Crane On the East Tower of the New Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 11

The New Tacoma Narrows Bridge was added just to the south of the existing bridge, which was itself built to replace the famous "Galloping Gertie" that was blown to oblivion in 1940. The wreckage of that old bridge on the bottom of the strait is home to the enormous Giant Pacific Octopus. The New Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened in 2007.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TNBhistory/Connections/connections1.htm#wf2

Vintage print, $625

Crane On the East Tower of the New Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 2006

Crane On the East Tower of the New Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 2006

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Daisy Shadows And A Small Boy, Photo Of The Day, June 12

Visions pass swiftly sometimes, like bits swept downstream in a flood.

Liz Standing Shadow, With Daisy Over Lit, and Me At The Floral Table Top 2018

Liz Standing Shadow, With Daisy Over Lit, and Me At The Floral Table Top 2018

Small Boy In Dad's Arms In The Rain 2018

Small Boy In Dad's Arms In The Rain 2018

We were looking at the hummingbird grazing in the jasmine at the garden gate in early evening. Our jasmine overflows at the gate and climbs to the top of an overgrown juniper hedge near it. This vision passed slowly allowing us to follow the tiny bird flying to tiny pink blossoms, stopped in a frenzy before a sprint to the next.

And so some visions drift slowly. But the sight of the boy was almost too fast. We left a shop, nearly colliding with a young father whose arm was coiled about his baby's waist like a rope, the baby suspended and holding tight to some new toy.

They passed quickly and were gone, just like that.

 

 

 

 

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Girls Evening Play At The Beach, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 10

In early August on Puget Sound, the long evening twilight and warm incoming tide invite children down to the beach.

Girls Evening Play At The Beach, Fox Island

Girls Evening Play At The Beach, Fox Island

This Fox Island beach is situated well for summer evenings because it faces due west and so the houses, bulkheads, and drift logs are burnished a lovely golden yellow by the setting sun.

Currents have long left enormous logs on the beach in front of our cabin. Whether these logs escaped the great rafts towed slowly to the mills or fell into the sound in the end, they became for us something to climb on and to photograph.

These children are the third generation of our family on this particular beach and as it happens they were the last of our family to enjoy summer there.

We do miss it.

Vintage print, $625

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Cambodian Girl Dancers Peeking From Backstage, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 9

When we were a young family we would go to church meetings and gather with our friends on weekends.  Sometimes we went to festivals for Faith and Life. 

Cambodian Girl Dancers Peeking From Backstage, 1980

Cambodian Girl Dancers Peeking From Backstage, 1980

Cambodian Girl Sitting On A TV

Cambodian Girl Sitting On A TV

During one of those festivals in the early eighties, there was a traditional dance on the big festival night given by a family from Cambodia. The girl below danced with four others.

Faith and Life brought us together with the handicapped, some severely affected. We were all very glad to be with them for they were all dear friends. The handicapped, and I know we all are, but the severely handicapped cannot hide who they are. They become our most honest people with little to hide and little reason to do so. It means that I found myself closer to truth, unsettling, honest, and joyful.

It was hard for Cambodians back then.  The war there was brutal and many fled. But that festival night was charming, and so, who could resist the utter charm of it, the young girl in traditional dress, unsure a bit and sitting on a television?

Vintage print, $625

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Cambodian Girl Sitting On A TV, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 8

When we were a young family we would go to church meetings and gather with our friends on weekends.  Sometimes we went to festivals for Faith and Life. 

During one of those festivals in the early eighties, there was a traditional dance on the big festival night given by a family from Cambodia. The girl below danced with four others.

Faith and Life brought us together with the handicapped, some severely affected. We were all very glad to be with them for they were all dear friends. The handicapped, and I know we all are, but the severely handicapped cannot hide who they are. They become our most honest people with little to hide and little reason to do so. It means that I found myself closer to truth, unsettling, honest, and joyful.

It was hard for Cambodians back then.  The war there was brutal and many fled. But that festival night was charming, and so, who could resist the utter charm of it, the young girl in traditional dress, unsure a bit and sitting on a television?

Vintage print, $625

Cambodian Girl On A TV 1980

Cambodian Girl On A TV 1980

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Ella At The Arena, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 6

The great Ella Fitzgerald performed in Seattle in the mid-seventies. I made this image to accompany a review for a local throwaway. I didn't keep a tearsheet and I can't remember the name of the paper.

That’s Tommy Flanagan upstage playing the piano.

In 1956 during the Newport summer jazz festival Mr. Flanagan first accompanied Ella Fitzgerald, a job that would keep him occupied for a good deal of the next 20 years; he also acted as her musical director.

Vintage print, $625

Ella Fitzgerald, Seattle, 1976 (Vintage Silver)
Print 18217
Original Date 1976
Print Date 1976
Size 10x8
Format Vintage Silver
Edition 1
Stamp On Back
Price $625

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 7

This bridge was the sole span across the Tacoma Narrows but also the second of its kind after the first was blown apart by the wind in the early 1940's. In 2007 a new suspension bridge arose next to it, but for over fifty years this steel bridge held the position by itself.

I loved seeing it from below because it showed how delicate the structure appeared to be while belying its great strength.

This is one of my earliest images in large format.  I had studied the principles of Ansel Adams, wishing to create a body of work that echoed Adams' majestic style. I would continue to emulate this style for another 20 years.

Vintage print, $625

Tacoma Narrows Bridge from Beneath on the Gig Harbor side, early nineties

Tacoma Narrows Bridge from Beneath on the Gig Harbor side, early nineties

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 5

The water beneath the Murray Morgan Bridge. 

Vintage print, $625

From The Bridge, Boats, pilings, and the sparkle on the water.

From The Bridge, Boats, pilings, and the sparkle on the water.

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 4

Some like to row and this day was perfect for it.  The wind was calm and the water smooth on Tacoma's Commencement Bay. Two large bulk cargo ships lay at anchor some distance away with fog just lifting in the morning sun. You can just make out the name of the nearest ship, "Wren."

Vintage print, $625

Single Rower, Wren In Fog

Single Rower, Wren In Fog

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.

Vintage Photo Of The Day, June 3

Wright Park in North Tacoma still has pits for throwing horseshoes, though I have never seen anyone throw shoes there.  Near the pits an old cherry tree was in full bloom on the bright April day when I made this photograph. Large brick apartment houses ring the park and in those days they were mostly occupied by the elderly who had given up their homes and lawns for the convenience of living near the lovely parkland, and close to medical offices that surround the general hospital a few blocks away.

"Wright Park is the only considerable breathing space reserved to the people thronging the central part of this city...without being cramped for space or menaced by shows and their consequent temptations to spend their spare time within the walls of a packed building rather than in the health giving environment of trees, plants and flowers."
-- 1909, The Board of Park Commissioners in response to organizations wanting to build in the park.

Vintage print, $625

Man Strolling Beneath Wright Park Cherry

Man Strolling Beneath Wright Park Cherry

I created large format silver photographs of my home town for 20 years from 1990 through 2010. These are rich, beautifully crafted silver images processed for permanence. Vintage prints are made within a year of the photograph create date. My usual practice was to print within a few days or weeks of exposure. There are at most six prints per image; most images have three or fewer prints.