Recent Stories with tag flickr

Seattle has so far escaped the clutches of the Puget Sound Convergence Zone this morning; UW meteorologist Cliff Mass has a post up on the hit-and-miss nature of the snowfall, which is whitening Lynnwood to Everett. That being the case, here's some snow anyway, courtesy of shawnmebo and our Flickr pool. It's a gorgeous shot, thanks to the play of light and shadow, and soft and hard outlines.

We're going another way with Glimpses this morning. No snOMG pictures. Pure Kodachrome summer, courtesy of our Flickr pool's Great_Beyond, who writes:

"While summer '10 is all but dead and buried around town, thanks to the lag between me taking Kodachrome pictures and actually developing/posting them, we can still enjoy fragments of it.

Ah, summer...."

Seattle: Race and Ethnicity, by Eric Fisher

Eric Fisher continues to go crazy with informational city maps. Previously, he inferred the speed of Seattle, sorting the tourists from the residents using geotagging data. Now he's taken a look at the way that the residents of major American cities assort themselves. Inspired by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago's racial and ethnic divides, he took census data from the year 2000 to see how other cities stacked up in terms of how citizens identify themselves and where they live.

Each dot in the plot above represents 25 people. The red-green colorblind among you may see a nearly monochrome map since those two colors represent self-identified whites and Asians. The cluster of blue dots in the center of the map represent African-Americans. In and of themselves, the findings are hardly shocking, but since it's Flickr, the map has already become interactive as users chime in with notes and comments to explain the city's patterns. Even if you aren't a sucker for information graphics, there's something interesting in comparing and contrasting our city with the others in the photoset.

At the moment, the data is ten years old. I'm curious to see how (or if) it changes when the latest census numbers are tallied.

(via What I Learned Today)

First of all, this is an important photo because it reminds us all that blue skies are possible in Seattle. Great_Beyond says, "This fellow resides just west of the Ballard Locks, and is apparently meant to celebrate Puget Sound salmon and the local indigenous cultures. The glass disc depicts the salmon life cycle, giving thanks to the salmon as they migrate out to sea." A couple of things jump out: the face half-cast in shadow, the texture of his vest, the upward angle of the shot--even the fact that he's not quite vertical seems to catch him action.

"The question becomes," says Chris Blakeley, "is God dead or did He just lose His lease?" It's troubling, no matter how you look at it. And that thumbtack...ominous. All this and more in The SunBreak Flickr pool. Jump in!

Thanks to zenobia_joy for this addition to our Flickr pool. Admit it, you've always wondered who Freeway Park is "for," besides muggers and exhibitionists. Now you know: parkour enthusiasts and the people who photograph them. I didn't even know we had hosted a Parkour Summit.

Flickr pool regular Slightlynorth dropped this one on us on June 4, 2010. What is there to say? Stand back and take a moment.

Today in news of neat technological maps: Photographer Eric Fischer is plumbing Flickr's depths to create a Geotagger's World Atlas. Seattle's is shown above, with the speed of city life inferred from photos posted to Flickr. He based the color scheme on the apparent speeds of movement using the time stamps on geotagged pictures. Black represents walking (less than 7 mph), red is for bicycling (less than 19 mph), blue indicates motor vehicles on normal roads (less than 43 mph), and green is freeways or rapid transit.

Seattle's map is particularly neat for the boat and park traffic, the effect of the link light rail, and the differences between the east and west sides of the lake. Dive into the rest of the atlas for a look at the rest of the world.

(Flickr Blog via Rick Webb)

Slightlynorth looks northeast from West Seattle and reveals Seattle's cloudscaped beauty, while breaking the scene into bold bands of thirds. The travel in color from the gravel to the peekaboo blue sky is a trip in itself. Perhaps now would also be a good time to remind you about the water taxi to West Seattle?

The sign says "No Minors," but we're pretty sure they'll make an exception for Didi. Thanks to photocoyote for putting this cute Georgetown shot into The SunBreak Flickr pool.

