Christmas Harvest

I had my pick out of about 20 different tree farms to visit today to document as they prepare for the holiday season. On each of my many trips up and down scenic and remote Mt. Baker Highway I've always looked out my window intrigued with these clean repetitive rows of nearly identical trees against the undomesticated rough-and-tumble of forested hills. So, up Mt. Baker Highway is where I chose to go. This picture doesn't do much to suggest that contrast I described, but I like seeing the tree up up in the air like that, horizontal against the horizon, distinctly uprooted. I do think I'll go back though on my day off and try to work that contrast a bit more, when I'm not concentrated on pictures for the paper.

Northwest Hoops

Upon arriving in the northwest, I was struck immediately by the canopied outdoor basketball courts. Of course they're covered, it rains here all the damn time. Little known fact: rain is actually Washington's state bird. Its also the state marine mammal and amphibian. Steelhead trout is the state fish.
Another thing about Washington, although its cloudy and subdued a great deal of the time, there are these really sublime glimpses of light, when the clouds thin and diffuse the sun. Its subtle in this picture, not sublime, but you can see how soft the light is and how open the shadows are.

Tying Grandma's Shoes

Neighborhood Hoops

From my walk around the neighborhood this evening.

Rocky Horror Makeup

Halfpipe

Fallen Leaves

My day off today had me in quite a mood. I've been thinking a lot about humankind as fallen from nature (bleak I know)--that our everyday betrayals of the natural environment really take a toll on one's own spiritual well being; in addition to, but not separate from, the broader ecological well being of the planet. (I told you I was in a mood). On my short walk today, with just a few blinks of twilight left, and a 50mm, I took some portraits of fallen leaves that perfectly described my feeling.
After having some quality interactions with friends and experiencing some warmth and humanity, the feeling dissipated (go figure). Although I think this desolate feeling has at least something to do with living in this "ultra-super-duper modern age" (you heard it here first), I'm for certain that its also a symptom of the psychological disorder known as doing-too-many-errands-on-your-dayoff.

Comic Convention

Hells Bells

This had to have been one of the most rockingest concert's I've ever been too. I hardly knew whether to head bang or photograph, so I did both. You can see more of these here.

Serving

I love photography's "wow cool" effect of freezing and decontextualizing visual elements that might not otherwise pull a second glance. Steam for instance or smoke, reflections, liquid, air-borne objects--all can move from mundane to magical rendered still, 2D and boxed in. Of course this magic all too quickly becomes (already is) cliche. But my point is, the "wow cool" effect is damned cool anyway, and its a compliment to the camera (albeit maybe not the totality of grubby shutter bugging operators*) that its such a cliche making machine.

* Myself included of course. And although its sometimes disturbing to see hoards of people shielded from an actual view by cell phones and digicams, I still love a culture transfixed by a crude mimesis.

2 Quick Fixes

Bellingham Nightlife

These are from an ongoing assignment to photograph Bellingham nightlife for a new website called gobham.com. You can see my take from last week if you click on the "out late gallery" at the bottom of the page. Not exactly hard journalism, or even soft journalism for that matter, just scenes of a scene. This week's should be online in a couple days. I think this week's were more fun. The students are back, and dancing to 80's music.

Fiesta!

Three from the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail

Ferry Boat Captain

Fetch

Night Shift #3

Tug of War

Dave and Eduardo

Night Shift #2

Penny works from 10:30pm to 8am at Walgreens. "A woman works 24/7 all her life," she says.