My Christmas wish is for all of you to have a safe and happy holiday season, along with a wonderful 2021.
PPG Skyview
Pittsburgh is a very pretty city. Frankly, it’s underrated and should be a travel destination for those who’ve never been here before. I took this photo looking down on the PPG building with Heinz Field and the three rivers in the background.
To view a larger version, click HERE
PPG Tree
Pittsburgh is officially in holiday mode. To help get you in the mood, here is the PPG Holiday Tree.
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412 Christmas
Merry Christmas!! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season (however you celebrate) and have a great 2019.
I took this photo from Mt. Washington looking towards downtown Pittsburgh with the PPG Holiday tree displayed on Market Tree.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Copy-Cat Photo
I don’t know who took this perspective first, but I’ve seen a ton of Pittsburgh based photographers post this exact composition over the last 6 weeks. So, while we were downtown walking around yesterday capturing the city holiday scene, we captured this as well. Dave posted his version yesterday… Now it’s my turn. I hope you enjoy this copy-cat photo. Happy Holidays.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Plaza de Armas - Cusco Peru
This is a wonderful Plaza in the heart of Cusco Peru. My dad, MJ and I explored this area and many other parts of the city. I’d highly recommend it if you get a chance. Friendly people, clean, safe, great architecture and history, and cheap. Great combination!!
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus)
This is the rival church to the Cusco Cathedral. Both of these churches sit near each other on the Plaza de Armas. The Jesuits constructed it in 1576 on the foundations of a palace built for an Inca ruler named Wayna Qhapaq. It’s considered one of the best examples of colonial baroque style in the Americas.
My dad, MJ and I toured the inside of this beautiful church before I took this photo. Fun day.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, please click the photo above.
Basilica Cathedral de Lima (Peru)
We didn’t get a chance to enter this beautiful Roman Catholic Church, but we spent some time in the Plaza Mayor across the street. The construction started on this building in 1535. The construction was completed three years later in 1538 and has been remodeled since a few times.
It was very disappointing that every church is Lima would charge you to enter (just to look) and wouldn’t allow photography…. Ugh!!!! Anyway, it was cool to look at from the outside.
To get an idea of scale, look closely at the cars and people in front of the building. Cool stuff!!
Ballroom
This is the ballroom from the abandoned Lee Plaza Hotel outside of Detroit. My man Jay and I found this beauty while we were looking for an abandoned church. We could see this huge abandoned hotel (maybe 15 to 20 stories tall) off in the distance….so of course we had to check it out. Like all of our exploration of abandoned buildings, if they are locked up, we don’t go it. Fortunately for us, someone (not us) cut a huge hole in the fence and knocked a wall out…so we could walk right into the building.
I knew from researching on line that this hotel had an awesome ballroom, I just didn’t know where the hotel was in Detroit. So when we rolled up and noticed the name of the place, I knew there was a killer photo op waiting to happen. I think you’ll agree…..the ballroom in this hotel is very cool.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
Picture of Jay getting ready to take a picture. - this was taken with my iPhone.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, etc..
I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, holiday, or whatever you celebrate. MJ and I gave each other a long weekend away. We skipped town and went to Miami. While we were there we went to South Beach, Bal Harbor, Bayside, a Monastery Cloister built in the year 1133 and I went scuba diving. We have to be the only people who visit a Monastery while on vacation. I’ll have some pictures from the Miami trip for you soon. For now, I have a holiday (Christmas) tree picture for you.
This is the Christmas tree in the middle of the ice skating rink at PPG Plaza in downtown Pittsburgh. I took this in early December, while on a photo walk with Dave and Brad Truxell. This is a 5 bracket set (+2, +1, 0, -1, -2), processed with Photomatix Pro and edited in Photoshop CS6.
There are a few other photos from that evening in the Gallery - Pittsburgh Area folder: http://brook-ward.com/pitt-test/
PPG Plaza
Santa's House & Fund Raising
During my photo walk last Wednesday night; we came upon Santa’s House at Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh. As you can see, there was no line waiting to sit on Santa’s lap. You can also drop off your letter to Santa in the mailbox to the left of the house. This is setup in the middle of Market Square, which is little festival area where they hold different events just about every week with little shops and restaurants surrounding this square. The Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) Plaza is next to it and partly attached.
TONIGHT:
MJ and I are going to Community Action Southwest’s Olde Fashioned Christmas fund raising event. I am on the Board of Directors of this wonderful non-profit organization that runs a number of programs, which all strive to eleminate poverty in our community. I donated one of my framed pictures for them to auction off tonight. I hope the organization raises a bunch of money, all of which goes direct to their great programs. If you would like to donate directly and can’t attend tonight, you can do so at:
