iphoneography

caught in a spiderweb

Photography

raindrops caught in a spiderweb

I think I am going to start posting everyday again. I liked checking in here every day last year. Even if it is to just post a boring update about how my day is, it is nice to have it to look back on. If nothing else I can post a photo. I always have photos.

Here is a photo I took last week as I was walking to work. I made it to Newspace Sunday and developed it myself. It’s been awhile since I’ve developed film and I had a hard time remembering how but everything seemed to go ok since there are images on the negatives. I am going to try to shoot a roll of black and white film and develop it every week so I can get back into the practice. Maybe I will even get good at it someday!

 

 

Urban Sketching

Books, Music, Art, Movies
November 4 2012

11/4/2012 Trillium Lake on a pretty evening.

Not long ago I became fascinated  with Urban Sketching. I am not sure how it happened or what drew me in, but I found myself surfing around in this online world of journal sketches from all over the world. There is even a book written about it! And  a manifesto! I decided that I wanted in on this world. This hobby. Now, I can’t draw to save my life (as you can see from the above example) but, still. I love the idea of capturing what is in front of me via the slow process of drawing (as opposed to the quicker process of photography). It seems like an interesting mindfulness practice. So I thought I would jump in and try it, lack of drawing skills be damned! The image above is my third sketch ever. I am going to do this everyday. Just draw something in front of me, no matter how mundane it is. In the meantime I will (hopefully) learn to draw. I will post my sketches on Flickr and on my blog occasionally. Maybe it will be fun to watch how my drawings progress?

The wonderful thing about this new hobby is that my husband IS an artist so the supplies are already at the ready. AND we can go out and sketch together. Which is exactly what we did yesterday. We went up the Mountain  to Trillium Lake and found ourselves a seat in the outdoor amphitheater. We sat and sketched for a while and can i just say? It was amazing. It was fun and relaxing. I just focused on my surroundings and it was so beautiful. Normally we just walk around the lake and chit-chat, which I like to do, but it was amazing to just sit down, be quiet, and pay attention to what was right in front of me. At one point I looked up from my drawing and noticed that the sun made an appearance; evaporating the water on the lake which created a fog. It was breathtaking.

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Being a photographer at heart I had to drop the sketching and grab the only camera I had (my iPhone. doh!) and shoot a photo. Or three. I realized that if I hadn’t been sitting there sketching I would have completely missed out on this scene.

As we walked back to the car the clouds completely cleared and Mt. Hood  graced us with her presence, just in time for Magic Hour.

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Photography Friday: Seattle Public Library

Photography

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I spent all day on Tuesday at the Seattle Central Library for a workshop. I’d never been there before.  I heard so many things about it and was looking forward to seeing it myself. It is an interesting, evocative place. My introduction to it was this red hallway. I entered the library (a giant glass pyramid-like structure) before it opened and was shuffled to the fourth floor. When I stepped out of the elevator I found myself in a very red hallway. It was quite shocking. As my workshop wore on all day I had plenty of time to experience this red hallway. It evoked a strong response from me, one that I didn’t like. I found the blood-red color frightening. Then I noticed that the hallway had no corners. There is something very disarming about that. As I thought about it I realized that being in this dark, red, angle-less hallway made me feel like I was being swallowed by something.

It was very weird.

At lunch I had some time to walk around the rest of the library. The artwork in the Green Escalator was especially weird. As was the Books Spiral. I didn’t get a photo of that but the concept is interesting. The Non-Fiction collection is shelved in such a way that it spirals down through the building a few floors. Here is a photo that can illustrate what is going on to a certain extent. However, it really is something that one should go and experience themselves.

As I was wandering through I couldn’t help but feel like I was in a very surreal dream. I often have dreams (sometimes nightmares) in which I wander through a large institutional building. Being in this building was like something straight out of my dreams.