seattle pics

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Cloudburst Yesterday Afternoon

Wow, you didn't want to be out riding your bike without rain gear yesterday afternoon! We had just been admiring the fall foliage in the Lake City neighborhood (small photos) before we went indoors for a bit, and by the time we came back out the sky was super thick with dark clouds. About halfway home the fingers of showers descending from low clouds we could see at a distance reached us, and it poured! Rain or shine, it is just beautiful here right now.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Late Night

A window on a lot of Seattle students' world right now, down at the all night coffee house, living by screen light, cranking out assignments and catching up on reading in a relatively safe late night public place frequented by police on break. This was in Capitol Hill last night.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Heinmot Tookyalakekt Still Larger Than Life

That is the name of the person depicted beyond that corner, better known as "Chief Joseph" of the Nez Perce tribe of the Wallowa, one of the last peoples forced away from their original tribal lands to reservations. Only about 150 of those that did not flee to Canada survived the government moves. This is a sample of the mural spray paint art of Andrew Morrison, an immensely talented young Seattle artist whose family on his father's side are Haida and on his mother's side are Apache. I was passing Wilson Pacific School on Wallingford and 90th when I spied these huge murals that beckoned me to come closer. I walked the entire school grounds and found many enormous murals depicting American Indians of all tribes (see the murals sections on Andrew's website). Each filled a two story high wall exquisitely capturing fine detail using spray paint. To give you some idea of the size, my head would only come up to the top of that earring on the left.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Peeking Duck

This duck came in close as I was squatting at the edge of Green Lake taking some photos of water lilies. Trying to capture a shot of it moving at close range proved impossible. For some reason the shutter button on the little pocket camera was being finicky and enough time elapsed between my press and the click that the poor duck was beheaded in the frame. But as I looked at the shot, I noticed her eye glancing at me out of the reflection, then the whole image flip flopped in my brain and she was swimming upside down. Fun! It's a gorgeous, sunny fall day here. Hope you are enjoying a bit of the outdoors this Saturday wherever you are.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Dali's Needle

Surrealistic, twisted effect in this night shot of the Needle's reflection in the "Purple Haze" wall of the EMP. It reminds me of a mushroom, or perhaps something once described to me by my surfer friend, Jim, who lived in a tree house on Kauai and experienced strange psilocybin mushroom induced visions of waves and plants and structures. The Purple Haze wall is one of the first stops every photographer seems to make while in Seattle. You might remember this self portrait I took for one of our theme days. It is so fun and the effects for interesting shots seem endless. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Fired Up & Ready To Go

Well, here's something one doesn't see everyday: a whole garage door devoted to a candidate's support. It was the curvy lines of the classic car that first caught my eye from a distance, seen on a residential side street in the Crown Hill area. As I got closer I saw the hand lettered door, then noticed the car's license plate reads "NO HUAC," referring to the infamous House Unamerican Activities Committee of 1938-1975. I guess we could assume some things about this resident's political views. ;^) Look at the car door handles. Which direction do you think that back door swings open?

Update: thanks very much to Wayne in Vancouver, BC for identifying this as an early 50s Studebaker and that those back doors that open backwards were called "suicide doors." I looked through a few classic car photos after getting Wayne's information, and indeed he is right and I believe this car is a 1951 Studebaker Champion. Although the photo didn't capture it, the car has a distinctive bullet nose.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Local Farmers Markets Throughout Seattle

Seattle is a fresh fruit and veggie paradise with eight seasonal and four year-round weekly neighborhood farmers markets besides the giant daily one at Pike Place Market. Two organizations run the local markets. Seattle Markets sponsors the original year-round Fremont Market with farmers' produce, local foods, flea market, artisan and craft goods, and its spin off sister market in Ballard; and May through September markets in Queen Anne, Wallingford, and Madison-Madrona neighborhoods. Seattle's Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance sponsors year round produce and local foods only markets in the University District and West Seattle, and May through October markets in Columbia City, Broadway, Phinney, Lake City, and Magnolia neighborhoods. I'm regretfully saying goodbye to berry season (these were at the Wallingford Farmers Market a few weeks back) and welcoming the apples, pears, figs, and pumpkins of autumn.