Sunshine and the trampoline

After spendin much of last week on the couch or in bed or with my head in a trashcan i got better and that was good timing because we had some great weather here inport angeles for a few days. On saturday i decided that i had been inside for too long and needed some outside time so i grabbed my camera and headed off to photograph and see if i could find some yard sales. i did and i did. first i hit this huge park with basebal fields and trails and such (see photos below) i like the one that is a pole with a warning that "beyond this point " it was dangerous to be due to the strength of the trasmitter right next to a little league dugout. Then i found me some yard sales and one of them had a sign "free trampoline u-haul" long sotry short we did. Apparently it was used one summer than givin to some friends who never set it up and four years later just wanted it out of their garage. So we have a new 14 foot trampoline. How mormon are we!

Sick Kids

yesterday cole slept in until 10 30 am and when we checked on him his room stank apparently he had trown up in the night and didn't wake up enough to tell us. So we bathed him and gave him breakfast and 20 minutes later the trew up again. so we just gave him water and some saltine crackers. Irish and rob went to the park and i had cole take a nap on me. Guess what he fell asleep then about 30 minutes later woke up looked at me and puked all over the couch. Last night he woke up again about 12 because he had throw up so we had him in our bed trying to get him to sleep (next to a trash can) again his stomach didn't like him. Rob spent all night up with him in the living room onour rocker chair because sitting up seemed to work better.

Irish woke up this morning walked into our room looked at me and said she wasn't feeling good them proceded to mimic her borther in the amount of Liquids coming out of her mouth. luckily she knows the drill and ran for the bathroom. Now they are both on couch with their own respective trash cans.

more pictures

Ok the first two are from Wapato and the third picture is the sign for skateland fun center in Union Gap. I took over 100 pictures last weekend and am still working thru them. For the first time in six months i was accually warm on sunday. notice the blue sky and the sunshine.

Yakima Weekend

This last weekend i traveled to yakia for my dads birthday. On sunday morning i woke up and decided that the day was too nice to not go out and photograph. I had marked some spots in my head that i had always wanted to go to in the morning light so out i traveled. First i went down fruitvale Blvd. and stoped to photograph some old motels and the stop and go drive in. Then i ended up in the wharehouse district on 1st ave and took some shots of the apple bins and cold storage buildings. eventually i made my way south towards the union gap area with a little detour to the Super D Bingo.(it used to be a Super D Grocery store) after all that i still had time and i forgot to turn so i went to the cities of Wapato and Parker. All and All i made some great additions to my yakima project.

Apple bins- Yakima, WA 2008

Super D Bingo-Yakima, WA 2008

Stop and Go -Yakima, WA 2008

First Babtist church, Union Gap, WA 2008

Post Cards

yesterday i had a meeting in sequim so i decided to visit my favorite junk store. They had postcards for .15 most of them were not used. So i picked up a couple that i thought were funny. then i found some on the internet of the town that i grew up in. Ebay was selling them for up to $12 for a vintage postcard. Thats absurd. Well here are some yakima postcard scans.

Yakima Motel (now an olive garden)

Chinook Hotel

Red Apple Motel

Down town shot

Motel 97

Discovery Bay to Clallam Bay to Neah Bay and back

Yesterday i had the oppertunity to travel to Neah Bay for a meeting. it is about as far as you can get west and north in the state of washington and about 2 hours from port angeles. I traveled thru several small communities on my trip and was glad i got to photograph them (it made the trip less tedious) if you notice in the first picture there is snow on the ground. this is very uncommon for the area and unheard of in the month of april. I did end up driving thru an ice storm white out and almost had to stop because i couldn't see the road or the car in from of me.Luckily this lasted for only about 3 miles before it disappeared. If i wanted snow in april i would have stayed in Idaho.

Beaver Washington
Rosie the fish Seiku Washington

local grafitti Highway 112 washington

RV Park Clallam Bay washington

Discovery Bay Washington

my firend kate

Kate who is one of my old college friends (how wierd to say that) found some photos of me at ricks college. they are quite interesting. check them out here http://dizzychicken.blogspot.com/

Olympic Skate

SO this morning I woke up and did not feal to great. I was waiting for this to happen because it happens every time i stress myself out. and last week i was stressed out, but robyn still made me go to church and then i was able to take a short nap. After i was woken up by some little people banging on my door i decided to relax by photographic therapy. I remembered that the little local skate rink was open on the weekends, only on the weekends and i had wanted to stop in and photograpgh it. After chatting with the owner and explaining what i was doing and why she was more than glad to let me take pictures. She said that at least somebody cares. Here are some of my reasults. they turned out good enough that i am thinking of working more on my roadside america stuff.

