Snap, Snap, Snap: The Conservatory, The Cemetery, The Viaduct
I've been out and about with the camera a bit lately, and fairly pleased with some of the results. Both last weekend and this weekend, I took mini-trips with friends to take pictures.
Last weekend, I spent some time with CS at the Volunteer Park Conservatory and the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery (Seattle's Civil War-era cemetery), the former a favorite destination of mine, the latter one I'd never been to before. The weather was stellar for walking and shooting, and I got some lovely photographs that day, several of which I'm quite proud. We ended the day with a fine meal at Matador in Ballard--excellent company and delicious food.
Yesterday, I was off with a gang of the usual suspects, CS, and his 8-year-old daughter S to walk on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. For those of you not local to Seattle, the viaduct is an elevated, double-decker roadway that runs along Seattle's western waterfront. It was damaged during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake and, since then, the city has debated endlessly about its fate. The decision was finally made to dismantle it for safety reasons, and to replace it with an underground tunnel. I'll not debate the merits of this decision here, but simply say that the loss of the viaduct will adversely affect Seattle's traffic patterns. It will also deprive us of some of the most wonderful views of downtown, West Seattle, and the Olympic Mountain Range available in the region. Yesterday, the city opened the viaduct to pedestrians for the first and only time in a sort of farewell celebration. It was a typical Pacific Northwestern autumn day, though perhaps darker and wetter than we've had in a while--the rain was a fine, constant shower, the clouds low and dark gray--thwarting hopes for clear photographs of views from the top. I'm sure that photographers more gifted and skilled than I got lovely, moody images nevertheless. The pictures I took are not art by any stretch, but they are my souvenirs of a roadway I have used regularly during my time in Seattle and which I will miss. (Note: The last five photographs in the set were not taken yesterday but during past drives.) ironymaiden took some wonderful pictures, and e_bourne took some nice shots with her iPhone. CS took a couple of striking images, too.
I'm going to miss the viaduct. I know that a lot of people consider it an eyesore and a wall between downtown and the waterfront but, as I said above, the views from the upper deck were wonderful. I always loved coming home after a long trip and looking down the city's canyons as I passed by, seeing skyscrapers from a good ten stories up in a way not possible anywhere else. Seeing sunsets from the viaduct was marvelous as well. And having used the viaduct as a primary route to the homes of e_bourne and markbourne, and ladyjestocost and bedii regularly, I've developed a fondness for it because of my associations with them, some of my longest, dearest friends locally. Lastly, the viaduct is one of the things that distinguishes Seattle from many other cities. As we walked, varina8 remarked that the last time she returned from a trip, she felt as though the city was becoming a generic urban area, losing its character slowly as a result of gentrification and the loss of historic, distinctive architecture. As I consider how the Capitol Hill neighborhood has changed over my years here, I see her point, even though a great many historic structures have been registered and will be saved from the axe. This particular loss I feel somewhat more keenly than for any one particular building because its looming presence is one of the defining features of the waterfront and because I've used it so regularly. I suspect, based on the turn-out yesterday, the number of people who took souvenir chunks of viaduct rubble, and the farewell grafitti, that I'm not the only one who feels that way. The city posted a farewell banner on the viaduct for yesterday's event. I couldn't have said it any better myself.
ETA: Pictures and video of the start of demolition. It actually hurts me to watch the walls being destroyed. ::sigh:: And here's a video of how the southern bypass will look during the demolition of that first mile of road. Pretty cool. And you can get a sense of what the views of town are like from the viaduct. With thanks to e_bourne for the links.
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Things I want to post about:
-- Last weekend's photo excursion
-- The book I'm nearly finished with (when I'm finished with it)
-- The interview/dinner I enjoyed with some of the women from Weight Watchers last weekend
-- The coming dismantling and replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct
-- Other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten
Note to self:
-- Make an icon for posts about photography
Last weekend, I spent some time with CS at the Volunteer Park Conservatory and the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery (Seattle's Civil War-era cemetery), the former a favorite destination of mine, the latter one I'd never been to before. The weather was stellar for walking and shooting, and I got some lovely photographs that day, several of which I'm quite proud. We ended the day with a fine meal at Matador in Ballard--excellent company and delicious food.
Yesterday, I was off with a gang of the usual suspects, CS, and his 8-year-old daughter S to walk on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. For those of you not local to Seattle, the viaduct is an elevated, double-decker roadway that runs along Seattle's western waterfront. It was damaged during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake and, since then, the city has debated endlessly about its fate. The decision was finally made to dismantle it for safety reasons, and to replace it with an underground tunnel. I'll not debate the merits of this decision here, but simply say that the loss of the viaduct will adversely affect Seattle's traffic patterns. It will also deprive us of some of the most wonderful views of downtown, West Seattle, and the Olympic Mountain Range available in the region. Yesterday, the city opened the viaduct to pedestrians for the first and only time in a sort of farewell celebration. It was a typical Pacific Northwestern autumn day, though perhaps darker and wetter than we've had in a while--the rain was a fine, constant shower, the clouds low and dark gray--thwarting hopes for clear photographs of views from the top. I'm sure that photographers more gifted and skilled than I got lovely, moody images nevertheless. The pictures I took are not art by any stretch, but they are my souvenirs of a roadway I have used regularly during my time in Seattle and which I will miss. (Note: The last five photographs in the set were not taken yesterday but during past drives.) ironymaiden took some wonderful pictures, and e_bourne took some nice shots with her iPhone. CS took a couple of striking images, too.
I'm going to miss the viaduct. I know that a lot of people consider it an eyesore and a wall between downtown and the waterfront but, as I said above, the views from the upper deck were wonderful. I always loved coming home after a long trip and looking down the city's canyons as I passed by, seeing skyscrapers from a good ten stories up in a way not possible anywhere else. Seeing sunsets from the viaduct was marvelous as well. And having used the viaduct as a primary route to the homes of e_bourne and markbourne, and ladyjestocost and bedii regularly, I've developed a fondness for it because of my associations with them, some of my longest, dearest friends locally. Lastly, the viaduct is one of the things that distinguishes Seattle from many other cities. As we walked, varina8 remarked that the last time she returned from a trip, she felt as though the city was becoming a generic urban area, losing its character slowly as a result of gentrification and the loss of historic, distinctive architecture. As I consider how the Capitol Hill neighborhood has changed over my years here, I see her point, even though a great many historic structures have been registered and will be saved from the axe. This particular loss I feel somewhat more keenly than for any one particular building because its looming presence is one of the defining features of the waterfront and because I've used it so regularly. I suspect, based on the turn-out yesterday, the number of people who took souvenir chunks of viaduct rubble, and the farewell grafitti, that I'm not the only one who feels that way. The city posted a farewell banner on the viaduct for yesterday's event. I couldn't have said it any better myself.
ETA: Pictures and video of the start of demolition. It actually hurts me to watch the walls being destroyed. ::sigh:: And here's a video of how the southern bypass will look during the demolition of that first mile of road. Pretty cool. And you can get a sense of what the views of town are like from the viaduct. With thanks to e_bourne for the links.
------------------------
Things I want to post about:
-- Last weekend's photo excursion
-- The book I'm nearly finished with (when I'm finished with it)
-- The interview/dinner I enjoyed with some of the women from Weight Watchers last weekend
-- The coming dismantling and replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct
-- Other stuff I'm sure I've forgotten
Note to self:
-- Make an icon for posts about photography