33. Gold

I witnessed this get devoured. I also shot the fashion show today just for my own enjoyment. It's a little hard to believe that the last show was exactly one year ago. 

32. The Contours of Your Face

Being in the art building always makes me nostalgic. Sometimes all I want to do is hunker down with tubes of payne's gray and burnt umber and paint. Just listen to Enigma and paint like there's no tomorrow.

31. Commuter

Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist and Steve McCurry sat down together to film an interview. Both are masters at portraiture in their own right, and it's an understatement to say that I greatly admire their work. We have all seen McCurry's unforgettable "Afghan Girl" photo, which is just one out of the many powerful portraits he has taken. Maybe it's the vibrant colors, or maybe it's the raw human expression he captures in the portraits, but every time I see one of McCurry's portraits, I immediately know who was behind the camera. The Sartorialist has a way of drawing you in a photo with simple composition, flawless light, and complimentary backgrounds. He has a formula and it works. You would think fashion photography is more or less straightforward, but unlike other street fashion photographers, I think Schuman manages to bring out the essence of a person instead of just the clothes they wear.

The people Schuman and McCurry photograph are, in many ways, worlds apart. Still, their photographs both give us a glimpse into another human being's life. Just a glimpse is enough for the viewer to imagine the rest, and that's why I think their photos are powerful. One style is not necessarily "better" than the other, it is each person's perception of the world and I find myself drawn to both.

There are 5 parts to this interview, and all are on YouTube as of now. Here is Part 1. Each video is only 2-3 minutes long, so it won't take you long to go through all of them. Definitely worth the 10-15 minutes.

30. Farm Fresh

cooked in minutes

Just looking at this makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

29. My roots have grown...

28. Going Under: A Scuba Diving Adventure (Part 2)

Each dive was about 40 minutes, so in between surfaces I had time to explore. This is a double-crested cormorant.

There they are!

Colin and Grace soak their hands in hot water to warm up.

And they pour the hot water down their suits too. Anything to keep warm, really, because it's freaking freezing.

Thanks to Colin and Grace for letting me tag along! Scuba diving looks like way too much fun I might just have to overcome my fear of deep, open waters just so I can get my diving certificate and explore the ocean. I never knew there was such a prolific group of divers in Seattle. There were at least 10 other divers at the cove we were at, and another 15 at the next cove down. The UW scuba club also does night dives, which sounds badass and I definitely want to check it out. Someday soon hopefully, I will be able to dive myself with an underwater camera. That would be the dream. Not being able to explore the oceans would be like missing half the fun, right? Or more like 75% of the fun? 

Sometimes when I think about all the things I've yet to see, I get a little overwhelmed. Where do you even start?

27. Going Under: A Scuba Diving Adventure

I spent Sunday morning hanging out with two friends from the Underdawgs Scuba club.
But before we dive in (sorry), let's back up a little bit shall we?

Gotta have those Asian fruit things from Uwajimaya. And Chicken in a Biscuit too. And extra socks.

There is high visibility this time of year because algae blooms are still dormant. The water color was beautiful.





This is heavy stuff. Just the air tank and the weight belt together can easily weigh over 60 lbs!


out they go


haha :)



I really love this picture.

26. The Other Side

I took a lot of pictures of scuba diving today. Not sure how I want to split things up yet, but we'll start with this: a view of Seattle from the opposite side of where I was on Friday. 

25. Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest

It was really sunny today... had to make the most of this.

I haven't been appreciating the Seattle Central Library as much as I would like, so it was great to be back.

Then Alison surprised me.

It was great.

Not sure what was happening here.

Then we met up with some more friends and headed down to the pier.

hmph..

pretty much sums up the day

I love Seattle.

Look at that light. Like seriously, look at it.

Lights, camera, ICE CREAM.

Sunshine means drop everything not immediately important and give yourself a chance to reboot. It means impromptu hangouts. It means eating ice cream because you think it's warm out but it's actually 50 degrees. Sunshine means going downtown to look at all the pretty buildings with light in their windows. It means every single person in Seattle with a camera is outside. It means you start thinking about Spring break.