Photography: A Major Passion...

I've shared enough of my photos here that you've probably already figured I'm an eccentric and enthusiastic photographer. My first camera was a Kodak 126, with which I wasted countless rolls of film clicking away at ducks and the neighbors dogs and whatever odd thing I could find. My grandma used to give me a lot of grief when she'd develop a roll of film for me and it was all of the ducks on the lake. Again.


As a teen, I practiced my chosen craft at rock concerts and radio station promotional events. I shot rock bands into my twenties, when photography and I decided to take a mutually agreed-upon break from one another. Not that I completely stopped taking pictures, it's just that I was done driving to Portland or Olympia or Tacoma or Bellingham to go to shows. For a while, I kept the camera close, but let the photo opportunities come to me.


At one point, I was convinced to dig out a camera and shoot a wedding. Don't think weddings are my favorite thing to shoot by a long shot. I felt out of place and that my shots would be contrived and stiff. I'm much more of a candid photographer. I like those unexpected shots: things that just happen to look interesting, things that happen organically.


A few summers ago, I went on a serious beach kick. Every weekend it was a different beach either on Puget Sound, or on a few occasions I drove all the way to the ocean. Now and then, I still take outings with my camera to try and find some unique element of natural beauty or the bizarre leavings of human beings (unintentional art). I've recently considered getting back into freelancing as a candid photographer at concerts and events. We shall see if I get any interest.


I started a new page for my photography work. You can buy prints, greeting cards and other cool stuff if you're so inclined. If not, it's always free to look... though if enough people buy from me, I'd be able to go to the Zombie Prom...


That said, you can find my photography site on Redbubble here.

And while you're looking, check out my friend Bekah's portfolio here. She's awesomely talented too!

Cool Stuff from my Cool Stuff collection! (other cool stuff edition)

Here's some more of the odd treasures I found while digging through my storage room. Most of it is photography-related, but not all of it.


You saw the photo passes I posted in the previous post, I hope. Well, this is the other part of the puzzle:

This was once on the wall in the photography room at my high school:

This photo was one of a set that I entered in an radio station art contest, trying to win Pearl Jam tickets. My entry was good enough to make it to final judging, but didn't win. I was under 18 anyway, so I suppose they wouldn't have given me the tickets. Unfortunately, the other photos in the set got lost at the station. The theme was: "Fight Hate, Educate."

Here is the letter the station sent me. You'll see other correspondance from them further along...

Invitation to the school district's art show which I entered twice. One of the entries also made it to the finals but didn't win.

Radio station KISW put on a concert series and various other promotional events during the year. As a photography student, I always wanted a moving target, so I attended many of their events. After a while, I had befriended many of their radio personalities and their promotions guy. I sent a collection of my work to the station and received this note back, ironically when I had just started to think that my calling was radio and not photography.

Later, when I was in broadcasting class, a friend and I got to go down to the station and watch their morning show live from the studio. These are the promotional items they gave to their guests:

This black notebook contains my concert journal from my teen years:

This is the "band" my friend and I created as teenagers. The band: Empty Stage. The hit song: "Five Minutes of Silence." The band never had to practice much...

The above-mentioned friend was quite the artistic talent. I told her I was going to keep all of her notes to me and write a book about her someday. She threatened a very slow, very painful death on me. Most of that stuff has been long left behind over many moves, but here's a little treasure:

I like baseball. Here's my little collection of baseball ticket stubs:

And finally these two trading cards, the only ones I have left from the horror movie collection:

Spotlight On: Tanks of Zen...

I've been listening to this album near-constantly since I found where it had been misplaced when it came in the mail. I have a ferret (read: 4-year old) in my household, so that makes it hard to keep track of stuff sometimes.

That said, Tanks of Zen are the latest project masterminded by Nick Pollock (Alice N' Chainz, My Sister's Machine, Soulbender). Knowing Nick Pollock's background, I have been listening to the CD for days, trying desperately to come up with a way to describe his music without the gratuitous Alice in Chains comparisons that My Sister's Machine got so very often back in the 1990's.

The album, Love's Gentle Maw, is amazing. This project is partially fan-funded with folks contributing on Kickstarter to help fund the mix-down of this awesome record. Kudos to all the fans who contributed: without them, we'd still be waiting for this sonic masterpiece to be released!

