2009_01_15_Chicago_bv

I'm in Chicago for a couple days. It's really cold.






5 days till I start in Kansas.

Best,
Brad Vest

2009_01_14_I've got that apocalyptic feeling_bv

2009_01_14_I've got that apocalyptic feeling_bv

One of my great friends, Pat Traylor, swung through DeKalb on his way to O'hare to catch his flight out to Guatemala on Wednesday night. We met up and had a great little send off party for Pat, along with one of my other great friends, Beck Diefenbach, who has a job with my home town's daily newspaper, The Daily Chronicle.

The night was very chill with a lot of photojournalism talk, a little photojournalism wallowing, and the appearance of the infamous flat pat who just had to say goodbye to 3d pat.

When all was said and done, after beck and I looked at images and bullshitted into the late hours of the evening it was time to head home. Walking from Beck's killer downtown apartment I walked out into what seemed to be the aftermath of an apocalypse. Zombies I presume. It was so peaceful and with the light inch or so dusting of snow DeKalb had that night I felt as if I were the last one on the planet making the short walk to my car. I strolled down the middle of the street taking photos, glancing at things in a new way, and thinking about just how fragile everything is when put into context.

It was the perfect ending to a great night.

Great seeing those two, it had been too long.

Cheers,
Brad Vest

01_09_2009_Very slow moving h2o molecules_bv

--01_09_2009_Very slow moving h2o molecules_bv--

Forgive me, I'm going to keep this short, I'm exhausted. I was going to try and make it to Iowa today, but Mother Nature had other plans. I woke up this morning to about 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground in Wyoming. The roads were okay, but the beginning of the trip I had to travel pretty slowly due to the high winds, snow, and slippery curves.

I love snow, just not so much when I am going to be driving all day long. This is sorta like a very expensive digital holga shot?


Once I was out of the Elk mountain area of Wyoming the roads cleared up and I cruised for a few hundred miles until about 70 miles from Lincoln, Nebraska. At that point the roads became one big sheet of ice combined with 50mph gusts of crosswinds I decided to call it a short day and stopped in the small town of York, Nebraska. I'll hole up here tonight before completing the rest of the trip in the morning.

About 7 hours to go. Not to shabby.

Best,
Brad Vest

Listening to: Solo Impala, The Fashion

A lot of warning signs as I have made my way east the past few days.


It wasn't to great to drive in, but it was pretty gorgeous.


Energy in motion. I've passed so many of these on the way home, I love it.


That little guy was probably headed to a nearby farm like this one. It was so windy out today, these things were spinning like helicopters.


This was actually a lot less slippery than the final leg in Nebraska at night when I decided to call it a night and relax instead of drive 45mph behind semi trucks.

--2008_12_19-22_Seattle on Ice_bv--

--2008_12_19-22_Seattle on Ice_bv--

In the last few days Seattle has been rocked by an epic (in Seattle standards) amount of snow. This city shuts down after only a couple inches of snow. As a matter of fact, Seattle canceled all schools for this past Wednesday just at the mere threat of snow. Well, as it turned out, it didn't snow on Wednesday. It did however snow Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Accumulating a total of 8-10 inches of snow in the Seattle metro area. This is quite a bit of snow to fall at once even in Chicago standards. What makes it much worse here though is the face that Seattle has very few snow plows, no salt, and an enormous amount of very steep hills. These, along with 10 inches of snow, combined to pretty much shutdown the city.

Since I personally live on a giant hill, Queen Anne, my car has been out of action for the past 4 days and I've been hoofing it all around the city gathering photos. It's been great seeing the way most people here love the snow. Since they don't get it every winter and barely ever get this much it seems to bring out the kid in everyone.

