Bits and Pieces of Kennywood: Hand-Colored Photographs by Mitchell Barutha

Bits and Pieces of Kennywood contains 40 photographs, many of which were taken throughout the years of 1998 & 1999 to commemorate Kennywood’s 100^th anniversary. The limited edition (25) of hand-colored, black and white prints are for sale. In addition, a special collection of photos will be framed in timbers from Kennywood’s famed “Thunderbolt” wooden roller coaster.

Mitchell Barutha was born in 1953 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he also spent his formative years. His interest in photography began in the mid-seventies when he took a workshop at the New England School of Photography. The magic he discovered in the darkroom transformed his interest into a passion and soon he was consumed with documenting the people and places of Boston. His photography from this period was realistic and sometimes gritty, but always lyrical. Inspired by the work of Alfred Steiglitz, Robert Frank and Annie Leibovitz, Barutha began to spend more and more time in New York where he was hired to print all of Barbara Streisand’s production stills from the film “Yentl.” Barutha ended up assisting Leibovitz and printing her early Vanity Fair work. It was during this period that he met his mentor, Dan Weaks, who taught him the hand-coloring technique that he would spend the next 20 years developing and perfecting into a style of his own.

Barutha moved to New York in 1982 to work with Weaks on what would become the largest-ever documentation of the city. A team, working from atop a van, shot thousands of still frames of film. Following the city’s street sweepers (to eliminate parked cars from the photos), they photographed every street in New York from 31^st to 59^th across 1^st to 6^th Avenues. The photos were then montaged together to create an undistorted corner-to-corner view of each city block.  Barutha also worked as a commercial and editorial photographer from his various studios in the  East Village, NoHo and SoHo, specializing in still life work to support his documentary pursuits.

The birth of his daughter in 1987 unearthed a yearning for a simpler, quieter lifestyle. So he packed up his studio, his wife quit her job as an editor at Glamour magazine, and they all moved to Pittsburgh, his wife’s hometown. The move has afforded Barutha the opportunity to pursue his personal work once again, combining his early interest in documentary photography along with the more stylized and romantic look of his hand-coloring technique.  His Pittsburgh commercial and editorial client list includes Bayer, Shady Ave Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and Oxford Center, among others.

The 100^th anniversary of Kennywood, and its subsequent designation of National Historic Landmark status, inspired Barutha to spend an entire year photographing the local treasure. Charmed by its vintage features nestled between the high-tech wonders, Barutha captured the people and objects often overlooked by the average bench-sitter or thrill-seeker going to Kennywood for the yearly school picnic, company outing or family reunion. Photographs taken during the off-season give a behind the scenes glimpse into the life of the park without lights, people, food and rides. Frozen, quiet and waiting.

Barutha’s style is driven by his technique. Though the image is manipulated by the hand-coloring, there is an integrity to the colors used so that the result is a “painterly” rather than “painted” look and feel. Never satisfied with the look of oils or watercolors, Barutha starts with a toned print  and then works the color into the paper using oil pastels and colored pencils in a manner similar to a 19^th century process called “tone abrasion.” The result is a subtler more realistic look better suited to the documentary style that Barutha has always been drawn to.

 All images are for sale in Limited Editions (25)