Ah Seattle…I love that city. Coffee, hipsters, and gray skies. At least that’s what I’ve experienced the last few times I’ve been there. The coffee & hipsters…always good. The gray skies…not so much. Gray skies make for dark, moody, & kinda’ flat-ish pics.
Fine, if that’s on the agenda for the day.
However, this last time was one of the few times I’ve gone there in late summer. I was optimistic that I’d be able to shoot that beautiful downtown in a contrasty, light vs. shadowy kinda’ way.
But go figure, instead of sunny skies, the city was blanketed in a seriously smokey haze. I heard that the pollution levels were the highest EVER. Unfortunately, it’s fire season all along the West coast and it’s a bad one.
Nevertheless, I stuffed my pockets full of film, grabbed my trusty M3 & went on walkabout around town. It didn’t take long for me to understand why there were so many people wearing those painters -“I’m in the middle of Beijing pollution”- masks. The air was just nasty!
Just for a minute though, I thought I’d get one for myself, but a guy with a camera wearing a mask probably wouldn’t read right to anyone – regardless of how poor the air quality was. Paranoid? Naw…just socially aware.
So, I soldiered on, took a bunch-uh-pics, AND of course, snagged a Neti pot on the way back to the hotel.
Yup, Seattle. Bad Air or not…I really love that city!
Thanks for checking out my blog!
Reggie
