Outlook WA & Zillah WA Small communities in Eastern Washington Project

I had a training that I had to conduct for work on Friday in Sunnyside.  On the way back to Yakima I managed to stop at a few locations along the way. 

First stop
Outlook, Washington.
Population:  292

There was not a lot of items to photograph in Outlook.  there was a church, a post office and what looked to be an abandoned store.

Stop number 2
Zillah, Wa
Population: 2,964

Zillah had a lot more items to look at and the downtown was a block and a half long.  I was amazed at how many autopart stores were located in Zillah.  One of the locals stepped out of his store to ask  what i was doing with my camera?  and if i was local?

Small Town Project Moxee, WA

Today's post is brought to you by the letter M.

This last weekend I found myself in the small town of Moxee, WA
 population of 3308 (2010 Census)

Eastern Washington Project: Ephrata

I started organizing my thoughts and ideas for the small towns of Eastern washington project.  I am going through my photographs that i have already taken and catagorizing them according to the city in which they were shot.  I am happy to report that i have 22 different towns that I have photographed in.  This does not include Yakima.

 Currently I think that I am not going to include Yakima in this project for 2 reasons.  1- it size (pop 91,000) just in city limits and 2- This is my home base and i dont want to get lazy in my photographing.

i have also started researching population size for the towns that I visit.

More updates to follow.

This photograph was taken in downtown Ephrata Washington. It is an abandoned JC Penney Store. 

This next photo from Ephrata is an old Drive in:

Small Town Project Prosser, WA

I have started photographing once again, or i have at least started working on some photographic projects again.  I noticed that i have been taking photos of old downtown's and small towns of Eastern Washington.  I really do enjoy photographing small towns.  Most of them have not been homogenized by corporations and really do show off the ingenuity of small business owners.  I plan on posting more Small towns here in the near future

 Here are a few shots that i have taken in Prosser Washington.
Located in south central Washington
population size: 5,714

Family photo shot without the people

When mt sister was in town it was delegated to me to take the family photo.  There were 9 kids aging from 2-12.  plus 8 adults.  We were able to get some decent shots and i managed to take a few none people shots while i was testing light.  The first one is where the family is going to be placed.  The second shot is the coin slot for the 7-up machine that is on my parents veranda.  Enjoy.

Thistle

Todays picture comes from my most recent trip into the woods. Enjoy

Wenatchee

On my most recent trip to Wenatchee, WA I was able to go check out the downtown area.  It did not disappoint.  There are a ton of small business's there and allot of old signage.  I ate at a local sandwich shop called Lemolos and it was Delicious

Wally's Tavern- Wenatchee, Wa 2011

Abandoned downtown store- Wenatchee, Wa 2011

Wenatchee Plumbing sign- Wenatchee, Wa 2011

Sav-Mart - Wenatchee, Wa 2011

Camp fife 2011

In July I went to Camp Fife as an adult and as always i was able to take some time and photograph.  i also went up to camp in June to photograph.  the ranger knows about my project and trusts me enough to go around camp by myself.  One day i will put together my Camp project and put it in a book.

Foxfire Area- camp Fife 2011

White House Interior- Camp Fife, Wa

New Dining Hall with spring Run off- Camp Fife 2011

Rusty Can- Camp Fife, 2011

Tent in campsite- Camp Fife, WA

35mm in Yakima

So on the fourth of july i had a bunch of my camera equipment stolen.  It sucked.  My dad found on craigslist a camera very close to the one i lost.  I decided to run a roll of film through the camera to make sure it worked properly and didn't have anything wrong with it.  I forget how much i love black and white film and really need to make an effort to use it more often.

The Lariat Yakima, Wa 2011

The Bali Hai Motel, Yakima Wa 2011

Summer camps out of season -Camp Roganunda

I've been kicking around the idea for a project about summer camps when there are no campers there.  These places are like ghost towns most of the year.  I have several boy scout camps in Washington that I have shot out of season, but this is the first one that is not a boy scout camp.  It is a Camp Fire USA camp (or was) 

Camp Roganunda has been in operation since 1923.  It is now for sale and empty.  2009 was the last year of this camp.  Here is a clip about Roganuda's closing. http://www.playdateyakima.com/2010/05/04/camp-fire-goes-out-after-nearly-100-years/

I do truly wish that I could have gotten into the buildings.  All of the cabin names have been removed and most have been boarded up.  Here is a few shot I have processes so far.  There are more to come, hopefully.

