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?

Kevin's stuff

My brother has been taking pictures longer than me, mostly because he's older and mostly because he didn't get distracted by sports. I'm trying to catch up and it seemed like that was going to happen a couple years ago. But now he's finally caught the flickr bug and he's taking lots of pictures and I'm worried that he'll run away from me again with his superior technical advantages. I must distract him ... with a new PlayStation or something. Anyway, go here and be impressed.

Film

Lots of pictures from the late '90s and early '00s were shot with a Leica Minilux. Road trips up and down the West coast, across the U.S. and back made for plenty of good images. Look for them here. And many more currently live right here

How do Polaroids look?

Just wondering. This was shot from a small, grassy spot above I-5 on Capitol Hill. I love this building, and its twin. I don't think anything special takes place inside. It's just an office building. But it sure does a fine job of catching light and making the most of it. Look for it the next time you're headed east on Denny on your way up to the Hill. It'll be on your right. That thing on the left is the Space Needle, btw. It's ok, too.

Testing. Blogging.

Is this thing on? Should it be? I'm not sure what I'm doing and now I guess I need some help. I'll look around for some. Thanks.