Thursday, August 20, 2009

I'm always drawn to photograph unusual doors and windows. They are like portals into worlds I know nothing about. I had a visceral response to this door while wandering around what looked like a warehouse district in Tacoma. Someone had spray-painted the word "NO" on it in neon yellow. I liked it's abrubt quality; the way it commanded the space on that cracked and peeling door.

Taken in the setting of this retro-urban environment, I appreciated its spontaneous "counter-culture" message; a universal response to all of the bull-shit that ever was and ever will be.

And aesthetically, at least for me, a door with a neon "NO" is more interesting than just a door.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Urban Shangri-La

I think of the domed fountain at the Seattle Center as an urban Shangri-La. On a hot summer day it becomes a giant fire-hydrant, the center of the earth for throngs of happy children. I grew up around Seattle and the scene depicted in this image is so familiar to me that I can practically hear the loud music from the PA system and feel the spray in my face. But I like the way it has a universal feel to it, like it could be anywhere, because children everywhere behave the same way around water on a hot day.