Seattle Daily Photo

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Growth Hormones?

To get a sense of the scale of this much larger than life kinetic sculpture at the corner of Seventh and Union behind the downtown Sheraton Hotel, compare it with the cars across the street. It's ginormous. It's also über bright, whimsical, and full of movement: the 9' wide yellow flower spins, the blue bells open and close, and the watering can really does water the piece then recycles it to water real plants in the nearby planter. The 27 foot tall installation is called The Urban Garden and was dedicated last year. It weighs 9,950 lbs. Remarkable, right? But what's most remarkable about this work is Ginny Ruffner, the artist who designed it. Ms. Ruffner, horribly injured in a car accident, came back from traumatic brain injury against very steep odds. She's primarily known for her fine lampwork glass art. To see the trailer for a film about her, A Not So Still Life, which premiered at SIFF last year, click here.

Monday, November 26, 2012

New Evergreens Design About 1/2 Done

The Space Needle held a contest to design a new painted top. The winning design by Nicole Commins is called Trees and consists of a green background with a forest of evergreen tree shapes in varying green shades circling the top (click here to see the design). Unless you have an airplane, it's hard to get a vantage point to see much of it yet. You can see some of it is taking shape on the southwest side here. The north side was still orange yesterday when I took this. That's the side viewable from Kerry Park Overlook and will afford more height and the ability to see the pattern fairly distinctly once that side is finished. Maybe next week we will be able to peek at it if the painters get enough sun breaks. You can also see the lighted Christmas tree shape is again crowning it all. Lots of trees at the top now!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

TJ's New Pitchman for Fremont Brewing

A giant sculpture of Vladimir Lenin that once stood outside a hospital in Czechoslovakia before the Velvet Revolution now occupies a prominent corner in the heart of the Fremont neighborhood's commercial district. How the statue came to be installed there is a long and controversial saga you can read here. Since it's installation, it has apparently become somewhat of a giant piece of kitsch on the level of a plastic flamingo in one's yard, especially during the holidays when it is regularly bedecked with red lights and crowned with a star. One year someone even knit it a giant red mitten. Like other large sculptures in that neighborhood (the Fremont Troll or Waiting for the Interurban) the Lenin statue is seen by many as a piece of novelty art to be interacted with. It being such a landmark, I was not surprised to to see that the display artist for a local Trader Joe's had painted a rather good likeness of the statue to advertise TJ's special on these micro brews made in Fremont. Fremont Brewing doesn't use the image. It's logo is a Blue Heron.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Postal Carrier in Autumn

It's that time of year when people tend to send more personal mail and to order things for delivery. This postman was walking at a fast clip to get about his route through the Ravenna neighborhood. It is not sunny here anymore as the rain has set in, but we do get sun breaks for a few days this week, but cold temperatures, so it's probably goodbye to shorts and sun glasses, hello to cold weather gear.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Pumpkin Pie @ the Turkey Trot

Seattle Times photographer Erika Schultz was interviewing a participant on the hoof as they both walked briskly along in yesterday morning's 6th annual Seattle Turkey Trot. They were passing Sunset Hill Park. You can see my Flickr set of 183 photos of the event here (maybe you'll see yourself). Hope those celebrating had a very fun Thanksgiving, too!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Seattle Turkey Trot Thanksgiving Morning

2012 Turkey Trot Participants - Please look for yourself in this set :-) by Seattle Daily Photo

This 6th annual 5K fun run from Sunset Hill to Golden Gardens truly was lots of fun. People showed up en masse in full regalia and raised lots of support for the Ballard Food Bank. I heard there were over 1400 registered runners. It was well organized and smiles were everywhere. I enjoyed walking the route with plenty of stops to take photos. You can see my Flickr set of 183 photos of the event here (maybe you'll see yourself).

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Driven to Abstraction Wednesday #3

Swirls and rounds of an upturned view at Seattle Center create today's abstract. You are looking at a little of Frank O. Gehry's 1999 flowing Experience Music Project design captured with a snippet of Seattle's towering 1962 Space Age icon and a patch of heavenly blue. Number three in this weekly Wednesday series, Driven to Abstraction.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Preparations On Candy Cane Lane

Seems like every year in December my family and I end up taking a photo of ourselves in front of this house on Candy Cane Lane. Of course this famous street in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle goes by another name the rest of the year, sort of like Clark Kent :-). But this quiet lane in the shape of a loop with it's round village green (a bit of it is in the right foreground) makes a perfect drive through street for the grand Christmas and Hanukkah display the neighbors have created together each year since the 1940s. It's a very popular tradition that Seattlites have enjoyed for multiple generations. I understand real estate contracts for houses selling on this street might contain a clause about participation, so if you move in you are aware that from Saturday, December 8, 2012 - Tuesday, January 1, 2013, your street will be crowded with traffic and pedestrians enjoying the festive lighted displays. Walking through on a November day though, aside from the street's unique layout, it looks a lot like any other street in the neighborhood. And the nice folks who keep the tradition go about their normal tasks, like getting the leaves cleared up. To see this exact scene lighted at night as it might look in a couple of weeks, click here.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Keep Moving

