Life In The Pacific Northwest
We spent this early afternoon at BrickCon. It’s hard, really, to imagine the scale of this event. 100s of exhibitors, 1000s of attendees. Swarms of people. As much as I delight in the creations, it’s also a bit exhausting to meander and jostle with so many people. I enjoyed myself, but after an hour and a half, we were ready for lunch at the Armory and a nap. I could hear the grand food at Skillet calling my name. Always a happy thing.
Below are a few photos from the day. I hope you enjoy!
As it’s Whidbey Island’s Open Studio tour this weekend, we spent this afternoon and early evening exploring art studios on South Whidbey. Our focus today was on Freeland and Langley.
This studio tour is something I’ve wanted to do for quite some time. Glad i got this chance this weekend.
I’ve met some really fascinating artists, and got some insights into how artists run their business in the 21at century.
I’ll write more about that shortly. Right now, it’s been a long day. And I’m taking benadryl due to the region’s smoke issues. So, I’m about to fall asleep.
Good night!
I’ve been dealing, lately, with some foot pain, and my back’s been bugging me, which drug my attitude down some. But it’s hard to be too grumpy when it’s a beautiful, sunny day spent with family and friends.
Highlights:
It was lovely, and I am tired. I took plenty of photos, which I’ll upload tomorrow. Here is my favorite.
I was sitting by this bush with flowers the bees adored. After taking around a dozen photos with my Olympus, but the autofocus hated this. The breeze was bouncing the flowers and the bees were, well, being bees. I gave up on the good camera, pulled out my Samsung S7 and was able to grab this one. I did need to zoom in and crop a bit. A lot of work for this one.
One of my favorite things to do: walk along the Edmonds waterfront. It’s picturesque and just delightful, especially when the weather is nice (like tonight). Yet there’s far more to this for me. For most of my memory, Edmonds was the home of my grandparents.
I walked along the same space with my grandpa, though it’s worlds different now. So many differences: no longer able to fish off the ferry dock and pretty much all the businesses they knew are gone (I don’t miss the old cat-food/meat processing facility that was over by Anthony’s, though…blech!), yet there are things that trigger memories. Some of the old buildings, the older restaurants (hi Pancake Haus!), but the biggest thing was walking by the place my grandparents lived. In the dusk, looking at the building, I have expected to see grandpa walking out.
These memories drive home how much this little city by the bay has changed. Yet there’s so much the same. He’d know where he was were he to materialize in front of me, familiar and alien. I do love my dichotomies.
The photos here are, simply, snapshots of this evening’s walk. I think I’ll bring my camera down there, soon, and explore the city in terms of my memory.
While my wife was partaking in the blackbelt class, I opted to walk. My favorite place to meander is the Edmonds waterfront. When I lived down there, we’d walk every day. Sometimes twice a day, especially on weekends. North on Third, down Sunset, along the water from Brackett’s Landing to Marina Beach then back up the hill.
One of my desires in 2018: spend more time with photography. So, below are photos I took during my excursion.
I hope you enjoyed your Sunday, and are feeling refreshed and ready for Monday.
What was your favorite part?
Clouds come, clouds go. A day filled with change. Rain, sun, back and forth. Every time I looked out the window, it was different.
Now, though, it’s dark and time to sleep. So I bid thee good night.
Now, my father has always been an avid photographer, so it’s always been part of my awareness. Going further, I fell in love with photography back in elementary school. In Junior High, I started taking classes, and became one of the nerds walking the halls with a camera shooting candids for the yearbook. And I carried on with that all the way through highschool. It was one of my career ambitions as I pondered post-highschool life.
As life progressed, though, I slipped away. I did take my camera with me on a few trips. Looking back, without any plans to publish my work, the effort seemed empty. I went from my binders of photos and the occasional album, to boxes of prints, then complete neglect: rarely shooting anything. I devalued my work. Slowly, through moves and such, my collection simply vanished. Fortunately, I still have all my old gear.
Looking back deeper: I hate that I ever entertained those thoughts, the hateful ramblings of self-doubt and internal cruelty . Now, I wish I had albums with the places I visited. Note to myself: I always regret when I give in to my self-destructive mindset. Don’t do it!
Over the past few years, my family encouraged me to re-engage. It’s been deeply enriching, though I see plenty of room for growth.
So, here I find myself: 2018 and wanting to reboot this part of my life. I’m not too sure of everything I want to try to do regarding photography yet. Clearly, though, the main thing is to take more photos. And I want to upgrade my digital gear. My main camera is an Olympus E-PL1. Non-DSLR, no viewfinder, shooting through an LCD. It’s a nice little camera, but I want to move more into a prosumer DSLR. Thinking Canon so that my son and I can share gear. I’m going to explore some classes, whether college ones or local workshops, well, I don’t know. I think the discipline of a recurring class would be good for keeping my momentum. Perhaps joining up, or starting, a photography group. Definitely will look into hitting up some local photography events.
If you have suggestions, please leave a comment. I really would value direction.
It’s a world and community I miss. And it’s a great way to get out and explore the community.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve created over the past year from my Flickr account.
