see......
    Again my sincerest thanks to Stan Yoder and Mervin Stewart.
Happy Snaps,
Sal DiMarco, Jr.
Philadelphia, PA

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