Hardcoal Chronicles 40th


1973 - 2013

PENNSYLVANIA PITCH BLACK

The Darkest of Worlds, Above & Below the Ground

Scott Herring is not a professional photographer, and never wanted to be. Photography is merely his medium of choice — the preferred means of transfer for his Hardcoal cultural messages to his people in the Coal Region. If some of his industrial images of dump trucks, coal mines, and trains have more impact because of an aesthetic component, then so much the better for demanding a few seconds more attention from the viewer. Ideal for Scott, photography's great appeal was the unmatched instantaneous capture and transfer of information. Similarly, he feels its other great benefit is that “it's art for the impatient”.

With over 162,500 cataloged images expected to be rostered by the end of 2013, it's obvious that Scott doesn't waste time in the field. Taking time to ponder aesthetics, fuss over details, and smell the flowers would have resulted in so much having been lost to the lens — a trade-off that late-Twentieth Century Anthracite couldn't afford. So, in addition to be dangerous, this pursuit has been very hectic, stressful (often brutally cold, wet, and tiring), and expensive — not the making of a good time.

Nonetheless, Scott seemed suited for it. Customarily, photography would present plenty of problems to a ‘night person’, but not if you were born to a family tradition where much of your waking life was lived in the dark. The mines and railroads often operated around the clock; and even Pennsylvania deep miners on the day shift saw very little daylight from late October to early March. The People of the Black Diamond appropriately live in one of the few places on Earth where black is one of the predominant landscape colors. So, if you were going to record this world, you had better like the dark.

Introduction

A1 Title plate
A2 Frontispiece
A3 Dedicatory
A4 Panels Intro
A5 The Region
A6 Overview
A7 Names & Titles
A8 Orientation
A9 Image Roster
A10 Farther Afield
A11 Portfolios
A12 Chronology
A13 thecoalman.com

Presentation

C1 Metamorphic
C2 Mine Pits A
C3 Coal Holes
C4 Deep Mining
C5 Breakers
D1 People
D2 Pitch Black
D3 Coal Delivery
D4 PA Bituminous
D5 Soft Coal
D6 Mine Pits B
D7 Coaling Towers
E1 Coal Trains
E2 Coal Cars
E3 Non-Coal RR
E4 Car Shots
F1 Night Images
F2 Jim Lukens Art
F3 Anthracite Racing
F4 Racing Reunion

Culmination

H1 Linking Up
H2 Homecoming
H3 Photographers
H4 “LAST CALL !”
H5 “Last Call” continued
K1 Acknowledgements
K2 Thank You
K3 Honorees
K4 Ambassador
K5 Silver Images
K6 Framers
K7 Dan's Camera
K8 Rob-Win Press
K9 Lew Graver
K10 Avanti Cigars
N1 “Year in the Life”
N2 The Work in 2011
N3 Continuity
N4 “Parting Shot”

Information

Q1 Calendar
Q2 Show Venues
Q3 Visitors Welcome
Q4 Links
Q5 “On Hold”
Q6 Copyright Notice
Q7 Gifting of Images
Q8 Site Update
R1 Return