Andrew Wyeth Period - Broken Wagon April '71

First off let me admit I am not very excited about this photograph but there was a time when I liked doing this sort of thing. When I was a kid my dad used to drive the family out to ghost towns on sunday afternoons. One of my favorites was Wilkinson northwest of Mt. Rainier. This town still exists because the road to the carbon river entrance to Mt Rainier goes down main-street. In the early '60s the ruins of the mine and coke ovens were in reasonably good condition. The town had a fine example of an Russian Orthodox Church, the first one I ever laid eyes on.

This photo was taken during my Andrew Wyeth period in the early 70's when I was taking a lot of heat from my artist friends for doing shots like this one. I was tolerant of my intolerant friends. My grandfather Elmer Fox had run into Charles Russell numerous occasions when Elmer was working cattle operations south of Judith Gap Montana. My father picked up a very nice print of a Charles Russell (embossed on canvas) when he was back for the Hedgesville Reunion in '87. I have the print in my office hanging across the room from Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

I grew up with abstract expressionism, Pollock, Klein, Rothko, Newman, ... and you can see some of that in my landscapes but I also was a big fan of Hopper and Wyeth and the whole notion of trite subject matter was in my thinking silly. So we joked about it. I can remember on a cold clear sunny winter morning in '72 Steve Graham showing up at the Center for work after driving down the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a wonder full view across the sound of the morning sun on the snow covered Olympics. While we were sitting over coffee he described the view as breathtaking and the turned to David Hastings and said "bad art".

This shot was taken early in the morning on an April day of 1971 somewhere west of Ellensburg on the same road that takes you to Vantage and George (see Desert Photos) but 50 miles before you get into the most arid portions of the state . I was testing a Canon-P rangefinder, sort of a poor man's Leica, which I had picked up used. It was a nice old camera but I wasn't sold on rangefinders, had always used SLRs so I ended up dumping the camera after about two rolls of film. I posted it full frame to show how I had composed it with a rangefinder.

Desert Photos - June 1979

A two hour ride on the back of my cousin Craig's motorcycle will get you from the swamps of Seahurst park over the Cascade Crest and out to a landscape that looks somewhat like Mars down along the Columbia River. This Photo was take from somewhere near between Vantage and George Washington two towns on the rim of the gorge west and east of the river. I remember the wind was blowing (always is) and that I had my 20lb harmonically dampened pan head tripod with a lead counter balance mounted to the bottom of the post so I could shoot with my 500mm Nikkor mirror lens under adverse conditions. I also had my 300mm Nikkor along with me and I am not sure which was used for this photo. Probably the long lens, in '78 & '79 I was partial to the 500mm but always carried the 300mm and 200mm along.

More Bad Art - Okanagen September '72

This is a reminder to look in the archives for the more serious stuff. Another bad art photo, taken primarily to annoy my friends whose aesthetic sensibilities are easily outraged. This was take on a road trip with David Hastings in September '72 through the north cascades into the Okanagen territory of Eastern Washington. Photo was shot on Agfachorme 64 using a 28mm Nikkor lens.

C. Stirling Bartholomew & Ed Sherman 1972

C. Stirling Bartholomew is seen here looking out the window while his friend and colleague Ed Sherman studies. Photograph was taken at the Center (a.k.a Grapevine) where I was employed for two years after college.

The second photo was a snap shot taken in the summer of 1970 at the rummage sale which Dorothy Hurley and her team put on to help fund center. The house in the background was a small store which sold quality used items with the same purpose. CSB is in the foreground with the flag. The irony of the flag might escape some of the gen-x people. CSB and David Hastings were both conscientious objectors working off our two years of alternate service.

Lower Duwamish River - January 31, 2005

The Green River becomes the Duwamish River before it empties into Elliott Bay. The tide flats at the lower end are full of birds who pay no attention to the toxic waste hazards.

Collaboration - Dave Hastings 1974

Collaboration with Dave Hastings

This is another post in honor of the late David Hastings who was part of a small circle of coconspirators in the early '70s. The people in the oil painting are all from one roll of Kodak record film I shot at the Pike Place Market one day in July of '73. It was the only roll of record film I ever used. See the previous comments about shooting scrap for Dave Hastings and with Kathe Kushe

This photo was taken on March 1, 1974. I had been studying portraiture for two years when I took this photo including a paid apprenticeship under the award winning Merlin Parker. Looking at it now I can see a number of obvious mistakes like failing to obtain tonal separation between the subject and the background, which is complicated here by using an oil painting for the background.

