The 8 Best Street Photographers in Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh often gets overlooked in favor of larger cities in the immediate area. But as the largest city in the Appalachia cultural region, it’s a natural melting pot for creatives from all over the country to gather. Pittsburgh street photographers also happen to exemplify the Rust Belt’s creative revival. Each one of the photographers we’ve tapped is a master of timing, emotion, and documenting their subjects within the greater context of Steel City!

1. Tom Souzer

Lovers of people-centric street photography will find the work of Tom Souzer right up their alley! He is a self-taught Pittsburgh street photographer whose work explores fleeting instants in public urban settings, mostly of people and how they engage with each other and the environment through candid captures. Tom’s preference is monochrome, a classic approach to street photography thanks to its greater emphasis on timing, texture, light, and composition.

His work carries moods ranging from playful to serious. Tom captures people in moments that are sometimes a downer and just as often when they are contemplating life or enjoying something remarkable. In short, vignettes of the entire palette of life!

2. John Barbiaux

John Barbiaux is a street, landscape, and travel photographer who calls the Steel City home. Yet his work takes us well outside its borders, to small Appalachian towns and beyond to the distant West Coast, exploring the connections people have to the landscape that surrounds them.

His ability to find the soul of a place has earned John a place in prestigious publications like National Geographic Traveler magazine. He is also a passionate writer and educator whose articles have helped thousands of street and travel photographers improve their craft! Check out his work on his website or on Instagram.

3. Chancelor Humphrey of Keep Pittsburgh Dope

Even for a Pittsburgh street photographer, the work of Chancelor Humphrey stands out. One reason why is his focus on the personality and style of his subjects. Chancelor’s street portraits capture the ordinary and extraordinary among us, making us smile with every one of his images. Sometimes that’s a candid capture of a businessman in motion, while other times, it’s someone with a fantastic outfit and a positive reaction to Chancelor’s presence.

Keep Pittsburgh Dope is Chancelor’s feed and website. Besides street and urban photography, he is also active in promotional material for local brands and furthering knowledge of Steel City through radio conversations. In short, he is one of the most active and artistic ambassadors you can imagine!

4. JP Diroll

Unlike many other Pittsburgh street photographers, JP Diroll is less interested in documenting people. Instead, he focuses on the city’s iconic skyline alongside the steel, bridges, and water that define Appalachia’s largest city. JP started out with a career in engineering, only to discover that the work wasn’t nourishing his spirit.

Fortunately, photography was there to remind him of the power of beauty. Wildlife was his first love, but over time, the skyline of Pittsburgh became his main subject. So much so that JP Diroll regularly sells fine art prints of all sizes to discerning clients. His style ranges from vibrant in color to crisp details and classic compositions to monochrome and selective color prints displaying landmarks that locals will immediately appreciate!

5. Chris Litherland

Chris Litherland’s street photography has an architectural focus to it and a deep appreciation for the historical significance of each subject. He masterfully uses wide-angle lenses from the inside of churches or next to soaring downtown buildings. It provides an expansive, wider-than-normal perspective that fills the eye with endless details. Contrast that to Chris’s telephoto shots, which offer tight vignettes of distant yet intricate subjects.

Chris started out as a photographer at a very young age. He discovered the art form at age 11 and began hunting birds through his camera lens. From here, Chris started targeting architecture on the streets! His portfolio also takes us to other cities in the Northeast, including Erie, St. Louis, and Baltimore!

6. Carla Cardello of City Life Adventures

The streets and famous bridges of Pittsburgh are the favored subjects of Carla Cardello! Born and raised here, she brings a local’s perspective of the Steel City to the homes of fine art lovers. Puddles and reflections play a central role in her work. Their ability to mirror color, subtle radiance and graceful architecture heightens the impact of Carla’s already strong compositions.

She also works with the foreground in a masterful way. Many street and urban photographers ignore this in favor of an engaging background, but Carla uses leaves, fences, and other subjects as foreground interest points. This grounds us to the scene so that we feel anchored into the image as viewers, experiencing what she felt in that moment!

7. Matt Hathaway

People in motion are what Matt Hathaway shares with us through his feed. This Pittsburgh street photographer travels throughout the Northeast, documenting everyday life through his camera. Matt preserves a candid documentary style most of the time. Yet he still brings us close enough to feel intimately acquainted with his subjects without using telephoto lenses.

Lovers of analog photography will love Matt’s film portfolio, too, which you can see right here: [email protected] The subtle highlight tonality and classic colors of film adds a nostalgic quality to his urban subjects. Matt’s use of a Rolleiflex camera is a more contemplative experience of film street photography, ensuring each subject is carefully considered for its artistic impact.

8. Dave DiCello

Few Pittsburgh street photographers do the Paris of Appalachia justice as well as Dave DiCello does! His cityscape images ideally capture the streets and urban jungle from every possible angle. Possible perspectives include not just ground level or along the waterfront but also downtown and even from above, thanks to Dave’s use of aerial drones.

Color and monochrome lovers will both find compositions to enjoy here. We also admire Daves’s use of selective color for highlighting Pittsburgh’s Sister Bridges. Their vibrant yellow is an iconic part of the skyline, and placing them against a black-and-white background speaks deeply to local fine art lovers!

What’s more, Dave is an all-season photographer. Some of us love seeing the city through a haze of light snow — but others prefer Pittsburgh with summer sunshine and green trees. You can grace the walls of your interior spaces using any of these seasonal presentations!

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