Polish Hill

Shruti Kataria- Polish Hill, Pittsburgh

USA | Monday, January 14, 2013 | 5 photos

I left my home in Delhi, India to pursue a college degree in Pittsburgh, USA. Having grown up in a city bustling with as many noises as languages spoken, Pittsburgh felt like a sleepy old town. I was lost in my degree requirements for the first few years; I had a growing sense of wanting to belong to the place I spent most of my year in. I was home for winter break when my dad’s friend came across his film camera. Soon I was on my way back to Pittsburgh, armed with a new device to challenge my subdued adventurous spirit.
In a year from then, I had taken courses ranging from photo history to digital output. It was a whirlwind romance that I could not get enough of. But little did I know that familiar landscapes and self-portraits had not prepared me for documenting an unknown place.
I ventured into a neighborhood called Polish Hill and this is series I have chosen to represent my growth as a photographer. Making photographs has taught me a way of seeing my surroundings and given me a part of Pittsburgh to own. As I take a few months off after college, I want nothing more but to continue learning about people with my camera in hand, to use photographs to understand places.