The Solstice Parade is a great Northwestern tradition. Every year it takes place in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, the self-styled “Center of the Universe.” It is a rich and colorful venue and a great place to take photos. Last year I was able to get a few shots that made it into my book coming out this fall “Dogs Make Us Human.” Now I am working on a new book which is a look at children from all over the world. It wouldn’t be complete without a photo or two from the center of the universe!
Our trip in Oregon is drawing to an all too soon end. It’s been great just going with the flow…everything from a fire department doing a controlled burn on a derelict mobile home to surfers and their dogs on the beach. Back to Seattle tomorrow.
I took off on Wednesday for a short trip through Oregon with friends. Just upriver of the Hanford Reach on the Columbia, we saw a few white pelicans on their way to breeding grounds in both Canada and the US. I just love this part of Washington and Oregon—while it is only a few hours from the population centers of Seattle and Portland, it has a wonderful feel of solitude. A colder, wetter spring has come late to the region, and there is still lots of snow on the mountains, which is a lovely backdrop to the rural landscape.
Last weekend I was in Montreal to give my presentation of “Between Heaven and Earth” for Photo Life magazine. It’s a beautiful city and I spent a few moments relaxing and photographing families and kids playing in the fountains of Place des Festivals.
I want to commend the student photographers of the recent Zion National Park workshop. They should be very pleased with their results! Please take a look at this short piece I’ve narrated.
Art narrates a short piece about the participants of his Olympic National Park Workshop shooting at the Sol Duc River in April of 2011. See the images some of the participants got!
Art narrates a short piece from the wild west coast about the participants of his Olympic National Park Workshop shooting at Second Beach in April of 2011. See the images some of the participants got!
Yesterday I arrived on the Olympic Peninsula to prepare for my workshop this weekend. Jay Goodrich, Gavriel Jecan, and I headed up to the top of Hurricane Ridge on a scouting mission to see if this would be a good location to bring students to in the coming days. I did find some remarkable subjects, but also found the deepest snowpack that I have ever seen in my 40 years of photographing in this region. There was a ton of rockfall, huge avalanche run-outs, and below freezing temperatures as we approached closer and closer to the summit. I decided that this wouldn’t be the greatest location to bring a group of 25, but was rewarded with a great photo session of a raven.
Today we will be heading to the Sol Duc and then tomorrow to the Hoh Rain Forest and the coast for sunset. More coming soon.
Michael Rainwater just got back from China with Art. His reflections:
Over thirteen days, we travelled to some of the most spectacular scenery in southeastern China – from the Yellow Mountains (Huang Shan) to the rice terraces of Yuan Yang to the Li River, near Guilin. We all came back with images that we are very happy with. I, for one, am ready to go back again, especially to the Yellow Mountains. Though we were able to catch glimpses of rural life in the hill tribe communities, it is obvious that China is changing and modernizing much faster than any of us expected. The time is approaching when it will be difficult to find the “old” China at all. This has been a wonderful experience that was greatly enriched by the instruction and guidance we received from both Art and Jay. These guys are masters.
The weather for last two days of our China workshop were a bit dreary, but the subdued light always makes for saturated color. We finally got the mist in Guilin that we had hoped for earlier in the trip in Huanshan. The precipitous karst mountains are at their moody best wreathed in fog and the spring greens of the bamboo are fully evident. We also revisited the marvelous fishermen who still fish with trained cormorants on the Li River.
For the last 11 days I have been conducting a travel workshop in the heart of China to some of my favorite locations. While the large landscapes have been spectacular, I have been trying to open up my participants to a new way of seeing–looking for the unexpected. The following photos show some of my best images from the past few days, among these include, mud spattered cars that recall the paintings of Jackson Pollock, various wall details that highlight the residue of previous signage, and finally, the bittersweet encounter with a group of trained macaques.
