The Pacific

A P-Patch Grows In Belltown

Several nights ago we decided to visit our local P-Patch. These are wonderful urban gardens where you can grow everything from corn to kale – as long as it fits on a 10x10 plot of ground and you grow it organically. Annual fee for a small plot is $34 plus you agree to contribute 8 hours to maintenance of the common spaces. Only problem is that there is usually a waiting list so be patient 

Our P-Patch in Belltown is glorious. We were delighted by the abundance of flowers amid all the produce. While we there taking pictures we met Robin, who is the volunteer coordinator for our P-Patch. Although he was in the middle of constructing a home for honeybees to help with pollination he took time to tell us all about how P-Patches operate.

 

P-Patches are distributed throughout Seattle and contribute 7-10 tons of produce each year to food banks that feed the homeless. The term is specific to the program in Seattle although other cities have similar types of programs, often called victory gardens – a resurrection of the World War II term. In spite of the similarity of purpose P-Patches seem far more community oriented than victory gardens.

 

And I haven’t even mentioned the three cottages that sit on our P-Patch in Belltown. One is for use by the community but the other two are rented out for $300/month to struggling writers selected by the Richard Hugo House – a writers’ program.

 

It is lovely to live in a place that values gardening, writing, and community in the shadow of condominiums and cruise ships.

 

Images taken at the Belltown P-Patch July 2008.

Fremont Solstice Parade

This year’s 20th annual Fremont Solstice Parade took place last Saturday. The parade featured the usual bands, floats, and marchers — plus about 300 nude bicyclists, It was one of those joyous occasions that we had been meaning to attend for the three years since moving here.

It was especially fun for us because we were attending a photography workshop at Art Wolfe’s Photography Center. Jay Maisel, who specializes in shooting street scenes, led the workshop and made the parade a workshop assignment. The photo featured on this post was my favorite of the day but I may add a few more on a future post. Some even feature a few of those daring nude bike riders.

Image: Bubbleman taken June 21, 2008. 

How Important Is the Equipment?

Photographers often debate the importance of equipment. A good camera certainly can't help a bad photographer create quality images any more than expensive golf clubs can make you Tiger Woods. Still, the right lens for the image you are trying to create certainly helps. Last week I invested in a Canon 50mm f1.2 lens after reading rave reviews. Yesterday I took it out for a test drive with Ryan and Samantha - my favorite small subjects. Here is my favorite of the shoot:

And here's another I just can't resist sharing. So, you make the call. I could never have gotten the sharpness or the soft bokeh with any other lens I own. You might also want to notice how really cute the kids are.

Image: Taken of Ryan and Samantha March 2008.

The Christmas Orchid

Every year before Christmas the Kauai Museum holds an orchid sale. Over the years we have gone there to get our annual Christmas orchid. Something like a Christmas tree, only smaller. One of the nice things about a Christmas orchid is that it doesn't have to be decorated since it comes with lovely blooms. It will also live for years and rewards even the most careless among us with more blossoms. Finally, an orchid takes up much less room than a tree - an important point in our very small condo.

This year the orchids were especially beautiful so we got three. They are small after all. Since I have been trying to connect with my inner photoshop more closely I decided to see if I could create some collages that would capture "orchidness." Here are the results of my experiment. Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

Images taken Christmas Day, 2007.

Out Of The Comfort Zone

Art Wolfe’s Photography Studio is beginning to offer some pretty amazing workshops and lectures. Most recently Freeman Patterson conducted a three-day workshop that focused on learning to see creatively. Twenty of us had the good fortune to see through a master’s eyes – to learn something about how to make our photographs better.

In addition to delivering lectures about principles of design and tips on how to execute some pretty cool techniques, Freeman gave us shooting assignments. The first day he asked us to photograph whatever we wanted – within the one block where Art’s studio is located. Each of us brought back three images for critique. The results were unexpected. The variety was so great that we might have been in different countries.

