Lassen Volcanic National Park is (per the brochures) home to the largest geothermal activity west of Yellowstone in North America. Some of these spots are unfortunately in an area of the park that was heavily damaged by wildfires two years ago, and are currently closed to visitors. However, Bumpass Hell, the park's most famous geothermal area is open, accessible, and well worth a visit.
This boulder, found by the parking lot, is one of many that arrived here when Mt. Lassen erupted in 1915.open_in_fullinfo
One might think that after moving out of my apartment, I might take a breath, relax for a minute, and get situated.
Of course, if one thought that, they probably don't know me very well. And, they probably don't know my proclivity for running around like a chicken with my head cut off.😉
This Halloween display, which I saw mid-way through September in a small town in Oregon really caught my eye.open_in_fullinfo
I've been shooting film for about a year now. Along the way, I've had a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot. The rulebook is very different compared to shooting digital cameras, and I'll probably write more about this in some other posts.
For today's posts, I want to share the results I got from shooting a very strange and slow film stock, Film Washi A. It's described as follows:
Film "A" is a black & white film, used as a leader or protection tail during the reproduction process for movies. It was originally sensitized to record technical data (and subtitles and main titles) and offers a very fine grain and a very high contrast.
I'll tell you right now that I found myself surprised and delighted by the results.
Whenever I talked to someone, the refrain was the same.
"You've got plenty of time. What are you worrying about?"
But I've moved apartments enough times. I know that you can never start packing early enough. That it is always, always a long and painful process, and that I will be scrambling to get things done by the deadline...
...but, besides hauling sofa sections in the back of my station wagon, going to work, and saying goodbye to my old neighborhood, I had a lot of other things going on in August. I was reading, kayaking, celebrating pride, visiting an art installation at the last minute, and yes, travelling out of the country and state.
When it came to Seattle neighborhoods, there was no question in my mind of which one I wanted to move to. Capitol Hill is well-connected, fun, queer, political, energetic, home to lots of great restaurants and shops and nightlife. And, alas, rapidly becoming increasingly expensive and out of reach for the people who made it cool due to its proximity to Amazon's South Lake Union headquarters and the Puget Sound's general influx of affluent tech workers over the last decade.
That second point is part of what led me to my basement apartment, a place that has been a good home to me for the last two years (except for when an electrical outlet caught fire.) But strangely, basement life in light-starved winters turns out to be a bad recipe for happiness. And so, with my lease up at the end of August, it is time for me to move on.
The images in this post were taken throughout the month of August, as I went on long walks across different neighborhood nooks and crannies. These are my last photos of Capitol Hill, as a resident.
After spending half of May and June in bed, July was about to be underway. Its main highlight was a visit to the Sunshine Coast, which constituted more than I care to cram into this post. But, I also got up to so much more, like...
A heartening message for all of us. (Disclaimer: not something I was actually up to.)
There is a "sell-buy" email list at work, which acts as a very dysfunctional corporate Craigslist. Dear lord, it is inefficient to get 100 emails a day about cellphones and cars. But, another 'c' category piques my interest: campsites.
Colleagues in distant departments frequently re-sell campground reservations, and I almost always see them immediately after they've been snagged. (Getting a campground reservation in the first place in the high season is often a massive challenge.)
In late June, I happened to see one, one night reservation for July 3rd to 4th at Cougar Rock campground in Mt. Rainier National Park. I was eager to return to Paradise and its surroundings, and I felt like having a tent site would give me a great opportunity to actually explore and take in the park better.
Also, I roped a friend into camping with me. (His response to the initial invite was "I could be convinced" to come camp with you.) I still wasn't feeling 100%, and it seemed like a good idea not to be alone in these extremely popular woods.
