Steaming The Narrows, Today's Coolphoto 04/16/2024

Steaming The Narrows, Today's Coolphoto 04/16/2024

Galloping Gertie Collapses, Tacoma Narrows 1940

The fate of bridges across the country brings to mind the modern catastophe of the Narrows Bridge collapse in 1940. Poor design assured that the bridge deck of the old two lane one and a half mile suspension span would lift and twist in the steady winds blowing through the Narrows channel. It was a hard deck that galloped like a horse and looked to a driver like the sea itself, the waving road hiding the car in front of you in the trough of a wave. Eventually it was torn apart and collapsed to the sea bed. The wreckage has become a home to the giant Pacific Octopus, the Kraken herself.

The bridge was rebuilt, and over it I drove many times to the peninsula and Fox Island. That new steel bridge stood alone for nearly sixty years, through several major earthquakes and at least one hurricane, the infamous Columbus Day Storm of 1962.

Tacoma Narrows From Titlow, 2007 ©2024 Christopher Petrich

A new span was added, running parallel to the existing bridge, concrete where the other is steel. The new bridge suffers in its appearance standing next to the old. Both are suspension bridges, with cables supporting their decks from two massive towers. They look similar, too similar to satisfy me for such massive structures standing side-by-side. The architects of the new bridge mimicked the X-cross bracing of the old as cosmetic indentations in the cast concrete bracing on the new bridge. A better design would have been a cable-stayed arrangement. Well, they didn’t ask me; what can you do?

Still, the new bridge which opened in 2007, offers a wide pedestrian walk open to cyclists, something lacking on the old. The walkway allows an urestricted view to the South Sound, nearly 200 feet above the water, and safe from traffic. On a brilliant spring afternoon just last week a tug pushed a gravel barge laden with tons of stone north through the Narrows, and beneath my feet, as I stood against the railing.

Steaming The Narrows, Today's Coolphoto 04/16/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

It Was Just One Of Those Swings, Pt Defiance 1980 Today's Coolphoto 03/01/2024

It Was Just One Of Those Swings, Pt Defiance 1980 Today's Coolphoto 03/01/2024

“Time and tide wait for no man.“ - Geoffrey Chaucer

Don’t we all remember the thrill of the ride? Dad put a swing up in the apple tree out back, and he would push us to swing as high as we wanted. He would sing to us too, making it all the more special.

The song gave him a time limit for each turn. That was important because there were five of us out there waiting at one point, and we all had energy to burn, and we all wanted to go high.

This swing set was at the Zoo. The park district wanted photos for promotion, and this was one that didn’t make the cut.

It Was Just One Of Those Swings, Pt Defiance 1980 Today's Coolphoto 03/01/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

Bare Field In The Palouse, Aquarelle Fine Art Prints, Today's Coolphoto 02/28/2024

Bare Field In The Palouse 2016 ©2024 Christopher Petrich

I rummaged through my flat files and found a project that I left incomplete. I have some stunning Pacific Northwest landscapes that print so beautifully to heavyweight paper. They look so nice that they project a lustrous feel of old world printmaking. I love the rich texture of heavy watercolor paper, particularly the Aquarelle Rag paper by the French company Arches. This is heavy stuff, laid in a cylinder mould with the mould pattern on front and back, and a deckle edge on all four sides. It’s 100% cotton. To hold a print in your hands is an unforgettable experience.

Bare Field In The Palouse is the first in the Aquarelle Print series. My mother lived in Lewiston Idaho about a hundred years ago. Lewiston is still a small city perched on the banks of the Snake River. She always loved the nearby rolling hills of the Palouse, so much resembling an ocean of the finest dryland soils. I took this image on a trip there about eight years ago. The pale blue sky showing just a hint of high white clouds contrasts beautifully with the rich brown wheatfield, newly plowed.

Its 100 % long cotton fibre composition gives the Aquarelle Watercolor Paper its beauty, a natural, lasting whiteness and an inimitable touch as well as strength.

I wanted to send this beautiful paper through my large aequeous pigment ink printer, and after some experimentation, I found the right combination of image processing and printing settings. Since the paper is not engineered for photographs, but for watercolor, I had to work to get the best, most vibrant print, with a lustrous gradation of color and contrast. They have the Arches watermark in the corner, and they’re full size sheets at around 30x22. I see them as floating in a mat and natural blond or dark frame, wood, or course, but you can frame them to suit your style. I sign in graphite pencil on the front, and I place my stamp on the back with a unique identifying number. $865 plus shipping.

Bare Field In The Palouse, Aquarelle Fine Art Prints, Today's Coolphoto 02/28/2024
Aquarelle Aequeous Pigment (Archival) :: Open Edition :: Size 30x22 :: Signed ©2024 Christopher Petrich

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

Union Pacific Train Driver Tacoma 1980 Today's Coolphoto 01/21/2024

Union Pacific Train Driver Tacoma 1980 Today's Coolphoto 01/21/2024

Mike, with Ramona, who was named for his favorite rail siding in Idaho.

