Blog Archives
Some Bluestar2012 Stats
As promised, some blog stats:
Posts: 3,203
Visitors: 7,646
Total Visits: 28,328
Followers: 468
I have no reference point, so don’t know if these stats are meaningful.
Thanks to all of you are make up some part of these stats!!!
Very humbling.
Where are You?
In todays world it seems easy to connect/reconnect. Saw this guy texting on the cobblestone streets of DUMBO, in Brooklyn. After a few minutes of standing alone the gentleman was reconnected with his companion.
House on the Hill: Update
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.
End of Year
Best wishes to all who take the time to stop by my blogs!
One of my fellow bloggers ( and follower for years!) in Seattle did a post today that mentioned both of my blogging efforts. Thanks so much, Wedgewood in Seattle!! The blog is centered around the Wedgewood area of Seattle, historically and contemporarily. Great blog with all sort of information.
Locally, I seem to cover two neighborhoods in South Seattle that I am fascinated with; South Park and Georgetown. Neighborhoods change so fast. When I first started documenting, through my lens, I had a feeling these two neighborhoods were on the cusp of change. I felt someone had to document the old buildings, bridges, street art, etc. I’m so glad I did as I now have a record of ‘what was’. Maybe someday this archive of images will be interesting to someone doing research on the two neighborhoods. Seattle, in my opinion, doesn’t do enough to restore and hold onto its past; developers swoop in, demo beautiful brick buildings and put up a ‘mixed use’ structure of glass and steel.
My last op-ed for 2016 :-).
Wishing all a happy and healthy 2017!!!!
Coney Island/Stillwell Ave. Station
This station is the end of the F and G lines. Subway trains pull inside the large covered area and then proceed to head out in the opposite direction. The station actually faces Surf Ave. but for whatever reason, it is named Stillwell Ave. Station. I think the station got a major facelift a few years ago. Stillwell Ave. may be the street on the left ( as you look at this image) of the Station. I have entered and exited from both sides and they both work just fine, however more shops can be seen if you enter via Surf Ave. You can imagine the throngs of people heading to the beach in the summer, cascading out of the two exits. In October it is deserted, aside from a few odd travelers such as myself :-).
In Distress
Gowanus Canal: Two ways of looking at the Superfund Site.
The Gowanus Canal can be a very picturesque place or, depending on the light and your vantage point, it can be a pretty sketchy place with an aroma you will never forget.
TBT:A Glimpse Back in Time
Another blogger, SunandGold, recently did a posting from her time spent in San Francisco. Her interest and fascination with the city/culture was shared by me 45+ years ago. I promised I would post these photos from 1970 in one posting ( rather than individual posts that I did in the past) so she could get a slight inclination of what the city was like all those years ago, measured against her recent visit to the city.
If you look closely at the image of Vanessi’s you will see a woman walking alongside the building, having come down Telegraph Hill. The image below, looking up that same street, shows a lone man in a suit walking to work ( this was a morning shot). Anyway, two points:the woman is wearing a scarf. This type of dress or accessory died off or fell out of favor shortly after this time. Also, personally for me or about me, both of these images portray the individual /subject as being a small, insignificant part of the world they are captured in, in terms of composition. To this day I have continued this approach, portraying a sense of ‘aloneness’, in many street shots of people. It almost seems like an unconscious methodology or approach to people. Even in the most crowded of spaces, people find themselves isolated. The images with cars in them also help validate the point in time in which I shot these film images all those years ago.
I think the rest of the images are, for the most part, self explanatory. Of interest might be the image adjacent to the City Lights Bookstore. If you look at the reader board on the building you can actually read the band/musicians on the bill for that week, which in some sense helps to corroborate the time at which the image was shot. Keystone Korner was a great venue for catching current musicians such as Boz Scaggs and Bennhy Cecil and the Snakes! I think it was an over 21 club, but I could be wrong.
Thanks for going along for this short ride into the past with me!
Spotted on the side of an abandoned building in Ellensburg, WA.Skinny Houses
I took this photo 6 years ago in NE Portland, OR. The houses were probably less than a year old at the time. This past summer I was contacted by someone in Mass. regarding the use of this image for an Urban Design and Planning Quarterly. Not sure when the magazine will be published. It was a bit of an ordeal getting the images transmitted. They wanted large res versions, as this is, and email didn’t work. I ended up loading the images to my Dropbox account and giving the contact person in Mass. access to that account.
All’s well that ends well.
