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.

Downtown weekend

Somehow if you pack a suitcase, take a bus downtown and check into a hotel it feels like you've taken a little vacation. Staying above the Public Market, eating at a couple of our favorite places, walking the streets and taking lots of pictures was our idea of a good time on a drizzly Saturday in February. Please enjoy many more images right here.

It's fun to 'miss'

Posing people at parties is all fine and good for photo albums and such. But the joy of pointing and shooting without composing is once in a while you get something interesting. I just like this backyard bbq shot of Denise and Tanya and their beer cups because it's not obvious. And there was lots of talk that day with new homeowner Jill about her fruit trees.

Art with a view

Seattle Art Museum's new public art park opened on the waterfront last week. Needless to say, everybody and their brother and their brother's brother (with his brother's camera) was down there during our recent run of sunny weather -- including me ... and my brother. Anyway, I like the Alexander Calder Eagle. It's big and red and pops nicely with the water and mountains behind it to the west. And Richard Serra's Wake is just the coolest piece. I look forward to visiting again -- when the vegetation comes to life and the crowds die back.

Straight outta Nashville

Robin, formerly of Jackson, Miss, and formerly of Seattle and formerly of New Orleans and now of the country music capital of the world. Back in town and enjoying NW beer and NW laughs. Both are unique.

Zooooom, not boom

This was taken with my Leica digital point and shoot from the corner of 24th Ave NW and 80th Street in north Ballard. Mount Rainier is about 2 1/2 hours south of where I was standing. For another shot of the mountain, from a little closer last summer, look at this and to see the devastation inside the park from our very wet fall and winter, go here.

Polaroid King of Chicago

Somewhere along the way, A. Skwish won the lottery. No other way to explain his ability to afford so much Polaroid film. When other people reach for the digital and knock off 10 lousy frames, he's the guy with 10 lovely prints developing on the table in front of him. Go right here for tons, and then go here for tons more.

Beer and sunshine

Looks like there may be hope for an end to winter. Saturday, late afternoon, we actually sat outside and had a beer - in the sun. It didn't last long and we were cold, but a week ago it looked like this.

Dog days

Testing two images in the same post. One yappy dog that no longer lives in Ballard next to Kevin's place. One shoulder dog in The Viking one Friday night. What the hell?