So, the count. In the last 4 days.... I've gone through 12 pairs of socks, 8.67 gigs of hd space, plenty of coffee and tea, and around 30 miles of walking around from Queen Anne to Capital Hill and back multiple times along with some side treks. One of the many reasons I am going to intensely miss this city when I leave in about two weeks, the fact that when it snows and the biggest hill in the city shuts down it turns into a big party of sledders, skiers, and snowboarders. What an amazing place. It has really gone by way to fast.

Here are a few more of my favorite photos from the past few days building from the ones I've already posted here. Thanks for keeping me busy with your curve ball of weather Seattle.

Thanks so much for looking. If it is snowing where you're at, stay safe, go out, and have some fun.

Best,

Brad Vest

This says it all. Do not enter... my entire neighborhood. Risky.




I began to feel like one of these guys after treadging around in the snow for 4 days straight.




































Cheers to you Seattle, it was a great few days of playing in the snow.

--12_19_2008_Sledding Denny_bv--

--12_19_2008_Sledding Denny_bv--

Since my car is stuck on the side of a steep hill surrounded by nothing but ice I walked from my house in Queen Anne to a friends in Capitol Hill gathering photos along the way for an online slideshow. With no way back to Queen Anne we toughed it out on Capitol Hill by putting together a mini bar crawl... slide. Of course we had to swing by City Market to pick up a few supplies and found they were giving some local love to the gov of my home state, Illinois.
We ended up heading back to the apartment on Bellevue but couldn't pass up the opportunity to cruise down denny on cardboard boxes along with other local revelers of the snow.
It was tough to make photos cruising down Denny but I figured I would share these to let everyone see how much of a phenomena it is to have a lot of snow in Seattle. Everyone comes out to enjoy it. It's not just a regular pain as people view it in the midwest and east coast.
Many more photos to come. After Thursday's storm we have gotten an additional 10 or so inches and it is still snowing outside. Who knows when I'll be able to move my car again.

Thanks for looking,

Brad Vest

Listening to: Solo Impala, The Fashion

Gotta love those City Market signs.

--12_18_2008_S(n)O(w) it begins--

--12_18_2008_S(n)O(w) it begins--

An epic snowstorm his Seattle this past Thursday. Well, epic for Seattle standards. Due to the fact that Seattle pretty much has zero snow plows combined with more hills than MTV. With those two factors it's a mixture to paralyze a city. Just to let you know how scared Seattle is of snow, on Wednesday there was just a chance that it may snow.... cancel school, everything. It didn't snow, it was pretty funny. Then of course the snow came on Thursday with a vengeance.
Due to the fact that I live on Queen Anne HILL I haven't been able to move my car in two days. If you don't have chains in this neighborhood don't even think about it. So I've been walking miles a day up and down the slopes of Seattle making pictures along the way.
It's great here to see how the kids react to snow since they don't usually get to see it, let along 6 inches of it. Everyone seemed to be having a great time as long as they weren't trying to get anywhere.

Thanks for looking.

Stay safe out there,

Brad Vest

Listening to: Flying Lotus, RobertaFlack (feat Dolly)

Apparently this snowman has no interest in the great view from Kerry Park. I guess he could have just been posing for a photo. Only in Seattle have I found snowmen with eyes made from coffee beans, fitting I guess.


The storm parted for an instant and the sun bathed down on Eliot Bay for a brief instance.




These kids were catching some massive air cruising down 11th Avenue in US Post Office boxes. Even the parents got into it. It was great hanging out for a while.


There are a lot of these little berry trees all over Seattle. The deep red really popped out against the stark white snow.




Pretty much every bus trying to get into my neighborhood was stuck on a hill, somewhere. Luckily this morning on my way back from a friends the bus was running all the way up. Actually the first one to go up the hill was the bus that I caught, I know lucky. They had just sanded the hill and the buses were outfitted with chains around their tires. Here a resident asks a driver if he wants anything to drink or eat while he was stranded in his bus waiting for a tow off the hill near the end of the storm.


All the hills make for fantastic views. I wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe having chains for my car.






Snowman numero dos.