A runner makes his way through the Maple Leaf neighborhood amidst the autumn leaves. Americans are preparing for Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday feast, and some of us will need to get out there with this guy this week to keep things in balance. There will be a 5k fun run / walk called the Turkey Trot starting at 9:00 Thursday morning. It raises funds for the Ballard Food Bank, thus there is an entry fee of $30 for adults. It's very informal, kids and dogs welcome, and will aid a vital community resource. You can get information to enter here.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Seattle Great Wheel

Since summer the Great Wheel along the waterfront has been offering lofty views of Elliott Bay and the city. Here it is just part of the view itself. Taken with iPhone and Instagram.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sunny

Here's a street scene in the Capitol Hill neighborhood . If you look closely you'll see the bright little scooter's name is Sunny 50. I thought it was a fun find on a rainy day.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Skywatch Friday: Autumn Along I-5

Rainy November gray sky scene along the I-5 corridor through Seattle. It's Skywatch Friday and you can find sunnier skies by clicking the link to all this week's photos from around the world.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Red Leaves

Autumn in the city: red leaves are peaking through the back open-weave portico of the Central Library building (and scattering a bit inside).

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Driven to Abstraction Wednesday #2

Last week I started a new Wednesday series, sort of revisiting an idea I once used to do occasionally on Mondays, and that is to offer you a fragment of something or someplace that I came across here in Seattle that I found visually interesting. I may do this each Wednesday for a year like I did a series of iPhone shots awhile back. In these abstracts I'll attempt to compose shots to reveal what caught my eye when I came across it, but the scene may not have any story behind it except the one you bring to it. If this is not your cup of tea and you wish for a more scenic shot from Seattle on Wednesdays, please just click one of the 3 shots below or check hundreds of shots you may have missed in the archives (listed in order by year to the right in the sidebar).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Long Alley & Cloudbank

An urban and outdoor scene for you today all in one shot. That huge cloud bank in the west was low over Puget Sound at sunset as the lights were coming up and illuminating this alley in the Fremont neighborhood. Tail lights are receding from view down the damp roadway, and a power tower's red light rises into the blue-gray above in the distance.

Monday, November 12, 2012

General & Sharpshooter?

Today is the observance of Veteran's Day here in the USA. Recently I've been doing some historical research about my father, uncle, and father-in-law's World War II army service, tracing their different divisions' and companies' paths through France, Belgium, and Germany. It got me thinking about this gentleman whom I met on a 4th of July a few years ago. I know nothing about him except that he was entering a restaurant here in Seattle as we were leaving and that he is a veteran of WWII. I commented on his uniform. He said I wouldn't see many like it as it was from 1942. I noted that he had one star which I think means his rank was brigadier general, and after uploading the picture I noticed a silver cross within a wreath with six hanging bars, the ones I could read were names of various weapons. I described this to a friend of mine who had served in the army in a more recent conflict and he thought it indicated this World War II army officer had been an expert marksman. I haven't a clue what his other colorful bars and pins represent. If you know, please share with us.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Free Flight

Sometimes people just take flight. Just leave the ground and become airborne right in front of you while others walk around and go about their business. It's always fun for me to come across skateboarders challenging themselves. This guy was jumping a low wall at Seattle Center near the Children's Theater. Below I caught one guy descending into the bowl and another fellow taking his dog for a skate at the little skate park near Fisher Pavilion, also on the Seattle Center campus.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Barberry in Autumn

The temperatures here in Seattle have dropped into the 30s F overnight. Nearly all the red leaves have fallen from our Japanese Maple and are waiting to be raked tomorrow. This Barberry bush on Queen Anne has turned its fall colors on and is offering berries to the birds (although I wonder how well they like them since there seems to be just a nibble here and there). Keep warm out there!

Friday, November 09, 2012

Skywatch Friday: Lake Reflection

Green Lake in Seattle served as a sky mirror near sunset as these kayakers made their way across still waters. We had a little sun break today, and I'm wishing you all beautiful skies throughout this long weekend (Monday observance of Veterans' Day in the USA and Remembrance Day elsewhere). Please visit Skywatch Friday to enjoy sky scenes from around the world.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Blue Figure on Slope

Another in the "Shoot the Photographer" series. I just can't resist shooting other shooters when I see them. She was armed with a small camera phone or point and shoot, gathering up fall colors through her lens beside the Fremont Bridge.

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