The camera was A Mamiya Universal Press with a 150mm lens and a 6X7cm film back loaded with Ilford HP4. I was trying out a few rolls of Ilford after shooting almost nothing but Tri X for hundreds of rolls. These negatives came out thin (under exposed) but printable. I had a habit of shooting Tri X slightly over, say a third stop depending on the contrast of the subject and then developing in D76 at 68f for six mins rather than nine to get a soft negative and then printing it on Kodak #3 paper. Hard negatives were a royal pain to print. My notes tell me I developed this HP4 for 7 mins which is probably short of the specified time. The negatives have a nice tonal range in the mid tones but the blacks are blocked up and the negatives look overall kind of thin.

One reason I didn't shoot much Ilford 6cm roll film was the flimsy film base. Tri-X had a nice thick film base which was easy to mount on a spool for processing but Ilford was so flexible that mounting it was a difficult process. I didn't really find Ilford HP4 a major improvement over Tri-X which was a wonderful film.

Fauntleroy Ferry

Why so many photos of ferries? Take a look at a map of western Washington and you will get the point. If you want to go west from where I live you can proceed for about 400 yards and then you will need a boat unless you want to get wet. This is true from Olympia on the south end of the Puget Sound to well up into Canada. There is only one bridge way down in South Tacoma and unless you want to drive many miles out of your way to take that bridge you will need to take a boat trip.

I can see the Fauntleroy to Vashon run from where I live. The sights and sounds of ferries and sea gulls and mountains and water are images that represent life in Seattle.

Stairs to Post Ally - Pike Place '73

This is one set of stairs that leads from the main level of the market down to Post Ally. There are several others. Post Ally ends under the market, or more precisely in the market. It enters a tunnel and takes a right turn that brings you up a cobble stone lane to first avenue. This is a little scrap of Seattle history that predates the automobile.

Razor Haircut - Pike Place '73

Four Old Men - Pike Place '73

Winter Light '79 - '80

Wetlands Fall & Winter '79 - '80

These were taken with 300mm and 500mm Nikkor lenses. The softness was a feature of the lenses combined with the moisture laden air over the wetland which is exagerated by compression of the tele, all of which produces an effect not unlike painting. I remember reading a comment by Ernst Haas about shooting hand held with a 400mm telephoto, that his images were not sharp mattered little if he got the effect he was after. He would shoot running game in Africa with slow shutter speeds to give he effect of motion. Unlike Haas I used a tripod, with harmonically dampened legs and a counter weight attached to the post. This was to minimize vibration. I also locked up the mirror ten seconds before the exposure, using the self timer. So the softness was all optical and atmospheric not due to camera movement.

Tiffany Lamp - Pike Place Early '70s

Antique Portrait - Pike Place Early '70s

So what do you do when a bare light bulb fools your through the lens metering system resulting in sever under exposure? Make the best of it. A year or two later I started carrying my Gossen Luna Pro with a spot attachment so I could avoid this sort of problem. Using a hand held meter is fine as long as you know your lens and your camera very well. Otherwise you will be in for some surprises. 35 years later, shooting digital, the recorded image displays for one second after each exposure. No need to guess what is going on.

Open Window - Pike Place Early 70's

Dave Hastings - Sept '74

Dave Hastings, a colleague and friend from my first job out of college . Hastings was an artist, musician, theologian, philosopher. He was studying design at Art Center in LA along with working as a studio musician (guitar) for the Armed Forces Radio and TV Station (AFRTS) before he came to Seattle and worked at the residential drug rehab center where I was doing my two years of alternate service. On the staff of the "Center" we had two very fine guitarists Dave and Rick but we lost Rick to the Army. We also had a world class percussionist who was going on for a Phd in music at the UW and had also worked in the AFRTS as well as performed with a major symphony in LA. Dave and Kathy Kushe (artist) were part of the crowd along with my neighbor Steve who was Dave's best friend. Dave attended Denver Seminary where he was mentored by Vernon Grounds. Dave helped plant a new church in Lake Stevens Washington and served as the pastor for over a quarter of a century.

King Street Station - May '73

King Street Station

Lunch Counter - Pike Place Market early 70s

This was taken with Ansco 500 film in the lower level of the Pike Place Market.

Fremont & Aurora Bridges

Sunday Morning Early on the Water Front - March 19, 2006

Sunday Morning Early at the Market - March 19 2006