Seattle - Day 3, The Polaroids

Total was a very filmy day, thanks to my stop at Glazer's Camera during lunch on Day 2. I went in for two rolls of Kodak Portra for my K1000 and walked out with $100 worth of film. I grabbed a 5-pack of Portra and as I stood in line, I noticed a stack of The Impossible Project's 60 UV+, so I grabbed two. $100 just like that. Anyway, back to Day 3. I took a walk down Thomas Street between Aurora and Westlake and shot most of a roll of 35mm in 10 minutes, and a few Polaroids. I had the most delicious Italian sub at Yellow Dot Cafe, then headed back to class for the afternoon. Side note: The Italian sub at Yellow Dot was so delicious that I had it three times that week. Lunch Wednesday, lunch Thursday, and (I'm a little ashamed to admit this) dinner Thursday. It was that good. Another side note: Some day I may travel the country in search of the best Italian sandwich and then I'll write a book about it. My husband will be with me in search of the best reuben.

After a few more slowly passing hours in the less-than-desirable conference room, 4 o'clock finally rolled around and one of the girls and I headed to Lake Union to explore. We bought trolley tickets but as we waited for the trolley, we realized just how close the lake was so we walked to its southern shore. We watched a few floatplanes take off as we wandered through the Virginia V Steamship and The Center for Wooden Boats. I went crazy with my K1000 here, and I'll share those photos tomorrow, and probably the next day too. So many! We rode the trolley down Westlake to Whole Foods for a treat, then walked back to the hotel. I'd never been to Lake Union and although we only saw a very small portion of it, I loved it. What a lovely place.

I dove into my second pack of The Impossible Project'sPX600 UV+ Poor Pod this day too, on the way back to the hotel. I really, really love this stuff and really, really wish I had bought more than just one six-pack. I'm out of luck though because it's sold out.

Seattle - Day 2

After seven long hours of class in a stuffy, loud, and nearly windowless hotel conference room, we were finally excused and four of us set off on another Seattle wandering, and back to Pike Place we went. We got there a little earlier so we got to watch the fish throwers, sample delicious Chukar Cherry treats, smell bunch after bunch of flowers, and we even grabbed a paper bag full of hot, fresh beignets. The four of us walked down toward Pioneer Square and browsed through a few shops on the way, including a really cool toy store.

I saw a beautiful corner flower shop with floor-to-ceiling windows and hurried over to snap a photo. I shot one frame through one window, and as I walked around the to the other side to catch up with the girls, I decided I liked this new angle better and as I rushed toward the window, I didn't notice the step up and tripped over it. I didn't fall - the glass was way too close for that - but my K1000 slammed into the window with a loud thud, which was immediately followed by me laughing. I shot the photo, ran to catch up with my Seattle pals who were also laughing, and then I realized my UV filter was shattered (see blurry photo down below) and jammed onto the lens. The roll of film I had in the camera is for Vanessa to shoot for our Doubles project, but the cracked glass didn't seem to affect anything, so I kept on shooting. We'll see how they come out once she's done with the roll. I ran another roll through the camera that night too, and just two of the images have a noticeable glow (J-M Hotel, Crab Pot below). I ended up using needle nose pliers from the hotel front desk to pry it off. The funny thing about this whole situation is while in Mesa Verde National Park a few weeks ago, my backpack fell out of the car when I opened the door and my Canon 50D took the brunt of the fall, and although it didn't get jammed onto the lens, my UV filter shattered. In my 10 years as a photographer, I've never once broken a filter, and now I've broken two UV filters in two weeks. I just ordered two new replacements from Amazon and hopefully my klutziness won't interfere with them.

We ended up on the waterfront for dinner, and while the girls ordered fish and chips, I got chicken strips and chips. I don't do fish. I also got a glass of Alaskan Amber, which I loved and wish I could find around here. We made a toast, ate our delicious deep fried food, got gawked at by a nosy seagull, and took a cab back to the hotel. What a fun day.

Seattle - Day 1

It took me eight years to finally graduate from college and in all those years, the furthest I got to travel for any class was up to the local ski resort for the day so I could skip class. I wasn't the best student in my early years, I'll just put that out there. My transcripts sadly reflect my lack of attentiveness, but at 18 and 20, telling me college was important was like talking to a brick wall. My poor parents. I got on track toward the end though, and after that it was a breeze. I was surprised to find that attending class was actually fun. (I think it helped that I minored in photography.) So here I am seven years later, embarking on a two-year journey for a master's degree and journey it will be. I get to travel for most of the classes required for my emphasis, and I think I'm going to love this arrangement.

My first class was in Park City here in Utah, about a 40 minute drive from my house. The commute got a little tiring by the last day of class but at least there were no travel expenses other than gas and lunch. My second class, however, was a little further away. I got to go to Seattle! I flew in late one Monday night a couple weeks ago (the same day my kitchen got torn out), spent three and a half days in class, and three evenings and one afternoon wandering the city. I met some really nice girls from class, ate delicious food, put many miles on my Keens, deeply breathed in the sea air, got rained on, rode in a cab, stopped by Glazer's, shot two packs of Polaroid and four rolls in my K1000, slept very little, learned a whole lot, and wished I had a boat.

I've got so many photos to share that I thought it would be best to post them by days, so here is Day 1, my first full day in the city. During lunch, a small group of us walked to the Whole Foods on Westlake, a place I ended up at three of my four days in town. I love me some Whole Foods. On our way back to the hotel conference room, I snapped a few photos, including a few for my Doubles project with my pal Vanessa. (Some of the images below are repeats from my previous post, but the project is so cool (IMHO) that they warrant double posting.) After class, I walked to Pike Place Market with two girls from class, then two of us split off and wandered the stalls together, but we got there a little late and everyone was closing up shop so we hit up the first Starbucks and Beecher's for a grilled cheese, then headed back to the hotel for the night. On our way out, I saw the "Hello my name is _________" sticker and thought it would make a nice Polaroid, my only one all day. Stay tuned for Day 2.

Film Swap

After weeks and weeks of giddy shutter-clicking, hordes of e-mails, a handful of Google searches, and excitement we could barely contain, Vanessa and I are so happy to announce our new project, Doubles: An Experiment in Film Swapping. Until we began, I had only ever shot one accidental double exposure in my 10-ish years as a photog. Double exposures were never on my to-do list, nor did I think I liked them that much, until during one night of sleeplessness, I thought it would be interesting to swap rolls with a friend, so I e-mailed Vanessa the next morning and we had fresh rolls of film loaded in our cameras within days. I'm not sure exactly what spurred the idea, but I'm in love with it. I love trying to wrap my mind around composing an image that will be "sharing" a frame with another composition, and one that's completely unknown at that. It's challenging and exciting and weird and fun, all rolled into one.

Close to 80 double exposures are up on our blog right now, with many more to come. We've both got new rolls in the works, so please come back and visit us again!

(Beauty and) The Beast

I can't believe the deal Heather got on this beast. She was shopping for her future wedding ring at an antique shop and in walked a guy with this beautiful piece of machinery. The antique dealer didn't want it so Heather offered him $100 and he took it. Lucky girl. When will I be in the right place at the right time?