They make this look good

There’s so much pride in our local celebrities
lately, it’s heartwarming. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Teddy Geiger, and, of
course, Dancing with Rochester‘s “Stars” [quotes added].

But here’s a news flash. If he wins, Hoffman
probably isn’t going to let everyone in Rochester take his Oscar home for a
night like a sixth-grade class hamster. And Geiger, though he seems like a nice
enough young man, will most likely not be distributing his earnings at a kiosk
in the Pittsford Wegmans. And the Rochester stars? Well, they’re stuck
here with you and me.

Isn’t there more to Rochester to be proud of?

Tim Seymour and Joseph Moroz think there is. They
started www.picturerochester.com, where they post a new local photo every day
in an effort to “both share our photos, and promote the revitalization of the Rochester area.” So, while everyone
else is busy selling wads of Hoffman-chewed gum on eBay, these two are out
there promoting things that actually belong to Rochester, things we can all share
in, look at, and brag about. They take pictures of architecture, streetscapes,
sculptures, clubs and bars, landscapes, that crazy Liberty Pole. And the photos
are beautiful. They make Rochester look really good.

Yes, it’s a sales pitch. Yes, it’s playing Rochester to its best advantage,
taking photos of parts that are nicer, cooler, and more sophisticated than its
whole. But pictures of docking areas and trains and fallout shelter signs save
the site from being just sugar-coating. And if local morale is so desperate for
something to cling to (as evidenced by the furor over our famous people), why
not focus on the things that have been there all along?

“We think
there is a feeling that there is not much to see or do and that the city is in
decline,” Seymour and Moroz write via email. “Our goal is to show that there is
plenty to see and do if you just take the time to look.”

The pair is responsible for taking and posting
photos of art, architecture, and people. While you’ve seen a lot of these
images before, many of them look for the unexplored angle, the missed details,
“all the little things.” So the George Eastman House is seen through a gap in a
hollow sculpture, the lighted Liberty Pole is seen from within the strands of
lights, the St. Paul Quarter is seen as a collection of towering building
faรงades.

Moroz and Seymour encourage feedback and they hope
Rochesterians will visit the site often, interact with it, and feel good about
it: “Most of all we hope this will re-instill a sense of pride in Rochester.”

— Erica Curtis

This article appears in Mar 1-7, 2006.