In most communities, a number of churches, chapels, synagogues and mosques dot the landscape. Judaism, Islam, Hindu, and Buddhism are represented here and there, but the most variety is visible within the Christian faith. Baptists, Calvinists, New Life, Lutheran, Roman Catholic. So many varieties yet they all center on a core belief; the death and resurrection of their savior Jesus Christ who died so that they might live.

After finding this display on a church wall, I began to think that every Christian has had a different experience, even those who have spent most of their lives within the same congregation. Some are conservative and structured like the simple wooden crosses. Some revolve around children like those crosses behind the image of the praying child. Some are lacy and some are flowery. A few crosses are small and barely visible and one cross in particular has a strong eastern orthodox influence. So much variety, but like the large layered cross in the center, they all focus on the risen Christ.

Variations on a theme.

Tags: filmphotography, monochrome, Nikkormat FTn

Life’s events have a way of interrupting the steady flow that we create for ourselves. It’s been quite some time since I have had an opportunity to simply grab a camera and run a roll of film through it, although I should at least to relieve stress. During this dry spell, I regularly look through my library and remember where I was and why I tripped the shutter. My work sends me from Hawaii to Washington DC, although I haven’t travelled as of late. This morning, I was looking through my military shots and found a few in particular that I remember well. No flashy colors. No airbrushed highlights or other photoshop effects. Just light striking the sensor.

‘Silent Survivor’ is a fragment of an airplane that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was on Ford Island and spotted it laying in wait for restoration near the Pacific Aviation Museum. Most people photograph hibiscus flowers. the pounding surf, or the lush green mountains on the windward side of Oahu. I prefer to photograph history.

The Imperial Japanese Navy could have delivered a crushing blow and taken Oahu to stage further attacks on the United States mainland if it were not for four critical mistakes. The aircraft carriers were at sea at the time, so they were safe the morning of December 7, 1941. The Japanese fighters and bombers ignored the enormous fuel bunkers that were the lifeblood of the American fleet and they left the nearby dry dock untouched. The Japanese attacked early on a Sunday morning so most of the shipyard workers and sailors were not on station that day.

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

Tags: navy, museum, machinery, history, fuji finepix S2 pro

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