There’s nothing that says “discovery” like a locked gate.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter: | 1/80 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:12:30 14:41:00 | Aperture: | f/6.3 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 200 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 32 mm |
I looked it up though. Discovery is the name of the HMCS unit (aka the canadian “military” unit) that is based on Deadman Island off the side of Stanley Park. They sure have a nice building that you’re not allowed to come visit.
Alright everyone – penultimate (I never get to say that) night of Hanukkah. Day after Christmas. Kwanzaa… whenever that is. Hope things are good with you and yours.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | Shutter: | 1/60 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:12:26 17:33:54 | Aperture: | f/2.8 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 200 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 100 mm |
Nothing much to add. Biggest challenge with this one was getting some saturation on a super overcast day. HDR helps, but only so far.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF28mm f/1.8 USM | Shutter: | 1/320 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:09:25 10:20:28 | Aperture: | f/9.0 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 200 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 28 mm |
Always loved industrial areas. I wish they’d let me wander around rail yards and container storage sites. Unfortunately, between terrorism and insurance, that’s not going to happen. The Port of Seattle has a few hidden parks that are invariably next to shipping sites. Jack Block Park is one of my favorites. Here is the end of the rail line.
| Camera & Lens | Canon PowerShot S90 (Canon) & 6.0-22.5 mm | Shutter: | 1/1600 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:10:06 12:56:31 | Aperture: | f/2.0 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 200 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | N/A | Focal Length: | 6 mm |
I wanted to highlight the part of the shot I liked best since I couldn’t frame around the bits I didn’t like. I used the same technique from here to remove the color from the rest of the shot. Simple, geometric. Railroad lines – I’m always trying to frame those.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe that anyone ever worried about a Japanese warship sailing up the Puget Sound. Not just thought about, but seriously worried about. Yet around this area, there are a whole string of WWII-vintage naval defenses. I’d been to other forts in Washington and although I had fun running around the decrepit concrete tunnels at Fort Canby, but it’s hard to really imagine what things were like when instead of its vintage compliment of 6″ disappearing guns, it now has a Lewis and Clark Museaum.
Fort Casey isn’t like that.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter: | 1/80 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:11:12 13:17:41 | Aperture: | f/5.6 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 400 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 24 mm |
These guns are massive. The logistics of just building a place like this is hard to imagine when you figure it would probably never get used. They still have guns in the ready-to-fire and retracted positions. A nice place to climb around in the driving rain and freezing wind.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter: | 1/100 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:11:12 13:24:07 | Aperture: | f/7.1 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 400 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 24 mm |
The supporting buildings are all there too. Rusty metal, dark concrete chambers, not-up-to-code pathways – the works. I love places like this, and the view, as you’d expect, is amazing. Nice piece of history, not far from home. A few more pictures at the bottom.
Is it weird to have a favorite deathtrap? Any time I have a visitor in Seattle, I always drive them from the airport across the Highway 99 Viaduct. It may be a deathtrap (well… no… it definitely is a deathtrap). It may be a huge ugly freeway cutting through the waterfront of Seattle. It may even take longer than interstate 5. It may not be up to any sort of code, but the thing is, it’s got that view.
Everyone knows it has to go. In the ’96 earthquake, the damage was significant and the state has been monitoring it closely ever since. A similar freeway in Oakland pancaked cars and people in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Something needed doing. But still – the view.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter: | 1/80 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:10:22 09:42:21 | Aperture: | f/6.3 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 400 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | Normal program | Focal Length: | 24 mm |
This is the poor man’s penthouse. The only caveat is you can only see it at 50 miles per hour out of the corner of your eye. Oh… and also it might kill you. This morning, demolition on the southern mile was started. The public got a chance to take a look from the top before it all comes down. What you see is a freeway that probably outlived it’s useful life many years ago.
Through the expansion joints, you can see the lanes below. Concrete worn smooth and metal chipped and rusting is the name of the game.
Construction crews are wasting no time here. Even as people are strolling the deck, demolition is on. I’m not sure what these guys were up to, but it was taking them a whole crew to do it. Farther down, the bulldozers are rolling:
They’ve got 9 days to tear down the southern mile and reconnect a bypass route that traffic will be using until the end of 2015 as scheduled. Since our wonderful political establishment has decided that the viaduct replacement will be the largest diameter deep bore tunnel ever built (like… in the world), the chances of things going as scheduled aren’t great. Cross your fingers and hope for no earthquakes before 2017 or so.
Behind the temporary parking lot, they hung a huge banner from the viaduct. Right in front of it, the jaws of death loom. I thought that was fitting, but a little macabre. So it goes.
Aurora Avenue seems like it probably has a storied past. These days, the story is urban highway and blighted business districts. At one time, it seems like everyone decided it would be a great place to build glorious old-timey motels. Back before the Motel 6s and Holiday Inns, everyone had cool names and even better signs. At present, most of those places are out of business, but some remain, and better yet, they haven’t torn down the relics quite yet. I don’t think they’ll last long, so this will be the first in a series of what is left. All of these are on Aurora Ave N (State Route 99) north of downtown Seattle. First up, the Thunderbird Motel.
| Camera & Lens | Canon EOS REBEL T1i (N/A) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM | Shutter: | 1/160 s | |||
| Creation Date: | 2011:09:20 07:52:01 | Aperture: | f/8.0 | |||
| Artist: | Ari Brown | ISO: | 200 | |||
| Exposure Mode: | N/A | Focal Length: | 35 mm |
Most recently, this place was actually called the Fremont Inn, but I’ll defer to the huge neon thunderbird. This was actually one of the first of the motels to be forcibly shut down under the nuisance laws. I can’t say I’m sad that it isn’t up and running but I hope they turn it into something worthwhile instead of just another vacant lot or hole in the ground.
I think it’s safe to say, this place has seen better days.
More tilt-shift fakery:
It really helps to be above and a distance from the subject to make the illusion work. Medium-tall buildings are good, as are stadiums. Too high and the subjects are too far away. This is a bit borderline, but it’s a good downward angle.
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