Can't miss it...

Our iconic city landmark, caught in the afternoon sun.

Lost Surprises

I was experimenting with my new $2.09 macro studio last night (about which, more soon), and one of the subjects I used for test shots was this old German film camera. It's one my dad gave me, and I used for several years before getting a more "modern" film camera.

It brought back memories of photographic surprises. I wasn't a prolific photographer, and sometimes a roll of film would stay in the camera for months before I finally finished it and had it developed. So when the images came back, they often contained surprises I'd forgotten about.

With digital photography's instant feedback, such surprises are few these days. Not that I'm complaining...just a little nostalgic for that lost element of being truly surprised and delighted by something a second time.

...Make Lemonade

Before you say anything...yes, I know that lemonade is made from lemons. But this equally yellow flower brought to mind that saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." The lemons in my back lawn are dandelions. I don't really mind them and I don't work on making my lawn picture-perfect. Or rather, I guess I consider the oddities of my lawn the very things that do make the yard picture-perfect. The weeds, the moss, the white petals falling from the Gravenstein tree. Because really, who wants to look at photos of a uniform green lawn?

Borrowing Art

I've been having an ongoing conversation about the ethics of photographing other people's art. Clearly it's one thing to take a photo of a public piece of art and identify it as such, while it would be clearly less ethical to take unauthorized photos in a museum or private gallery or home, even if the photographer gives the artist credit.

I'll stay away from that dicey territory here. Although I don't know the name of the Tacoma artist who did the work above, I appreciate their vision in turning an ordinary fire standpipe into a piece of colorful folk art. For a wider view of this, click here.

From the vaults...

I've been scanning old photos, slides, and negatives to reduce clutter in my basement, and have run across a few real gems in the process. Like this photo, take at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo (I think) in the mid 1980s. Scan is from a color negative. I laughed when I saw this, and that seems to be others' reactions as well. Something funny about shortening one of the tallest critters on the planet. Or maybe they're playing hide and seek.

Then and Now

Shooting hummingbirds on the deck, 1974
Self-portrait in teapot, 2008

fingers of spring

The subtle unfolding of a fern caught my eye the other day. It's not the symmetrical wonder of a fiddlehead, but it has its own charms.