--I live for this--

--2008_09_25_I Live for This_BV--

Well, I sort of live for this. Not necessarily baseball in particular, but large venue sports. It's pretty much my very guilty pleasure. Honestly, they have no news value besides the fact that so many people love them. And it's understandable, nothing beats being at one of these places when it's a tight game and anywhere from 20-100 thousand people are screaming at the top of their lungs, it's electric.

You won't find that electricity at a Mariners game, but it's nice to see that there are still some fans willing to go root for their team and have a good time even though they have 100+ losses as of yesterday. It probably has a lot to do with the variety of beers and micro brews sold at the stadium.

Either way, here are just a few shots of the few games that I have shot at Safeco over the past few weeks. Safeco is a beautiful stadium with what I think is one of the best views in all American Stadiums. So even though the team is horrendous, nothing beats hanging out at the ballpark taking photos for an afternoon or evening.

Best

-brad

--Job With a View--

--2008_Job With a View_BV--

So for the time being I am taking over this desk, it belongs to another shooter at the PI but he is away until October. Till then I am squatting on the real estate.

Some days its beautifully clear and blue, but more and more as the days get shorter and the sun becomes more of a unicorn its become a little more grey. I don't really mind that though, just makes you appreciate the nice days even more. Plus without the nine months of h2o there wouldn't be the 12 months of green covered landscape.

Plenty of cliche rainy seattle photos to come.

best
brad

Listening to: Jackson Brown

Reading: WITW

--Whom it takes to move a house--

--2008_0909_House Movers_BV--

The guys that do this are inspiring. I was only there shooting photos, they were lifting a 160 ton house and moving it about a mile for 12 plus hours a day, 4 days in a row. I tried to show the true wear on someone by doing this type of work, I hope my portraits of a few of the workers get this point across.

cheers

brad

Listening to: Heart It Races_Architecture In Helsinki

Reading: WITW

--To move a house, up a hill--

--2008_09_05-09_House Move_BV--
I had time to follow a small project for a few days soon off after I arrived here. I had an assignment to sort of cover a house move for a few photos to go along with a story the PI was writing about it. I felt after spending a little time there, something could be made of the situation.

I decided to try and cover as much of the process as possible. I ended up spending 20 plus hours with these guys over the span of 3 work days, Thursday and Friday prepping the house to be moved, and then Sunday @ 2 in the morning when the actual moving of the house started.

As far as the actual move, it went about as smoothly as one can expect when moving a house up a giant hill in Fremont. It was a long move, from 2am - 11:30am and I stuck with it the whole time..... Well the house got stuck at the bottom of the hill so I took a nap on the street for about two hours waiting for it to get rolling again.

Here are a few of my favorite shots as far as the actual moving goes. I will make a separate post of portraits I made of the workers throughout the days.The full slideshow can be seen @ Fremont House Move | Photos from seattlepi.com

best
-brad

Listening to: Bob Marley

Reading: What is the What (a lot to go)

--Fishing with the locals... and Obama--

--2008_09_17_Fishing with the locals... and Obama--

While here I am trying to come up with a story to follow while out here. I haven't really gotten into anything yet, but I need to soon so I have time to really try and tell someone's story that usually wouldn't be seen or told.

Seattle is full of characters, it is a strange, beautiful place and well worth exploring if you ever find yourself in the grasp of the mighty northwest.

As I was riding home from work along the Puget Sound I decided to stop and check out a fishing dock near Seattle's grain elevators. I wasn't really expecting to much, maybe just a few people fishing obviously or just enjoying the views.

I found a few out of work commercial fisherman who happened to fall on a set of tough times and tougher coincidences. We talked, I spent a couple hours with them, learning their story, learning about their lives and how they came to be. I learned that because of the fishing methods we have exploited around the world there are not enough fish for the number of jobs it used to support. A strange thing caught my eye, something I couldn't help but notice, a sticker of Barack Obama. He had been stuck carefully and relatively level to the railing of the pier, a symbol of Hope.

best-
brad

listening to: shuffling

reading: What is the What

--First Assignment--

--2008_0903_First Assignment_BV--

So I'm back. Right I know, I'm an asshole who never updates his blog. Well I hate to sound like a broken record, but I will from now on. I have missed it so. I think I am finally set up, worked in, and thoroughly excited to be into some sort of schedule. A schedule which seems to only include shooting and play. Nothing much better than that.