On the second day our assignment was to find images that evoked specific emotions. This time we could shoot wherever we wanted – as long as we were back within 90 minutes.

The fun thing about these assignments was that they pushed us out of our comfort zones. The initial reaction upon hearing the assignment was invariably: how am I going to do that? But as we took our cameras and embarked on our voyage we found it exhilarating, if challenging. By breaking out of our usual approach we found that indeed we did begin to see more deeply.

Images. Taken November 2007 at the workshop. Can you guess what emotions these were meant to evoke?

Photoshop - Oh My

Several weeks ago I had the great good fortune to take a photoshop workshop at Art Wolfe’s studio. Taught by Rick Holt with assistance by Keron Psillas it was an amazing experience. I learned more in four days than I ever dreamed possible. And while I may not know everything there is to know about photoshop, I do know enough to do some pretty amazing things. Better than that, I’m not afraid of it anymore. As part of the workshop we had access to some terrific printers and everyone took something they were proud of away with them. Here’s a very small version of my print.

It’s an image of Harbor Island with West Seattle dotting the background. I made the panorama from three images shot from the balcony of our condo. This miniature is only suggestive of the detail in the final 9"x33" version. Just to give you some idea of what is lost in going from the image I printed to what you see here, the file size for the printed image is 45.7MB. The file size of this image is 619KB. So, what you are seeing is about 1% of the final print. Still, I had to try to share. And going from capture to print in such a dramatic way made me believe.

One of the nice things about a workshop like this (four days x10 hours/day) is that the total immersion really makes you focus on what you are trying to learn. Additionally, the workshop attracts other photographers who are also interested in improving the quality of their images. I learned so much from these dedicated and interesting colleagues. The experience was difficult, exhausting, and exhilarating. When can I do it again?

Ten Ways Photography Is Like Golf

I’m not a golfer. Tried it once but my eye/hand coordination doesn’t seem to match the requirements of the game. Also I get impatient. Yet I notice that my impatience does not seem to extend to my interest in photography where I am comfortable spending hours trying to learn a new skill or track down a great shot. I’m even enrolled in an upcoming four-day workshop to learn to use photoshop.

But I have friends who are golfers and friends who are photographers. Talking to them has led me to believe that they have more in common than they might suppose. So here are 10 ways that photography is like golf. Please feel free to add to the list.

1. Both are equipment intensive sports.
2. Both have pros, hackers, and wannabes. Knowing that we can’t all be Tiger Woods does not stop golfers from trying to improve their game. Know that we can’t all be Ansel Adams does not stop photographers from trying to get a great shot.
3. Speaking of shots. Both photography and golf have them.
4. Practitioners of both believe that their game will be improved with better equipment.
5. Both consume as much time as you are willing to give them.
6. Both require some walking around.
7. Yes, it is exercise. OK, it can be exercise.
8. Both improve with practice.
9. Both can take you to far away places with strange sounding names. Or make you happy staying close to home.
10. Did I mention an obsession with equipment?

Photo: The road to Waimea canyon on Kauai. Taken December 2006.

The Art of photography

In the world of nature photography Art Wolfe is a rock star. Last weekend Bob and I had the opportunity to spend three days with Art in a workshop he conduct on the Olympic Peninsula. Suggested by Bruce Moore , another Seattle photographer, the workshop proved to be better than we had ever imagined. Great people, a beautiful place, and hints and tips on how to take a respectable photograph.

After many years of photographing some of the most beautiful places on earth, Art is deeply involved in promoting environmental sanity. He believes, and we agree, that the emotional impact of a photograph can go a long way toward helping people understand the importance of our relationship with the earth around us. As part of this effort, The Environmental Photography Invitational (EPI) will open this Friday and run through June 30 at the Art Wolfe Gallery, 1944 First Avenue South in Seattle. It's worth a detour.

Image: the Olympic National Park taken during the workshop, May 2006.