Love's Gentle Maw is a solid record from beginning to end. The tracks fit together in a continuous groove, downbeat at times but always sonically intense. Be warned, you will fall victim to one earworm or another after listening. The tunes are catchy and well-performed. Pollock's vocals are outstanding. As an old-school fan of MSM, I've always liked Nick's voice, but had never thought of him as a top vocalist until now. His voice and vocal control have matured over the years and the lyrics flow from his throat in a groovy, seamless manner. I almost want to call this radio-friendly, but it seems only manufactured pop stars are considered radio-friendly these days. Owen Wright (MSM guitarist) makes a guest appearance on the album and his solos are exactly the kind of quality you would expect from him.

I really love this and it's going to take some effort to get it out of the CD player in my car. You can find sound samples and download tracks, as well as read a review from another fan here at amazon.com.

I'm not going to pick a favorite track as I seem to prefer to listen to the CD on repeat in its entirety. If you're looking for a more-rock-y track, "Alibi" is my pick for you. If you like a groove, try "Skin Deep." If you're not sure what to pick, try "Oh..."

Can anyone identify where I've heard of Steve Rehnstrom (bassist) before? I want to say he used to play in Jesus Headtrip, but I'm not positive. Help!

If you aren't familiar with My Sister's Machine, they put out two really awesome CD's in the early 1990's. While neither of them is available for download on amazon, you can purchase them here. Diva features awesome tracks "Diva," "I Hate You," and "Love at High Speed." Wallflower features awesome tracks "Cracking New Ground," "Enemy," and "Empty Room." MSM is more like stereotypical grunge rock than Tanks of Zen, hence the comparisons to Alice in Chains.

I was a big fan of MSM in my teen years and was sad when they called it quits. I know there were a few demo tracks intended for a third record, but even though I loved them (heard them on a radio show, forever and a day ago), they'll probably never see the light of day like so many other great songs: Lost to an unforgiving music industry.

MSM was one of the first bands I saw live, due to an overprotective parent. My mom's line when I asked to go see a concert was always, "But... there'll... be... drrrrrugs there!" I always rolled my eyes when ex-hippie mom played the drug card with me. I had better sense than that. But I digress.

In 1993, I saw MSM at Pain in the Grass, a now-defunct local music series featuring up and coming local bands. That's where I really got bitten by the photography bug. I had always liked to snap pictures, but had never gone gonzo for the art until that day...

This is an incredibly lucky shot for a then-inexperienced photographer. It is also one of my favorite shots of all time. So, thank you, MSM for inspiring a lifelong interest!

Snow Days...

I have spent the better part of the past two days stuck inside as we've having what they refer to here as a "Weather Event." Yes, it's snowing. Yes, we've had freezing rain. Yes, it's cold and icky out there. Yes, we've ventured out both days. No, we didn't do donuts in parking lots.

I know people who aren't from Western Washington laugh and ridicule us for how we deal with weather. But they forget exactly how hilly our area is compared to a lot of other places. Maybe we're snow wimps. Either that or we just take after Californians. They forget how to drive in rain; We forget how to drive in snow.

As I type, I'm watching little snowflakes fall at high speed, creating a new layer of fluff on top of the frozen crust of yesterdays snow and this mornings frozen rain. It just keeps falling and falling and falling. I want to scream. I wanted to go to work yesterday and I want to go to work tomorrow. Ooh. Now it's going sideways!

When the cabin fever gets this bad, I want to find something, anything, to do. I want to write, read, fold laundry. Anything but sit here and watch the snow fall. I miss being a kid and getting so excited to have a few days off school. I just can't muster enthusiasm for this kind of weather now.

The rumor is that it's supposed to be 44 and wet tomorrow. Here's hoping I can get back to work. I don't like losing pay because of bad weather. I like my money, of which there is never enough!

Diving Ducks of Puget Sound

I got a new (to me) camera about a year and a half ago and had never had much of a chance to figure out how to use it. It's my only digital SLR and I suspected I'd actually have to (*gasp*) read the manual in order to use it well. After procrastinating for oh-so-long, I took it out to the park to play with it for a while today.

After figuring out what the obnoxious error message was (I had the lens settings wrong), I took these little gems. Wish the diving ducks had come closer, but they were a little afraid of me and my little clicking box.

I've still got to spend some more time with this camera before I'm totally comfortable with it, but it's a start. The birds with the long, skinny beaks and mohawk-y looking hair are cormorants, I believe.