Railroading is in the family. My son-in-law worked for BNSF some years ago as a freight conductor. He named our first grandchild after his favorite siding in Idaho. My grandfather, Bartley Costello, was a road and bridge supervisor for the old Northern Pacific. He was killed, along with his best friend, while inspecting the tracks in Spokane. They fell to their deaths from a trestle.

I remember driving up to Headquarters Idaho in the mid seventies with my Uncle Frank, a Jesuit priest and namesake of Bartley’s. Headquarters was the end of the line and the extent of the territory that was Bartley’s responsibility. Though meeting a tragic end on the railroad, Bartley’s children remained devoted to their parents all through their lives, and carried the railroad with them as a fond memory. Uncle Frank carried a gold railroad pocket watch for many years in tribute to his father. My aunt Mary, a Franciscan sister in Oregon, was honored by a placque on their goat barn in the Columbia Gorge with the logo of the Northern Pacific.

Bartley Costello on a Sheffield Hand-Car, 1920

Engine 3176 is called an EMD SD40 Dash 2 (SD40-2) diesel electric locomotive, built in 1972. It still operates as part of the Union Pacific fleet, though now probably run remotely without a crew in the switch yard. Some 5000 of these monsters were built. They weigh up to 200 tons and can pull over 800 thousand pounds.

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

Commencement Bay Back In The Day, Winter 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/19/2024

St Regis Pulp Mill, Commencement Bay Back In The Day, Winter 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/19/2024

“Time and tide wait for no man.“ - Geoffrey Chaucer

Early on I became enamored of the photographic panorama, those long thin wide views of places, inside and out. They came into use nearly as soon as photography itself, and in the early twentieth century Cirkut invented a special camera that would rotate 360 degrees while the film inside would advance, producing a seemless image, up to twenty feet long.

I went on a tear with them in the winter of ‘79, making exposures day and night around Commencement Bay, using my small format Canon Ftb. I shot these photos on film. This meant that I shot one exposure, then rotated the camera on the lens center axis a few degrees for the next exposure, and so on. Since the finished image was a paste-up of many photographs, this made the making of a readable image a long arduous darkroom printing session, followed by a long arduous session of cutting and pasting prints to form those wide views. Now of course you can do the same in a few seconds on your smart phone.

Commencement Bay is a deep and wide ocean port that until recently was the heart of the Petrich family’s business interests, starting with a successful ship building business, and concluding with my cousin’s 20 year tenure as a port commisioner. This image was taken at night in winter, just before the city began demolishing the huge warehouse on the right.

The centerpiece of the panorama is the pulp mill owned at that time by St Regis. By 1979 there had been a pulp mill on that site for fifty years. Since then, the mill has passed through many owners, the last of which, West Rock, ceased operations this past year. The mill had been known as the source of the so-called Tacoma Aroma, an obnoxious odor of the sulfide compounds used to make wood pulp. In the seventies they put scrubbers on the stacks which went a long way cleaning up that bad smell. With the closure, demand for city water ceased, and it was an enormous demand (about a third of the daily volume.) To make up for the lost revenue, to the tune of twenty five million a year, Tacoma Water is charging everyone, big and small alike with a 9 percent rate increase.

I have not before now printed this. (If you click on the image you’ll see it bigger on your screen.)

(While looking around for material to post I learned that Jeff Bridges has been shooting wide format pictures with the Widelux panorama camera. I’m a big fan of his, and I used to sell the Widelux while working the counter in Barney Elliott’s Camera Shop. I scrolled through Jeff’s pictures on his fanciful website. He has some nice stuff.)

Commencement Bay Back In The Day, Winter 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/19/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

It Was Just One Of Those Things, Ella Fitzgerald, Seattle 1976 Today's Coolphoto 01/15/2024

It Was Just One Of Those Things, Ella Fitzgerald, Seattle 1976 Today's Coolphoto 01/15/2024

“Time and tide wait for no man.“ - Geoffrey Chaucer

The jazz tunes of Ella Fitzgerald were a standard in our lives growing up. When she came to Seattle in 1976 I took my parents to hear her perform. In those days I covered events as though I was working press so I wandered right up to the stage with my camera. At the end of my roll I managed to shoot multiple exposures on a single frame, with Tommy Flanagan and his band in the back. Flanagan had by then been Ella’s band for twenty years.

One of my shots was particularly fine, and I sent it down to Norman Granz in LA. I did not hear from him, so I assumed it went into the round file, being unsolicited and all. Recently I found on Ebay that same photograph, framed nicely, posted in a completed auction. It had sold for more than eight hundred dollars. The note accompanying the auction described it this way:

This listing is for a 11”x14” black and white photo of Ella Fitzgerald set in a 23” x 20” frame. This photo was taken in Seattle in 1976 with Tommy Flanagan in the background (only part of his head is shown). This piece is absolutely gorgeous and is hand signed by Christopher Petrich. A very unique and rare item, This particular framed photo came from Ella’s Personal estate.

OMG, she had framed the piece and kept it.

