Deliverance

Henry does his best impersonation of the classic Cosmopolitan man, Burt Reynolds. Thanks to Joann Arruda for capturing the manly little man at about 7 months.

Top 10 of 2007

According to my iPhoto, i took about 4,400 digital photos in 2007. Factor in another few dozen Polaroids and Holgas and a few hundred more digitized pics that were deleted, and you get the picture ... literally. So, narrowing it down to my favorite 10 is kind of a bogus exercise, but one that I'm attempting anyway because you can't go online these days without running into someone's goofy 10 best something list. Thanks for visiting and commenting here and on flickr all year, and thanks for appreciating my photographic pursuits. Cheers to you in 2008. (ps: Click on images to view bigger)

10 :: Crow over Wake - Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle



9 :: Shay - Wedgwood birthday party



8 :: Molly - Alibi Room, Seattle



7 :: Beach walker - Golden Gardens, Seattle



6 :: Snow fear - University District, Seattle



5 :: Sunrise fog - Ballard, Seattle



4 :: Phuong and Andy - Belltown, Seattle



3 :: Gull cranes - Pike Place Market, Seattle



2 :: Traci - Methow Valley, Wa.



1 :: Henry - Northwest Hospital, Seattle

She's got legs

Another shot from my world of shop windows and inanimate objects. I wonder if I'll always photograph this stuff. Certainly some made a career of it. Walker Evans wasn't so bad. The light on these legs ... I just couldn't walk away.

Where are you going?

Something about getting up from a perfectly comfortable position to recognize a certain moment worth photographing always seems to elicit that question. It happened on Saturday morning around 6:30 when I noticed an orange glow in the bedroom. "I'm going to get my camera." I didn't expect to see this amazing foggy sunrise when I pulled back the curtain.

And again Sunday, I was questioned as I left our table at Linda's. "I'm going to shoot the men's room door." I couldn't resist the late afternoon sunlight that was moving across various signage in the back patio area of the Capitol Hill bar.

Capturing fleeting moments of perfect, natural light always seems worth it to me.

Hmmmm

Just looking ... at this right here.

How I did I do's

Two great sets of friends became two great sets of married friends this summer. One wedding was in the city, one wedding was in the country. Both were a lot of fun, and fun to shoot. I wouldn't want to be a wedding photographer, relied on to catch every critical moment. But I do like to capture a few more shots than the standard wedding party lineup over the hired photog's shoulder. Check out this gallery from John and Holly marrying in Seattle, and this gallery from Phuong and Andy marrying in the Methow Valley. And cheers to both.

Painted black

I'm loving these recent silhouetted shots of some good pals. Phuong and Andy are faceless on a Belltown rooftop with the creepy Space Needle in the background looking like something out of War of the Worlds. And Shay was one of many people I caught beneath the party lights in Wedgwood. What's prettier than lights on a string? Almost nothing.

Oceanographic

Everytime I'm near the ocean, I wonder why I don't live closer to it, like within steps rather than miles and miles. What could be better? The woods? Nope. Mountains? Not always. We just spent a couple weeks back east, with half of that time on Cape Hatteras, N.C. It's not completely desolate by any stretch, but it's certainly nice to visit a spot on the Atlantic seaboard that still isn't completely developed. Some day a monster hurricane may very well cut off the thin stretch of sand for good. So enjoy more shots from the Outer Banks right here and now.

Holga en colour

Standing outside the little French cafe Le Pichet in Belltown, Seattle, I watched as the waitress leaned against the window and talked to people seated at a front table. It still surprises me that this little plastic camera can do so much with what could have been a difficult lighting and focus situation. Everything is sharp and bright ... and the mood reminds me of a foreign city. The blast of leaked light on the right side of the image gives it a nice old-timey feel.

Ladies of the light

No flash required! Three different friends in three different available light siutations. Katherine at dusk near the party fire; Rhea in the Crocodile Cafe; and Jesse in her living room. Thanks to these ladies - and all my friends - for putting up with my picture taking. You're all beautiful subjects.

Fruit of my labor

What is it about this image? I've had more positive feedback about this Polaroid than many I have taken. I wonder why. It's not particularly exciting to me. It even seems a little out of focus. But for some reason it registers with people. Do people like lemons? Lemonade? I took it in Palm Springs, Calif., in March 2006. I don't know why. Probably because I had already filled my quota on palm tree photos. Anyway, here's your lemon again, all you people who like it. Suck on it some more.

Sit up ... take notice

This little foam seat thing holding my son was a big hit, photographically for me, and posteriorly for him. He seems to have a very strong neck at 7 weeks of age. A few shots of him sitting up in this thing for the first time elicited some good feedback from friends and family. For all things Henry, check out this gallery. You'll want to come back - just like his hair.

Park it here

So, yeah, the Olympic Sculpture Park is easy pickins for what I like to shoot. It's especially nice down there when it's not overly crowded. That's how it was yesterday, late afternoon. I'd like to get down there at first light someday, too. I haven't posted much here lately. Sorry. Busy.

