December 2017 Est. 1985 Your Community Newspapper
The Northside Chronicle
Volume 33 Issue 12 - FREE -
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Annual Holiday Guide Pg 14 with “Northside December Calendar”
by Nils Hanczar, special offers & results from 2017 Northside Best of Small Business survey
Five local artists shine outside of Northside
Holiday cover art by Nils Hanczar
By Neil Strebig
On most days fashion photographer Chancelor Humphrey admits he doesn’t have a plan. He’ll wake up, grab his T2i Cannon Rebel, leave the comfortable confines of his East Deutschtown apartment, plug his headphones in and hike across the David McCullough Bridge in search of inspiration. His motivation resides in the simplest of callings; he’s compelled to “be in the streets.” On the corners of Forbes, Sixth, Liberty and Penn he’ll find his muses. They vary from college students with frizzy hair and neon-colored crop tops to the forty-year-olds stoop sitting with torn jeans and tightpressed button downs – each sporting a fresh brand of individualism. “I just felt like there was a void here with street photography and I just kind of jumped into it,” said Humphrey.
Humphrey is the creator behind the “Keep Pittsburgh Dope” Instagram account. Humphrey’s “jump” was inspired by multiple trips to New York City where he witnessed a number of photographers create a brand for themselves capturing the streets fashions around the Big Apple and sharing it on social media. Since the creation of “Keep Pittsburgh Dope” in 2014, his account has gained nearly 20,000 followers and he may very well be the city’s most well-known street photographer, but don’t tell him that. The self-taught Humphrey is modest, still believing “there are plenty of photographers that do it better than I do.” Yet, there’s a remote sense of angst in his words as he finishes with “there’s always something to chase, to get better.” Humphrey’s passion is fashion. He’s fueled by a desire to capture Pittsburgh’s fashionistas
and force the world to recognize the Steel City isn’t just a ragtag bunch of jersey-wearing Yinzers. He is one of five Northside artists, whose creative pulses are spreading a newfangled epidemic through their Pittsburgh neighborhoods and beyond. There’s Ramon Riley, a Braddock native and Allegheny Center transplant who works double duty as a Pine-Richland teacher and also as the studio director at Radiant Hall Nova Place. He’s using his studio space and his classroom as launch pads for social discourse. There’s Damon Young, a Mexican War Streets transplant from East Liberty who left academia to invest in himself as a content producer. His driving force? A creative fight-or-flight scenario forced him to lean on his understanding of language and diction suc-
cessfully establishing a culturally relevant website in the process. Marshall-Shadeland’s Corey Carrington, a self-described “renaissance man” who’s dabbled in everything from journalism to poetry to visual arts; he’s motivated largely by new ways to express himself, push society forward and inspire younger generations with his work and collaborations. And lastly Willy James, a chipper, upstart videographer from Historic Deutschtown, whose connection with his audience keeps the camera stapled to his hand. Each of them has their own story, their own style, their own perception of what an artist is and each has left an impact outside of their respective Northside neighborhoods. “I think how I would describe See ART, Page 4