Recent Stories with tag photo

Our Flickr pool's Great Beyond has a whole series of photos of snowstorms of the '70s that bring back Seattle's workingman past in a Kodachrome rush. Here we are at the corner of 15th Avenue East and Republican Street on Capitol Hill, in November 1979. There's a Spic 'n' Span Cleaners where Caffe Ladro is today, and you can almost feel the snow crunch underfoot. We are not supposed to get that much snow this weekend, if any at all, and Kodachrome's power to color saturate your life has come to an end.

I am loving the implied violence of sunlight in this photo of the last day of the Implied Violence exhibit at the Frye Art Museum. (That's right, it's over. You procrastinated and procrastinated, and now it's gone. Forever. Go curl up in a ball and weep.) Thanks to Flickr's Jennyrh8 for putting the sun in new light.

Wow. I am clearly not the only one carrying my camera around and snapping sunrise shots. Look at this phenomenal catch by Ryan from our Flickr pool. I think this may compress just about everything photogenic about Seattle into one shot: mountain, hills, lake, boats, crescent moon (it's permissible to leave out the Space Needle if you can substitute a Mount Rainier). 

Typically at the stroke of New Year I'm either asleep or inspecting the liquor cabinet, but this time, I happened to be stationed with a good view of the Space Needle's fireworks show. I thought that was something until the next morning, when Nature showed us that we are poor imitators. 

And now, let's reverse the frame to the preceding evening. In the moments before 12 o' clock, nothing much is on view.

But that will soon change:... (more)

"Pagoda at Night" is from our Flickr pool stalwart Great Beyond, who writes: "Chinatown is an...interesting place in the middle of a Saturday night. I met all kinds of...colorful characters while setting up for this shot." You can see two architectural echoes of the pagoda roof in this shot, and it's remarkable how natural it looks with the skyline back of it.

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.

You were expecting something more post-holiday themed, I know. But doesn't this capture some of the peculiar, paradoxical obsessions of daily life that we're escaping? I imagine some of you are reaching for the hand sanitizer right now, while others (you know who you are) are guffawing. Thanks to Slightlynorth for the dramatic depth of field and deadpan presentation, and thanks to all 112 of our Flickr pool contributors, who have shared over 4,000 photos with us.

Paul Swortz dropped this festive photo into our Flickr pool, for which we thank him very much. If you're not familiar with Santarchy's roving bands of drunken Santas, you're probably better off. (Note that "fucking" here is simply used as an FCC-approved intensifier, not to deride a day sacred to many of you. We don't need those emails.) We wish you a Merry Christmas Eve as well, and let's meet back here again on Monday. 

This weekend, the Progressive International Motorcycle Show has roared into the Qwest Field Event Center; it's $15 for a day's admission, $6 for kids. An attendee of previous years says the rolling stock on the floor is skimpier than before, but the collections of custom and antique bikes make for a fun hour or two of viewing in their own right. It's fun to eavesdrop on gearheads making scathing remarks about the custom jobs: "He couldn't have picked a worse carburetor for that bike." Besides bikes, there's an army of vendors selling everything from leathers and helmets to brake systems and touring accessories. Off in another wing, there's a live stunt show, if you get anxious for the smell of burnt rubber and the whine of high rpms. ... (more)

Our Flickr pool's Chris Blakeley came across this SUV "abandoned maybe fifteen feet away from the top of Queen Anne." Other drivers weren't so lucky.

1972 "was a bad year if you hate snow," writes our Flickr pool's shawnmebo. "Let's see what Steve Pool has to say about it." Today a bunch of Canadian cold air heads our way, bringing lots of snow in the mountains. Cliff Mass waves off concerns of Snowpocalypse 2010...mostly, noting that tomorrow we see something "close to a pattern that brings snow...but the models are emphatic that it is too warm over most of the lowlands for snow. The freezing level is at around 2000 ft and the snow level is around 1000 ft. This is close."

If there's a more fun way than a Remix to visit the monumental Picasso exhibition ongoing at SAM, I'm not sure what it could be, and I suspect it isn't likely to be legal. Museum members get a special entrance and a lounge all their own, but regular people like you and me can also buy tickets (and do, the Remixes frequently sell out) and enjoy the slightly illicit thrill of taking over a museum for the night, having a drink or two, and discovering a wide range of amusements. 

Here's what you missed from last night's extravaganza:

The evening began with people milling about, drinking wine and listening to the marimba-playing, chanson-française-crooning Erin Jorgensen. There was a French culture theme on account of the Picasso exhibit coming from the Musée National Picasso, but it was also Seattle-French, like it had just biked down from Café Presse on Capitol Hill.

After Jorgensen came the Harlequin Hipsters, "Seattle's premiere partner dance improv troupe." That description seems complete but it does leave out the hula hoops.

I am notoriously bad at matching face to names, but if you want to give it a shot, here are the Hipster players. As you can see, they supply the ambiance.

