1957: “Parkway and Blast Furnaces”

This iconic image by Clyde “Red” Hare, a legendary photographer who documented  Pittsburgh for more than 50 years, captures an industrial scene from 1957: the massive bulk of the blast furnaces, the smoggy sky and cars motoring along the Parkway East. 

Mr. Hare came to Pittsburgh in 1950 to work for the Pittsburgh Photographic Library, and stayed to create indelible images of the city following change over more than half a century.

His eye for nuance and his artistic sense of perspective earned Mr. Hare international recognition and the respect of his colleagues. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette staff photographer Bob Donaldson said Mr. Hare “was on the ground floor of grand central photojournalism.” Hare’s work appeared in National Geographic, Life Magazine and other prestigious publications.

Of his own work, Mr. Hare said, “I made up my mind to take one great photograph each day, one that would live, would be simple, would have something to say.”

(Photo by Clyde Hare, Post-Gazette)

— Mila Sanina