Strangers in the night, exchanging glances.... Thanks to seadevi for delicately placing this example of the cross-species love that dare not speak its name in our Flickr pool.

Wednesday is for dog and (hot dog) lovers.  Thanks to zenobia_joy for throwing this big pug tongue into The SunBreak Flickr pool.

If you saw Exit Through the Gift Shop, you might want to check out the work of Pranksky, like the photo above, as well as the rest of their series Turf Wars. After all, they bombed our Flickr pool.

The Sunbreak Flickr pool contributor shawnmebo gets up close and personal with an bunch of spring flowers with just enough haziness that you can imagine having forgotten your allergy medications.

Nareshe brings one of Seattle's vortexes where similarly named streets intersect to the Sunbreak's Flickr pool. This one occurs at the Pike Place Market, where anyone befuddled by the city planning will be find themselves in the company of tourists and plenty of options for fresh snacks while regaining their bearings.

This isn't the first time that Sunbreak Flickr Pool contributor Slightlynorth has showcased the combined power of an iPhone camera, a nifty app, and a great eye to capture a compelling image. This time, it's by way of Pictone and an emergency situation in Pioneer Square.

Sunbreak Flickr Pool contributor Russ invites you to contemplate Seattle's summer good looks from a well-placed chair on the banks of the University District.

The SunBreak's Flickr pool celebrates the eye of seadevi this morning, with this "found" multimedia art project. It's gorgeous, isn't it? For more on graffiti, there's this new Seattle Times series on the high cost of cleaning up after it. No records on what the "donated" public art that people enjoy is worth, though. Also, Exit Through the Gift Shop is showing at the Harvard Exit. And that's our Monday graffiti check-in. Back to the studio!

Imagine a sustainable Northwest! Having trouble? Sightline comes to the rescue with this slideshow, featuring photos submitted by hundreds of people all over the region. P-Patches, bicycles and solar panels make guest appearances, naturally. Have you added a crunchy-granola snap to their Flickr pool?

In other Earth Day news, Sightline also reports on the $20 million in federal funding that Seattle has gotten for weatherizing buildings. (Not wasting energy is cheaper than building new power plants.) Mayor McGinn was in DC yesterday, accepting a novelty check (not really, but how wonderful to think so) from Vice President Joe Biden, so he missed seeing what a terrible job he's doing, according to the Seattle Times. What's $20 million when it comes to acting swiftly about this panhandling menace!

Thank ozmafan for the sunny scene and thank Mother Nature for the clean, bright days. I love this time of year when one moment the sky opens up to rain and the next to sun. Have a splendid weekend, everyone.

Thanks to zenobia joy for reminding me that today is the grand opening of Elliott Bay Book Company's new location in Capitol Hill!

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce will be sponsoring a Grand Opening Block Party today starting at 4:00 p.m. They say the parking garage won't be ready until next weekend, but in the meantime, validated parking is available in the lot on 10th Avenue between Pike and Union.

See you there!

Nearly all of what Seattle is can be found in this photo. From the construction staging, to the aging concrete, to our relationship (whether real or perceived) with the natural beauty and wildlife around us. Only in this case, nature is isolated within the urban, which, let's face it, seems to be our ambition. Thanks to photocoyote for being such a prolific contributor to our Flickr pool.

Monster thanks to JeanineAnderson for sharing this awesome scene with us.

zenobia_joy says she spotted this "Irish water spaniel (I think)" at the St. Patrick's Day parade this year. I think it's a small boy in a dog suit. Look at those paws! And that ridiculous toupée. Still you have to like the candid snap, catching the dog's expression and his fly-away-hair day.

This shot is a gift from Flickr pool ragazzo photocoyote. I like how the depth of field keeps the classical stonework brushing up against a hydrant and a street full of cars. By the time this fish learns to blink, the cars will all be gone. Not sure about the hydrant.