Then arrived the sassiness of the Heavenly Spies, whose can-can dance mastery can be viewed at the Can Can. (That's them in the first photo, up top, too.) Pernod Absinthe was sponsoring the event so as you watched the dancing, a woman circulated among the crowd offering a sample absinthe spoon.

But it was not all DJ TigerBeat's dance music (with impromptu singalong by Seattle's young and chic to "Livin' on a Prayer"); up on the fourth floor you could wander the galleries to harp accompaniment, only to notice the songs were oddly familiar--anything from arrangements of Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" to The Eagles' "Desperado." Chilling.

You could watch video of a Dutch girl very hard trying to sketch a Picasso.

You could play trivia. If you're wondering about the sailor hats at the far table: The first 50 people wearing a sailor's outfit got in free. Almost everything about the museum experience is improved by having 50 people in sailor outfits wandering about.

You could have your portrait taken.

Or you could take the Portrait Challenge, and draw one yourself.

Portrait Challenge accepted! Kanye and bug-Kanye.

Crowds thronged the Picasso exhibit itself, of course. Everyone got a ticket with a 20-minute window, so that you could still move about. The exhibit comes with accompanying audio narration, which you listen to on "wands" that are about the size of an opened clam-shell cell phone. They're very popular, but you can also see that the attentional bottleneck that makes cell phone listeners bad drivers extends to walkers, too. The Remix may be over, but the Picasso exhibit runs through January 17.

... (more)

The weather gods, after soaking us with monsoons the past two weeks, smiled up on the grand opening of Lake Union Park. The temperature climbed above 70 degrees, and skies blued. Paddle boarders paddled, model boats sailed, kids ran through water features, everyone else lined up at the Molly Moon ice cream truck. The twelve acres have still to grow into themselves in some areas, and MOHAI has not yet installed itself in the Armory, but it's already an inviting place to spend the afternoon. Finally Lake Union's maritime history, much of it tied up to the wharf, is just a waterfront promenade away. It just seems a little odd--how did we leave this out?--that there's not a café anywhere.

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.

Great_Beyond dropped this photo of Seattle in the late '70s into The SunBreak Flickr pool (over 3,000 photos and climbing). This morning seems a good to consider the look of Seattle from a distance, because tonight is the Central Waterfront Design presentation at Benaroya Hall, 7 to 10 p.m. [Confidential to Great_Beyond: Don't crop out the hand--it makes the shot.]

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

This week I'm showcasing the versatility of Great_Beyond. First the time travel snaps, now a slightly creepy hot dog self-condimenting himself. And in public, so far as I can tell. This would give Warhol chills. Seriously, one mustard eyebrow and one ketchup? ARE YOU SEEING THIS?!

One thing I love about photocoyote's snaps is that he wakes me up to how the city looks. Do you know where these stone faces live? They're somewhere in Seattle Center, making the area look like a hip Old-World plaza. We have 84 photographers participating in our SunBreak Flickr pool. Jump in, and get Glimpsed! 

Today it's a very special two-part Glimpses, starring The SunBreak Flickr pool's Great_Beyond. I'll let him explain how this goes: "So here I am, 1979-ish, at Gas Works Park. And yeah, it's not a complete match with now, but you try and find a butt-ugly stripy shirt from the seventies in long sleeves these days. But I score points for having an Kodak instamatic! The garbage can is even in the right place--even though there's too many people in the background. " Compare and contrast, after the jump.

Our SunBreak Flickr pool contains a wealth of human experiences, and shots of beer. Here, troyjmorris muses on how precious and few are the moments we two can share: "This was my shelter during the winter. The fire fought the cold well, yet it was rare to see many people here. Now that summer is approaching, my shelter is becoming a well inhabited communal home."

Love the way the depth of field lets the blossom's pink pop against that mustard background. And the line of the branch bisecting the background...well! That's what you get when you go GypsyFae Photography, apparently. Who knew Wallingford had so much to offer?

The meerkats are back! These eight have arrived from Point Defiance Zoo, four male, four female, and they definitely packed their charisma and curiosity with them. Tomorrow, May 1, Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating their arrival--and the grand opening of a new West Entrance--with six hours of festivities, including music by CocoLoco, giveaways, photo opportunities with a costumed meerkat mascot, meerkat mask-making, and meerkat keeper talks at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:30 p.m. Things kick off at 9:30 a.m. and go until 3:30 p.m. 

The 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony for the West Entrance brings a host of dignitaries: U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Seattle), Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn, Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw, Bank of America Washington Market President Peter Joers, Woodland Park Zoo President and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen, and Woodland Park Zoo Board of Directors Chair and Co-chair of the Penguin/West Entrance Initiative, Cam Ragen. 

The West Entrance is really a new, 58,000-square-foot complex, with a commons area for head-counting and ticket booths, family restrooms, member and guest services, a second ZooStore location, and--later this summer--a Caffé Vita coffee cart.