The odd second-floor lobby of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington (it’s actually a challenge to find it) reminds me of nothing so much as the Grand Staircase of the Titanic—equally classy, but evidently not equally doomed.
Tag: Seattle
Wake Up with Towers
The longer I spend in small-town life, the more alien a view down the tree-lined streets of Seattle becomes. If the warm towers are a rare sight, the man crossing the street with his dog is a more normal image for me to concentrate on.
VW Bus Interior
The VW Bus is an icon of mid-twentieth-century America, and the surviving examples dotting the West Coast (like this one in Seattle) recall those times. (Given their current emissions issues, that’s perhaps a time for which Volkswagen is a bit nostalgic themselves.)
So much of this interior—the wheel, the gauges, the radio—look to be stock that the subtle additions stand out. The nav/cell holder suction-cupped to the windshield is pretty subtle, but the plastic demon/ghost/goober on the dash is an ethereal addition.
Batman’s Entrance
The HDR technique brings out all of the subtle textures of brick and roofing where comic book heroes dwell: on the roofs of fancy hotels. When a supervillain takes the (imaginary) party below hostage, a skylight makes a perfect entrance. Also, a great way to end The Game.
This Is Where I Keep the Batmobile
The early-Saturday-morning light stabs down, under the metal bridge, to the precast concrete façade of the new and the ornate brick façade of the old. Overlooked in this corner of Seattle is a small metal door to an underground garage. I’m sure it’s perfectly mundane, but my imagination can’t cease telling me that some caped crusader’s high-tech ride is waiting on the other side. This is definitely where I’d hide my batmobile.
Wall of Olympic
This image of the flank of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington is imposing for a variety of reasons, but none more than the number of bricks, each of which must have been carefully laid into place, necessary to construct the façade.
Window to Seattle Glow
Waking up early at the Fairmont Olympic means peaking out the window to a contrast: the blue sky says day has begun, but the sodium-lamp-lit streets say night continues. The tan brick and window frame provide a logical grounding point for the viewer, placing you directly into the otherwise-fantastical scene.
Dawn Becomes Day
This street scene from my trip to Seattle jumped out at me because of the shift in tone: As the cars drive around the corner, they drive from the last dark, street-lit parts of the dawn into the full light of day. The passage of time is mapped onto the transition of light.
Vuitton Seattle
The streets of Seattle are almost empty, early on a Saturday morning in August. The retro lettering and style of the Louis Vuitton display and the science-fictional curve of Rainier Tower above it make me think of 1970s-era film. A car chase must be just around the corner. (I suspect I’ve thought this about a post before, but as this is apparently my 600th Decaseconds post, that should be forgivable.)
Dirt Bike Whiskey
Continuing my Seattle street photography trend from my last post, todays photo is a similarly odd vignette of West Coast life, from the punk/patriotic dirt bike to the painted brick to the elegant Jameson label.
Opening on Saturday
I found this newsstand just around the corner from this recent photograph of Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. I love the stark grid of his shirt against the curves of the contrasty cover, and the two lighting temperatures of the magazines and the street outside.
Writing’s on the Wall
Seattle’s Pike Place Market has a lived-in, European aesthetic. Tiny stairways and doorways peak out from beneath railings and walkways. I half-expect to see a secret agent carefully eluding his pursuers in the complicated structures. Early on a Saturday morning, however, events seem just a bit calmer.
Geometry of Madness
I was told to go to the Seattle Public Library, and gaze into the eldritch angles of its geometry. I rather like the reflections on glass and water in this image, and I think the gridwork is quite cool; still, the idea of sneaking some kind of Lovecraftian building into the architectural melange of a city sounds like the plot of Ghostbusters. Excellent.
Waking Up Seattle
My co-author is the true Seattleite, and I began to understand the appeal of the place when I spent time there for a wedding this weekend. From atop the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, the view of uncanny Rainier Tower complements the wee cars in the streets below. Dawn is the time to gaze down the canyons.
Kubota Waterfall
So peaceful. Another shot of Seattle’s Kubota Garden.
Decaseconds 