"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." -Edgar Allan Poe

This IR shot was taken at the Washington Arboretum near the University of Washington in Seattle.  

I was out walking and wandered through the wonderful Japanese garden.

"Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak, you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind." -Elizabeth I

Amen, sister.

Image notes:

This was taken a few summers ago before my daughter went away to school. A picture taken while in Meteora - amazing rock! She fit right in. 

"When one tugs at the single, smallest thing, one finds it attached to the rest of the world." -John Muir

This is a one-time forest in Oregon that burned many years ago and is still struggling to renew.  IR image.

"Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven." -Rabindranath Tagore

Just outside of Bend, Oregon is an amazing site of a volcanic eruption that occurred about 6,000 years ago.  To my surprise, the lava that flowed out is still very evident and all around this area is almost completely barren.  The lava is still very much just jagged rock and boulders with very little plant life.  But there are a few (and I mean very few) small pine trees that are taking a stand and attempting to reclaim the land.  This one is literally growing out of a crack in the lava.

Shot taken with IR-converted camera.

IR shot of the bell tower at San Diego State University.  I was out wandering the campus at just around sunset and this amazing tree caught my eye.

I was on the way home from work and I stopped at Alki beach with my IR camera - the clouds over the city were amazing.  This HDR is three exposures combined in Photomatix.  I did some further pushing around in PS (as I am wont to do).

"The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair." -Moliere

I found these so fascinating - these are just a couple of the images I didn't use in building 'The Visitors'

"... joy and sorrow are inseparable - together they come and when one sits alone with you... remember that the other is asleep upon you bed." -Kahlil Gibran

IR-converted camera: Image taken on Chelan Butte, Washington State. 

IR portrait.

We were spending an afternoon in the park and she was with one of her good buds. They both were kind enough to let me hang out with them and laugh and take photos. It was an afternoon to remember.

This is a very close friend of my daughter and we happened to stop by before she left for her senior prom.

Image taken with a IR-converted camera.

Another shot before the Prom - single exposure taken with an IR-converted Canon.

"To the illumined man or woman, a clod of dirt, a stone, and gold are the same." -Bhagavad Gita

A view of Seattle from across Elliot Bay.  

Image taken with an IR-converted camera.

"If some longing goes unmet, don't be astonished.  We call that life." -Anna Freud

I was walking downtown Seattle and came across these six wonderful white-barked trees planted in front of a large, beautifully polished, black stone wall. I set up for a quick few shots and while i liked the trees, it was the people walking by that really turned out to be special.  

It was early evening on a week-night, the light was dropping so my exposures were on the order of 3/4 to 1 sec and as i hurriedly attempted to capture the trees and wall for my archive-of-useful-backdrops, something unexpected happened. A fellow traveler passed by in front of my lens and left behind more than just his picture - in addition, there in that soft blur, was a bit of his gait, a bit of his need-to-be-somewhere-else, a bit of his intention.  

So now the trees became secondary as I waited for my next wayfarer.  I ended up capturing a dozen or so images.  In each one was the delightful result of a slight change in temporal perspective - my every-day passers-by were transformed into dancers and thespians and sculptors and magicians.

...And that is a crowd to aspire to...

Image notes:

As you might expect, this image was shot in IR and that's the reason for the white clothing. It turns out that most synthetic fabrics are efficient reflectors of IR wavelengths and so show up white or very light in the image. The black shoe of my one-legged man tells me he buys leather. This guy was also wearing a rather large pack on his back - carrying, I trust, all the necessities of the day. The woman on the right was wearing a rather voluminous coat that translated wonderfully as she moved.  

My stillness is all well and good, but all of that motion.... 

"The least movement is of importance to all nature.  The entire ocean is affected by a pebble." -Blaise Pascal

Hello my fellow Flickrinos - just a simple shot of a mountain and some things that just don't seem to belong.  

What I love about this shot are the foothills - I didn't expect to see such detail from my crummy little point and shoot lens but once again the IR surprises me with the way it cuts through atmospheric haze.

The houses remind me of the song:

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

-Malvina Reynolds

"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth." -Mary Schmich

OK, so here's the thing about this image: my daughter and some of her friends asked me to take a few pictures before their prom and, of course, I was honored and delighted and suddenly very nervous.  Prom Night - it seemed to me one of the ultimate events of a high school senior (but then not just any high school senior, here was our high school senior).  "Mark, don't screw this up…" was ringing in my head…

But then they began showing up to our location and I realized it really didn't matter what I did cuz they were so grand and so beautiful and so happy to be done and to be just a step or two away from a huge milestone so really I didn't do a thing but snap off some shots and then they were gone - off to dinner, off to laugh, off to enjoy the beautiful gowns, the fedoras, and marvel at this wonderful change in scenery.

As I did some editing of the images I captured, I was reminded of my favorite commencement speech that was never given (written by Mary Schmich and attributed, incorrectly, to Kurt Vonnegut) with her admonition to "enjoy the power and beauty of your youth".  That evening, power and beauty was there for all to see and while it might well of been missed by the very individuals in possession of same, to the parents in attendance it was a marvel to witness. I look now at photos of my own sweet self from 30 years ago and my oh my…..   

So I look at these images and it is easy to get all teary-eyed and nostalgic and wonder at the illusion of looking back and we tell ourselves, "make no mistake, it took 18 years of our lives to get here - this was not the mere blink of an eye -  and what a wonderful amazing journey it has been."  Would i do it again?  in a heartbeat.

There were, of course, lots of images from this session and while I maintain that each one is a wonder…. I have to admit, well, you know….  here, it's not the image or the message but the subject that holds this photographer so mesmerized….

I remain

sincerely yours.

Out for lunch at the Mecca Cafe before going to the Seattle Rep Theater and ended up waiting way-too-long to get our meal...   

taken with an IR-converted camera.

"There are two kinds of light - the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures." -James Thurber

I'm not quite sure what else there is to say....  

Image notes:

OK, so here's the thing about this image; it sorta' germinated from a short session of passing notes between myself and a friend concerning all the info we get every day - mostly good, some bad, and a little that is so strange (and frightening) I just don't know what to think...  

The backdrop was shot on this road that led to the trailhead of an amazing hike just south of Mt. Rainier.  I added color from some watercolors I have that my sister made many years ago and a few photos that I shot of clouds and sky and water.

A trip to the Seattle Public Market.

Image taken with an IR-converted camera.

We were out searching Chelan Butte for rocks to climb and this lone pine caught my eye.

Taken with an IR-converted camera.

"To light a candle is to cast a shadow." -Ursula K. LeGuin

The one light shines out from my life - transparent, radiant, and bright;  and still I see the shadows, the dark is there also-  and, of course, how can i be defined, including one without the other?  How else would you see me?

Image notes:

I went downtown Seattle for an evening look-see and suddenly everyone was leaving their shadows behind and walking into the light and it seemed best to follow their good example... 

"No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning." -Cyril Connolly

A view of Seattle from the West Seattle Water Taxi dock.