About MY WORK

I live in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. I work as a university administrator and have been practicing photography seriously since 2010. 

Most of my subject matter is the built urban environment: streets, architecture, signage, and occasionally people.

When visiting cities I explore their old cores found in narrow streets and alleys. Most visitors don’t trek there—where few would find anything beautiful or interesting. These neglected places, with unchecked layers of graffiti, decay, and overgrowth, fascinate me.

To me, the challenge of composing photographs from this subject matter comes from seeking order and, possibly, beauty, from the seemingly random and abstract effects of urban decomposition.

After years of dabbling in drawing and painting, I find that photography is more powerful for what I want to express. I find it more compelling to be an observer, or receptor, of images that already exist. As mentioned above, I seek to find unique compositions out of disparate elements. 

My decision to be more of a documentarist is influenced by James Agee's often-quoted passage about viewing a street for what it is -- for what it already has to offer: "... so that the aspect of a street in sunlight can roar in the heart of itself as a symphony, perhaps as no symphony can: and all of consciousness is shifted from the imagined, the revisive, to the effort to perceive simply the cruel radiance of what is." I love that phrase - the cruel radiance of what IS.

My inspiration comes from the work of photographers Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, and Edward Weston.  

I mainly use my Canon 50D DSLR,  while occasionally using a Horseman 4x5 monorail field camera, and a Hasselblad 503CW medium format camera. When I print I use an Epson Stylus 3880.

If you have questions or comments about this site,  please feel free to contact me at:

steve.pajewski@gmail.com

I'll do my best to reply in a timely manner.