It was just one of those things,
just one of those crazy flings,
a trip to the moon on gossamer wings,
just one of those things.

It Was Just One Of Those Things, Ella Fitzgerald, Seattle 1976 Today's Coolphoto 01/15/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

Two Fishers At Night Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/06/2024

Two Fishers At Night Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/06/2024

“Time and tide wait for no man.“ - Geoffrey Chaucer

Two Fishers At Night Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/06/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

Outside The Spar In Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/05/2024

Outside The Spar In Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/05/2024

“Time and tide wait for no man.“ - Geoffrey Chaucer

Outside The Spar In Old Town Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/05/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

The Needle Reaches For Her Martingale Boom Today's Coolphoto 01/04/2024

The Needle Reaches For Her Martingale Boom Today's Coolphoto 01/04/2024

Wawona in 1899 under full sail. —NWSeaport photo

The Historic Schooner Wawona was moored on Lake Union in Seattle when we drove to visit her in August twenty three years ago. The ship in its day had carried millions of boardfeet of lumber to San Francisco from the Pacific Northwest in the early years of the last century, and then fished for cod in Alaska until the forties. In the early sixties Ivar Hagland and a bunch of his friends organized to save it. The ship, in 1970, was the first vessel to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. —Seattle Times

Now it is no more, having finally rotted away at the docks. She was dismantled, yielding precious bits to the museum and spare rigging parts to her sister ship, the restored historic schooner C.A. Thayer in California.

The rigging along the bowsprit of schooners included a spar that stiffened the sprit against the pull of sails rigged to it. This is called the Martingale Boom, or the Dolphin Striker, and is pulled in tension between the martingale stay at the end of the bow sprit and the bobstay attached to the bow. You can see it in the picture of the Wawona under full sail. I saw that this bit of ironwork lined up with the mast on the Space Needle and so it seemed that the needle was stretched taught in his try to reach the old ship’s martingale.

Visit the NWSeaport

Historic Ships Wharf at Lake Union Park
860 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109


The Needle Reaches For Her Martingale Boom Today's Coolphoto 01/04/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.

That Gull-Dern Moment Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/01/2024

That Gull-Dern Moment Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/01/2024

A man jumps from a wooden ladder. Paris, France. 1932. © Henri Cartier-Bresson | Magnum Photos

The stars passionate photographers orbit are stunning moments at the peak of action, and no photographer is more revered than Catier-Bresson for his one shot of a man stepping off a flimsy ladder spanning a big puddle of water. The guy just seems to hang in the air, black sillohette in fedora and rain coat, not on the ladder, and not in the water. Cartier-Bresson quotes Cardinal de Retz in the preface of his book: “There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.”

The shores of the Salish Sea where I have lived my life are home to raucous Glaucous-winged Gulls, ubiquitous, hungry, and fearless around eateries and garbage cans. They are large creatures and easy subjects for everyone with a camera. Everyone has a shot of these great dinosaurs, and no single shot is worth spit, except for one leaping from a piling at the decisive moment.


That Gull-Dern Moment Tacoma 1979 Today's Coolphoto 01/01/2024
©2024 Christopher Petrich

Thanks to you my good friends for fifty years of professional photography and twenty five years of online success with Coolphoto.com! I am at the end of my retail sales career and am closing up shop by the end of this year. I will continue to post new work on Coolphoto, in the form of members-only galleries and Today’s Coolphoto blog posts such as this.

I am sending selected original photographs to the Christopher Petrich Collection at the Northwest Room of the Tacoma Public Library, and I am creating new bound volumes of selected pieces under my Coolphoto imprint. I have four titles in the pipeline to add to the three volumes already published: A Complete Guide To The Lighthouses on Puget Sound Including Admiralty Inlet (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775-0-8), Dreams (ISBN: 978-0-9744775-1-0) and The Beach At Fox Island (ISBN: 978‐0‐9744775‐2‐7). Each new title will be issued in very small editions of 100 or fewer copies.

For those with questions about my original works, or anything else for that matter, please send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

NEW PHOTOGRAPHY, BEAUTIFUL AND ORIGINAL

Most Editions are small, 5 and under. I’ve been at this a very long time and I have hundreds of vintage silver collectibles. I’m always taking pictures in Tacoma, of Tacoma people. The best images, on the best paper, in small editions, from a Tacoma photographer, of Tacoma.

Vintage prints are made within a year of the photographs create date. My usual practice is to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. What you see is a scan of the actual print that is for sale. Price does not include shipping or taxes.

Please note that vintage prints are imperfect. They’re old, after all. If you’re worried about it, bring it up. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Vintage - When I print the photograph within a year of the original exposure, that becomes a Vintage Print.
Archival Pigment - When I print in my studio using computer technology with pigmented inks on acid and lignin free paper, I call that an Archival Pigment Print.
Silver - When I print in my darkroom on gelatin silver paper, that is a Silver Print. These prints are double weight on a cotton fiber base.

For a private viewing of my current work, call 253 961 7147 to reserve your place on my calendar.