To catch up a tad my first assignment was September 3, my second day of work. I covered the whole getting back into school thing, but focused on the relatively new superintendent visiting schools around Seattle.

This photo ran front in the B section, which is just another news section pretty much. I was happy with the photo but did not really get anything else from the day.

It's nice to be back into shooting, especially being in a city where you soul purpose of being there is to make photos and produce work... and of course explore and have some fun.

Stay tuned.

-brad

Listening to: Blindsided, Bon Iver

Reading: (real time, starting today 0921_ WHAT is the WHAT)

--new horizons--

--2008_0905_Rainier_BV--

Everything is going well here. I just started at the Seattle PI this past Tuesday. My first day I just got to know the photo desk, went to a meeting, and got familiar with the input and assignment system. Every day since I've been shooting assignments and getting to know the area again. I am really looking forward to the next four months. Everyone in the photo department is really nice and extremely talented. I look forward to learning as much as I can over this brief time with such a great newspaper.

I'll make every attempt to update this pretty often with my experiences at the paper and Seattle in general.

That's all for now. I'll leave you with a photo of Mt. Rainier, I saw her for the first time since I've been here last Wednesday (It's been not so clear most days)

cheers

--The Goats are Coming--

--2008_09_01_The Goats Are Coming--

I'll make this one short. So I live in the neighborhood of Queen Anne, Seattle. It's about 3.5 miles north of Downtown, a neighborhood built on one giant hill. One block up the hill from where I live the neighbors pitched in and rented a heard of goats from a farmer to clear all the overgrown vegetation from the hill that is on their block in front of their houses.

I find this inspiring, environmentally aware, and most of all hilarious and fun. The goats are extremely nice, and even with an abundance of food at their hooves they are more than happy to grab whatever you pick right from your hand using their eager tongues.

I'll most likely visit them every day for the next week while they are here and watch their progress and take some more photos.

I found it hilarious when I saw the goat, known for being on mountains and hillsides, using the stairs to get at the growth.... Lazy goat.

Thanks for looking - brad

Listening to: not so ironically... The Mountain Goats, Dance Music

--From Mt. Seattle to Mt. Rainier--

--2008_08_29_Needling and Rainier--

Saturday night after a wonderful day of hanging around the market and Bainbridge Island we decided to do the one thing that everyone who visits Seattle has to do at least once, head to the top of the Space Needle. For me I think this was my 3rd or 4th time however. But it is great none the less.

The needle is located just north of downtown and actually right in between where I am living this fall and the downtown center. There are some spectacular views to be had.

After Saturday's late night and crappy traffic due to the music fest going on underneath our feet all around Seattle Center, Bumbershoot, we rose early and headed out to Rainier National Park.

I could see Mt. Rainier almost every day while I lived here in the summer of 2004, I have yet to see it while I have been here for the fall of 2008.... Not even when we were less that 12 miles from the summit and staring directly up at the summit and seeing nothing but the beautiful abyss of white clouds and rain. I guess we have to be thankful for all the rain out here however, because if it were not for the rain 9 months out of the year this area would not have the majestic green beauty that has come to make it the Emerald City.

After just a brief one day trip to Rainier National Park it quickly rose on my list of favorite national parks. Full of old growth forested areas, waterfalls, rather dangerous hiking trails, and less roads than a lot of the other parks I was caught in its majestic throws from the beginning. Oh, and I forgot to mention the 14,000 foot volcano the park surrounds thats just percolating waiting to make Mt. St. Helens look like one of those science fair volcanos your mom helps you build on the weekend.

That's the thing out here. You're in the grasp of such a progressive, environmentally minded, urban city center, Seattle. But the rest is a lot like Montana per-say, nothing but some farms and well I guess a couple other large cities. But in this state, all less than a short 2-4 hour skip of a drive from Seattle you can be in a temperate rainforest, swimming in the (very cold) ocean, on top of a volcano, or tramping through an old growth forest covered in more moss than grandmas toes.

Cheers to you the great Pacific Northwest.

Listening to: The Cool Kids

Reading: (Read, so should you) Hipsters, the dead end of western civilization. Adbusters