Vintage American pop culture

To anyone who has seen my photographs know there are certian themes in them. one of them is the Boy Scouts. For more reasons than one the program has made me what i am today. More focused towards boy scout camps where i spent much of my youth and early adulthood. Another theme to me is tied into Americas Past. Abandoned Buildings, drive in movie theaters, small high way towns, ma and pa stores ect. Alot of these things i photograph are endnagered of leaving and never coming back. How many people would rather go to starbucks then to the shop ran by a local who is working to make the best product she can and suppor t her two kids. Local burgers are always better than McDonalds (but then again so is most food) and i try to photograph the less know or local secrets if they are open or show how something once grand is now forgotten.

Old Advertising and signage intrigues me. At one time it was state of the art and a new "wow" idea then someone else came along and made a new idea of the same thing. Do this for about 20 to 50 years and then look at the original ad. I just recently saw a poster for the Full Meal Deal at Dairy Queen. I remember that it was before america couldn't read and the only way to order was point at the pretty picture and say #13. It was the original combo meal and it came with dessert. I know i am ranting but if you read my blog that doesn't happen much.

I have always liked the past i never knew and i know what has remained is not what happened but i ask myself how cool is that or why would you make that. Around my house are several of those artifacts. I think i blame my parents for this, My dad ownes his own 7up pop machine from the 50's and a phone booth from the old yakima hotel. My parents house is filled with treasure from the 30's-50's and i find i like the 50's thru the 80's.
Here are some of my treasures in my house.

Little Sprout salt and pepper shakers

RCA Victor reel to reel w/recording option

My new bedside clock the numbers rotate

I own about 8 metal lunchboxes this is my newest one

if you look closely you will find that the hotdog is in a wrapper

no picture today

I just got done with a big project at work and it didn't turn out as planned. haven't had time to even think photo's for a while. maybe sometime this week if the weather turns right.

clouds

we had such anice day yesterday it wasarm an when i got off work i put shorts on. then the clouds came in. i shot this right as they were coming over the mountians.

Old film developed

In the last post i said that i had found some old film and was going to develop it. i did and there was nothing on the film. or nothing i could make out as a photo at least. but i did remember that had found some old rolls of film from college that looked exposed but not developed. I decided to make sure that it was the old film and not me that screwed up so i developed my negitives by hand for the first time since 2004. and luckily i am still pretty good at loading and developing.

these shots are from Camp Fife circa 2002. alot of changes have happened to the camp since then but enjoy.

flag/mt bauldy
pioneering logs

friday cookout

the prairie and dining hall

bell tower

snow in late march

Yesterday afternoon it snowed here in port angeles elevation of sea level to 400 feet. This is a very rare event in late march. Our fair city only sees snow about 2 times a year in December and Early January.
So i grabbed my camera to show proof. i pointed the lens up to the sky and shot this shot.
It turned out looking like dirt or fall out from the sky so i put it against a background.

They were very big flakes as you can see. On my way back inside i looked over at my new salt and pepper skakers and the light on them was photo worthy so i snapped a shot off.

On a side note i have aquirred supplies for a darkroom. including projector timer chemicals, trays, lights, bulk film loaders,lighttight black bag and paper. There was also some old camera in the box and one of them had verichrome film that was still in the camera. The film had an expiration date of 1955. I Downloaded the development instructions from Kodak and will see if this film has anything on it. The next post may show the results of that expiriment.

Yakima for the weekend

We went down to Yakima for a quick visit and spend easter with the family. It was alot of fun and my sister came up from california as well. I did not get a chance to run off and photograph like i usually do but i did make some stops on the way home from easter dinner at my aunts house. these are the ones that turned out.

Barn Yakima 2008
last years tomatoe plant yakima 2008

air at tiger gas company Yakima 2008

Tiger gas stand yakima 2008

Camp Thunderbird

This last weekend i had the privilage of attending National Day Camp School for accreditation of camp administration. After camp was completed I grabbed my camera to go out and work on my scout camp project. here are the results.

Pictures of the kids

If you have seen my blog you will have noticed that i do not put up many pictures of my kids. personally i don't think i am very good at people shots. but i thought these were funny. Irish needed some goggles for her swimming lessons and they had a two pack at the store so each kid got one. they have been wearing them ever since but not at swimming ironically enough.

Cole age 2
irish age 5

lets try this again