In March of 2016 I posted a couple of photos of an abandoned house in the South Park neighborhood of South Seattle, near where I live. I resisted the location this past week and you can see the ‘changes’ that have taken place in less than a year. I couldn’t get in the house in March as it had about 3-4 feet of debris in each room-who knows what was in that mess? Now, the house has suffered a major fire ( arson, most likely) and it is mostly a charred ruin. The lot it sits on has been cleaned of dead cars and all sorts of other trash and is now barricaded off with huge cement blocks and cable. At one time this house had a great territorial view and was probably someones pride and joy.
I’ve taken photos of this former Vespa Club of Seattle building before. Now, there is a new mural on part of the wall so I thought it was worth another look.
I dug around in my lens collection last week and found a 50mm 1.8 Nikon lens I hadn’t used in years, if ever. I was watching a video lesson online about street photography and the photographer was using a 50mm lens, which is something I haven’t thought to do when I do street shooting. The lens forces you to get a little closer to your subject, but the results seem pretty cool. So…. this was my first foray into playing around with an old lens. I was pretty happy with the results. Since it is a prime lens and not a zoom, you do all of your focusing with your feet as opposed to the lens. That was one or the points I remember from a photography class I took with The Mountaineers nearly ten years ago; one of the guest lecturers pushed the point the ‘focussing with your feet’ is the best approach in some situations.
Sage advice. If anyone in Seattle is ever interested in a one week photo workshop I highly recommend the one The Mountaineers put on. Very reasonable price-wise and just really interesting classes as well as a field trip every Saturday or Sunday. I’ll never forget my experience. I was, at that time, about the only person in the 100 group that shot in film! I was using my Minolta X700 and everyone else had digital cameras. But, that was okay. I needed more film time and the info transfers pretty good to the digital format.
This posting goes along with the Pagoda image from a couple of days back. There was a yoga class outside at the Seattle Center, which I thought was interesting. The tree is part of the landscape.
Spotted on the side of a building in Georgetown, Seattle.
T
View of the EMP at the Seattle Center, a Frank Gehry design.
