Trip #468 Attica Street to Furley Street, Elliott, Pittsburgh took place on July 12, 2020, and was published on July 24, 2020.
Places can be like people. If you’re too intrusive or not sufficiently respectful, you’ll get shut down. On some city streets, I’m a red-carpet paparazzi. The houses, yards, city steps, and objects, both natural and constructed, are celebrities: famous, notorious, gladly posturing, or beseechingly avoidant. Look at me. Don’t look at me. Love me. Leave me alone. Every once in a while, you feel the need to overstep boundaries to get the photo. You aggressively stake out a position and get a little pushy. Sometimes, that strategy works, and you capture a revealing glimpse of life behind the facade. But other times, your subjects are waiting with umbrellas, clenched fists, and a quickly drained highball glass. In the case of Attica Street, I felt as if Britney Spears, Sean Penn, and Alec Baldwin were just waiting for me to point the camera in their direction…
Field Notes: Whenever this happens to the Polaroid film, it always reminds me of those paparazzi photos where the celebrity is holding up their hand to block the camera lens. The message is clear, “Don’t take my photo!” 🙂
See the Risograph print of this photo and story in the Mis.Steps Shop.
Want to visit these stairs? You can locate them on the Pittsburgh City Steps Plan website!
Be a good neighbor! Have you visited these stairs and found them in poor condition or that illegal dumping (large items like tires, old furniture, and construction debris) and trash were abundant in the area? There are two things you can do to take action and make our city steps cleaner and safer for everyone! First, grab a photo if you can, and submit a report to Pittsburgh 311. All problems, both broken stairs, and railings, as well as trash and dumping, should be reported to the city. You can easily do this online or by calling.
