Pittsburgh

A few weeks ago, the managers and partners of Alpern Rosenthal met for our annual retreat at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh. It was a very successful trip filled with great presentations by our managers, very beneficial networking opportunities with our Pittsburgh "family", and, of course... photo opportunities.

This is the 3rd year that I have made this trip to Pittsburgh but the first time I set aside time to really see the city. My main goal was to take pictures of downtown Pittsburgh and I was not disappointed, as the view from our hotel was absolutely incredible.

 

Our hotel was located in Station Square, which was a really hip place in Pittsburgh (at least I thought it was, although what do I know... I still use the term "hip"). In fact, it was pretty crazy on Saturday October 30th since the Halloween celebrations were going pretty strong all night long (including in our hotel). Sadly, I left my camera in my room while we were out drinking that night.

We also went on a short ferry ride and saw the city from some new angles.

 

 I also braved the FREEZING wind for some sunrise shots. Boy did I get luck on this morning.

As usual, I found a few opportunities for people shots. When I took the shot of the guy on the motorcycle, I'm pretty sure he didn't yet see me. However, he looked over at me and caught me when I snapped the second picture. The one he posed for was not nearly as interesting looking as this one.

 

This little kid was adorable. I caught him looking out the window of the cable car (after doing research I just learned these are actually called funiculars) as it took us up the incline to Mount Washington. Then he saw me and gave me a great look.

This is the view from the top of the Monongahela Incline. There was a lot to see up there... the views were really incredible. Here's Diane looking out at the city and some other shots taken from the observation platforms. We also found a really pretty church up there that I just had to take pictures of. I was very happy to see some fall colors still around. I am from upstate NY originally but it has truly been over 20 years since I've seen fall colors.

 

Here is a view from the bottom of the incline looking up.

After coming back down the incline, we walked over the Smithfield Street Bridge and walked around the city a little bit. Our goal was to find the Heinz 57 Center, where the Alpern Rosenthal offices are located. Directly across the street is this gorgeous church, the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. It's really amazing that this is right in the middle of the city... with a tiny graveyard and everything.

 

 

 

During my trip, I noticed that I really enjoyed taking close up shots of buildings or group of buildings.

Before I left, I was determined to get one good picture of the trains that were everywhere... all of the time. In fact, the first morning I woke up there I dreamed that a spaceship was landing on the roof. Then I realized it was just a train.

This one didn't come out so great in the original shot but I cropped it and added some nice textures and colors and I really like the result.