The Seattle Skyline

New Journal 48 – A day in Seattle

Yesterday we met a cool group of photographers at Kerry Park. Some of them mentioned how they hate it when a photographer writes in the 3rd person. Since they hate it, I’ll write today’s article that way.

Jimmy sat, overlooking the skyline, watching the pinks in the sky slowly turn to dark blue. He thought about deep, philosophical stuff (because he’s a really intelligent, sophisticated thinker, in case you haven’t noticed). He wondered why people can’t live in peace, why people can’t see past skin colour, why Americans say ‘Line’ and the English say ‘Queue’.

Earlier that day he and his wife Rachel were joined by two local photographers, Steve & Eddie, in order to explore downtown Seattle. Excited by the prospect of going to the first ever Starbucks, Rachel and Jimmy left home just after lunch. They had a minor setback when Rachel’s flipflop snapped, leaving her without a shoe in the middle of downtown. Since they were already running late, Jimmy tried to convince her that many African tribes don’t wear shoes and they get along just fine.

Unconvinced, they happened to be opposite a very cheap looking shoe shop. 5 minutes and $6 later, they were ready to move again.

Jimmy was deeply saddened to see a monumental queue outside Starbucks. It was 2pm on a Monday. Who were these hobos? Why weren’t they at work? Why were they stopping Jimmy from enjoying a coffee?

Since Jimmy shaved his beard yesterday, he felt justified in calling them hobos. It took him 45 minutes to hack away at the weeds on his face. He found

wildlife in there. Having that beard made him look about 41, 10 years older than his actual age. Without it, he looks about 39. He had a hard paper round when he was younger.

During their adventure downtown, a place with more crazy people per metre than any other place on earth, they discovered the gum wall. An alley where the walls are covered in chewing gum. They also found one condom somewhere in there, too. The place smelled like chewing gum. Jimmy dared Rachel to eat some. She told him to p1ss off. She was scared.

As the day wore on, Jimmy had taken only one photo – inside the public library. A woman kindly reprimanded him for using his tripod. He knew he wasn’t allowed to. He thought about responding with ‘Me no understandeee Eeeeenglish’ but instead went with the Oliver Twist lost tourist character.

Getting closer to sunset, the four of them made their way to Kerry Park at 7.30, an hour and 20 minutes before sunset. Shortly after setting up their tripods, hordes of photographers showed up, fighting for a spot. Apparently this was a Super Moon. Jimmy had no idea what that meant, despite hearing that phrase constantly for the last 6 months.

And so it was, for 2 or more hours, they stood, chatted photography, made new friends, and Jimmy thought about more deep stuff, like why do Americans say ‘French Fries’ and the English say ‘Chips’.

Today’s Photo – The Seattle Skyline

This is not an HDR image. It’s a digital blend of 3 images taken over a 1 hour period. The pink sky, trees, mountain, and main structure of the buildings were all shot at sunset. The building lights were shot at deep blue hour and the moon was captured shortly after blue hour. Combined, I hoped to put a twist on a scene that is very limited in terms of composition. Dozens of photographers were there. There will be very little variation between them in terms of composition and processing. Who knows, maybe I’ve produced something a tad different.

Although I’m not in love with this image, and rarely publish images I don’t like, I published this just to show any of my readers that it is possible to combine exposures over different times and light. And I published it because it reminded me of the show Fraiser.

Before the Joys of Post-Processing