Party people

The backyard bbq season began in earnest on Saturday at my brother's place in Ballard. These parties are always my favorite parties because the food is great, the people are relaxed and friendly and no one ever gets hurt. This particular celebration marked Michelle's birthday and was also a bon voyage for Phil and Jesse as they head to Europe for 5 weeks of musical goodness. Happy almost summer.

Flower power

You can kind of pass yourself off as some kind of Ansel Adams naturalist wannabe if you have a good lens and an appreciation for getting close to plants. I planted this magnolia tree in the front yard last fall and didn't have much hope for it, but it's putting on a great show these past couple weeks as the huge buds open up. Can't wait for the dogwood to go crazy that I planted last week. Get real close to more plants I've noticed right here .

oh henry!

My son, Henry Ryan Schlosser, born on March 14, 2007. This isn't a baby blog, so I won't wax about how amazing fatherhood is after just 2 days. But please expect to see more photos of Henry doing various things that little babies do to make people with cameras take notice. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And for now, go here to smile.

The future is plastics

The boring gray skies can only be countered by one thing as I walk the neighborhood these days -- bright, colored plastic! It doesn't hurt that the grass and moss are really, really green right now thanks to a wet winter. By mid-summer the grass will be brown and the light will be too bright to get the same effect that these photos possess. Guess it's time for a road trip so I don't keep walking upon the same yard junk.

Seasonally affected

So, Spring is springing. It seems a little early, but it sure looks like Spring. And judging by how many times I sneezed yesterday and today, it feels like Spring. What better time to switch to the macro setting and steady my shaking hand in front of some unsuspecting flower? And the light. The light is changing rapidly and sticking around longer into the evening. Strange how that happens.

Fave of the week

It's Friday. I've covered some sufficient ground this week by car, by bicycle and on foot. This is my favorite photo of the week. Maybe because I cropped it into a square so it looked "less digital." Maybe because it's depressing to walk down a back alley in a shitty March drizzle and come across a plastic Santa on top of someone's junk pile. I like depressing. Maybe because the only other real contenders this week were shot from the car and you've seen enough clouds ... and lightpoles (I haven't, yet, obviously). Merry Christmas.

Sun up, sun down

It's fun to stare out the window at work. At my old job in an office on Seattle's waterfront, my desk faced west and I had unmatched views of the sun setting behind the Olympic Mountains every evening. I worked a second shift, and the sunset was the highlight of the night. At my new job I work much earlier, and my desk faces east. Today was the first day since being there that I realized I may have some nice sunrise shows over the Cascade Mountains each morning. We'll see how it goes visually -- those sunsets were often pretty spectacular. But there's something nice about just being awake for the start of a new day.

Joy of Holga

Finally got my first roll back from the experiment that is Holga. I got this camera two years ago and had never loaded film in it. I had heard about all kinds of taping needed to keep light leaks to a minimum. Other than the gigantic light leak that I caused myself by popping the back off before the roll was finished, I had no real light issues with the prints I got back. I like the blurry black corners -- and it's surprisingly sharp for a piece of plastic. A few more right here and more to come, I'm sure.

Ride and park

I got a new bike that gets me off my ass and out from in front of a computer when I get home from work. The exercise is nice, and the chance to take some photos during some of the best light of the day is nice, too. I've been going through Golden Gardens park and past Shilshole Marina as part of my rides. Quite a quiet scene there compared to a weekend day in the middle of the summer.

Up above it all

A couple constants that I love about Seattle: The Aurora Bridge and floatplanes. I like bridges. They're marvels of engineering and the Aurora Bridge just happens to be cool to look at from the neighborhood below, and when you're driving on it (i hate the sketchy center lane) it affords wonderful views of mountains to the east and west. The floatplanes are great because they always seem to be buzzing overhead, taking off from and landing on Lake Union. It's a cool reminder that we live around a lot of water. So here's today's ode to both. Oh, and read my friend Mike's piece on the P-I's Web site about Aurora jumpers. Sad.

Auto drive

I hate people who use their cell phones while driving. Kinda cliche, I guess. Everyone fucking does it. But ya know, everyone sucks at it, too. I wonder how people feel when they drive by me and catch me pointing my camera out the windshield. They better just keep driving. Because if I catch 'em looking at me I'll take their picture. And I'll post it on some nasty porn site. Check out this here flickr set dedicated to driving distracted.

Kodak's lost moments

Honestly I'm bored with certain aspects of the digital lifestyle. The immediacy is nice. The cost is nice. But I just dug through a few packs of prints from last summer, and scanned this shot from up near Banff, B.C., and it felt like old times. When it would take me all day to scan and clean up a mess of vacation prints. I haven't filled a photo album in 2 years. Everything is on the computer or some disc in a drawer. Oh well. At least you can't get your greasy fingerprints on my flickr photos.