Teapots and Dinosaurs

So I was in the lower valley for some business on friday and took advantage of some local oddities.  First i stopped by zillah and photographed the old teapot dome gas station.  it is not in use but cool.

then i went on to granger, Wa where it is infested by dinosaurs.

there were some at a church

there were some at a playground

at a store

and even at advertising a yard sale.

it has been a while but im back

I looked at my blog the other day and realized that i have not posted since march.  It happens,  i still have been photographing and selling some of my cards on the side as well as shooting a wedding for some family friends.  anywho... the pictures above are just a sampleing of what i have shot over the last few months.  the first one was shot during a cooking competition that i won, i know there is no hint of the cooking competition in the photograph but im the one who has the camera and get to decide what i want to shoot.  the next two are apart of my camp fife project, the first one was shot in april/may and the second on was shot in july when i was at camp as an adult leader.  The last one was shot a few days agor during the cowiche fire.  this one was at 1 in the morning from my grandparents driveway atop of my grandfather truck.  The fire was close but did not get my grandparents house.  Ash was falling from the sky like snow and it was surreal.  I hope to start posting more often as life permits.

Signs are everywhere...if only you know how to read them

Todays Blog post is all about signs or atleast all about where signs used to be and the evidence left behind.  The store may close and be abandoned but i love how its reminence lives on.  Yakima hasn't had a JC Penney in almost 10 years but if you drive by its former location it still says JC Penney just by lack of sign.  Would that be concidered irony? 

Batteries   Yakima, Wa 2010\

ex JC penney  Yakima, Wa 2010

Payless Drug    Yakima, Wa 2010

ex Yakima Mall   Yakima, Wa 2010

A day at Camp Fife

Today I needed a day of serenity.  There are two things that can easily make that.  1. is photographing (I find it therapeutic, constructive, fun, and helps clear the mind)  2.  Is the Cascade mountains of Washington.  The air is crisp the sun is normally abundant and today it was quite enough to hear the snow melt. I traveled to one of my favorite spots in the world -Goose Prairie.  It did not disappoint.  With four cameras in hand (and on back/slung over shoulder) and my trusty tripod I struck out to photograph.  Camp Fife is the main reason for my picked destination and after arriving i soon discover that the ranger is not Home/In Camp/ whatever.  There in no one there except me and my photographic equipment.  I wasn't able to get access to any of the building (Sad) but the sun was out and the light was bright and... well serenity.  I shot 147 shots from 3 of my four cameras, I had 22 shots that are above par and will be entered into my Camp Fife project.  Overall A nice day.  (now if only i could get into some more buildings)

Well since you read all of that you get a reward...Here are some of the pictures that turned out.

Me at the Curtis Gilbert building

Old Dinning Hall- Camp Fife 2010

General Sherman Tree-Camp Fife, 2010

Front Door of old Ranger House-Camp Fife 2010

Totem Pole- Camp Fife 2010

Fun with Telephoto/Macro

This last weekend we traveled over to seattle to visit some friends and go to a patch trade o ree.  Both were good times.  One of Our friends neighbors had some cameras from her grandmother and wanted them to go to someone who would use them.  There was an old film minolta and a canon EOS 650(basically the grand daddy of Canon's current SLR.  With the canon was a 70-210 Telephoto/macro lens.  With a little research i found out that the lens should work with both of my rebels.  This got me excited and wanting to try it out.
The sun was shining and the sky was blue and i headed out.  Here are the results from an empty old resturant and a defunct Oil Company.  Enjoy

four ten resturant parking lot

The old four ten fisherman sign

Tiger oil compant gas booth

18th Street & nob hill Ave

Inside shot

Posted on the wall of Tiger Oil

Ex Air Pump.  Tiger Oil Yakima