Back when America was pursuing the dream of placing a man on the moon, research and development was in full bloom. Engineers and program managers all over the country were continually reaching that next technological milestone. Radio communications, telemetry, life support, and computers were produced, tested, improved, and produced once again. A continuous cycle of learning that had the American public, and the world, on the edge of their seats. Kids everywhere dreamed of being an astronaut someday. Television glorified this space age dream. “Lost In Space”. “Star Trek”. “The Jetsons”? On July 20, 1969, my parents had me and my brother sitting in front of our state of our art twelve inch black and white television to watch Neil Armstrong step on the moon for the very first time.

While wandering around the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, I discovered the device that moved more than six million pounds of metal, fuel, and human being from sea level to the edge of outer space. The F-1 rocket engine in clusters of five had just one job, which it did well for about three minutes before falling into the sea. My imagination soared as I looked into the twelve foot bell of this powerful monster, now just a relic of American ingenuity, teamwork, and perseverance.

I long for those days to return. What heroes we were. What shall become of us now?

Photographed with a Nikkormat FTn on Kodak Plus-X film processed in Acufine. The lens was an f/1.4 50mm Auto-Nikkor. I rather enjoy the idea of history photographing history.

Tags: monochrome, filmphotography, machinery, history, Plus-X, Nikkormat FTn, industrial

For such a simple critter, cancer magister, or the ubiquitous Dungeness crab, has quite an intricate body structure. Symmetrical. Articulated. Star of the silver screen as an angry alien or loyal friend to a beautiful mermaid. A perfect piece of biological engineering. They spend their time scurrying across the seabed feeding on drifting shreds of spilled shark kill or decaying fish that drift their way. Along with shrimp, they are kind of like the ‘Roomba’ of the sea.

This company of crustaceans were on parade in a fish vendor’s case at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Soon be be a batch of crab cakes or the principle element of crab rangoon, they stand ready for tonight’s seafood buffet.

This group portrait was taken with a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex camera loaded with Kodak Plus-X shot at par and developed in Acufine for 3 minutes.

Tags: monochrome, Mamiya TLR, Plus-X

The Puget Sound in December can be a quiet and lonely place. It’s grey. It’s dark. It’s wet. But there is a strange romanticism found here. The deck lights reflect in long streaks on the deck plates or the clouds reflect in the random pools of water. I can almost see Humphrey Bogart embracing Lauren Bacall along the railing, perhaps in the fog.

I found this image on the Kingston ferry as I was crossing early on a Saturday morning to collect my son coming home from college ‘back east’ on the Empire Builder. I like the texture in the slats of the bench, the soft grey of the ferry deck and the distant railing running toward a vanishing point at the bow. No lovers strolling to enjoy the maritime scent. No one photographing their friends against the Cascade Mountain range. It’s quite a contrast from the summer tourist months.

Photographed with a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex camera fitted with a 80mm f/2.8 lens. Shot at f/5.6 at 1/30 second on Kodak Plus-X film. Processed in Acufine for 3 1/4 minutes.

Tags: medium format, Mamiya TLR, Washington, monochrome

No matter how big or small dogs are, they all share a very important trait. Appetite. They all love to eat. They especially love to eat what their human companions are eating at the time.

Gizmo is no exception. No matter what it is, he’s willing to try. From meat scraps to broccoli or carrots or even roasted seaweed he’s a ready taker. Peanuts are a favorite, but if he could speak for himself I’m sure he’d say “I’ll have what he’s having.”

One of my few digital photographs captured with a Fuji Finepix S2 Pro and a 24-85mm Nikkor lens.

Tags: Color, portraits, fuji finepix S2 pro, Digital

Fortunately, the attack on Pearl Harbor was not as devastating as it could have been. To begin with, the aircraft carriers were not in port that day. Secondly, the Japanese Navy was so fixated on sinking American battleships and cruisers that they completely overlooked the dry dock on the other side of the harbor. The sunken ships needed only be righted and towed across the harbor for repair instead of the mainland 2,400 miles away. The Japanese bombers never touched the massive fuel supplies stored farther inland, thus preserving a valuable resource that would be used against them later. Had they succeeded, we would have likely lost Hawaii while providing the Imperial Japanese army and navy a staging area for invading the west coast of the United States. The attack served only to ‘awaken a sleeping giant’ as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto noted afterwards.

While I was wandering around the museum built out of the battleship USS Missouri, I came upon a rack of unused five inch shells slowly corroding on the dock. I could’t help but think just how many lives were saved because they were never used in combat. They were ready if the Navy needed them, but unused nonetheless.

Today, more than ever, deterrence has its purpose. I am thankful that America still holds the advantage rather than a power that does not value personal liberty as much as we do. Thank you veterans for being there when America and her allies needed you. The freedom that you bought with your blood is the real peace dividend.

Photographed on Fujichrome Provia 100 color slide film with a Konica Hexar Silver camera.

Tags: ships, military, Color, museum, film