Inessential Stuff

I did a wedding in Leavenworth this past weekend, which was plenty fun (as you can see here, if you are so inclined).  At a wedding, of course, I’m focused on the bride and groom.  But I remember a photographer at a convention once say that even at weddings, if you see something that really speaks to you, you should snap the picture.  It keeps the passion alive.  It makes sense to me.  And so I took the picture of these clouds.

So our trip to New York (and Philadelphia) was centered around seeing three baseball games, each in a different stadia that we had never visited before.  Here are some panoramic images of the three ball parks:  Yankee Stadium in New York(sorry I missed home plate there.  Details.), Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and CitiField in New York.  Click on each image for a bigger view.

Elizabeth wanted to do her senior portraits by the river.  In fact, she was the one who suggested Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane Valley.  It proved to be an excellent place–we had pretty much free roam of the rocky beach down below the soccer fields.  And the trees in the late evening light were amazingly green.  And the water was so still and calm.  Really beautiful place.  Great session.

Our last day in New York started with a trip to Rockefeller Center for a view of NYC in the daytime.  Then we visited Ground Zero (something Marcus had really wanted to do, interestingly).  We wandered around and into Times Square, where Marcus loved seeing himself on one of the giant screens showing the street.

And then we ended at the New Shea Stadium (yeah, I know, CitiField, or whatever), and watched the Mets and Rockies.  For the third straight day, the home team, and team Marcus was rooting for, lost.  This time, in fairly dramatic fashion.  It was a crushing blow.  Though, as the above photograph attests, he seemed to have recovered by the next day as we headed to the airport.  A gallery of photographs is right here at this link.  Watch for the captions at the bottom left.

I love travel.  It’s one of the most soul-nurturing things I know of.  Still, it’s always nice to come home.

Day two of our East Coast swing included a taking the ferry out to Liberty Island to walk around (but not up) the Statue of Liberty.  She was green.  It was hot and hazy. Marcus, probably tired and jet lagged and miserable from the heat, was, well, less than ebullient.

Then it was on to Philadelphia to catch a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park.  Marcus, of course, was rooting for the Phillies.  They fell far behind, mounted a furious rally, but still fell short.

Click here for the gallery of photographs.  I realize it’s an odd collection–artsy stuff, touristy stuff, camera phone pictures, even several from Marcus.  See if you can spot Marcus’ photographs (and watch the tiny captions at the bottom left for tiny explanations).

So here is Part I of our trip to New York City.  My dad, my son, and me.  Three days, three different stadia, plus some site-seeing.  Our flight over was prolonged a bit by a flight cancellation.

But then Day One started with a trip the subway, first to Central Station, and then to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees and Red Sox.  After the game, we went into Manhattan and took in a view from the Empire State Building (easily my least favorite part of the trip).  Check out the full gallery of photographs here, and be sure to check out the (tiny) captions at the bottom left.

I have been to Washington State University several times (once to do an engagement session in Beasley Coliseum, another time for a wedding) and Pullman a few additional times.  However, I had never really wandered around the campus before.

Enter Sara and Ben, whose wedding I’ll shoot next summer.  Even though they currently live in Spokane, they wanted their engagement pictures taken at WSU, since that was where they had met (their engagement pictures can be seen here), and while we were there shooting, they showed me around.

I was impressed by the brick, ivy covered buildings, and the modern library.  Then something very cool happened.  While we were shooting, we discovered the gates to Martin Stadium were open.  And with no one to tell us no, we went ahead and went inside and did some shooting there.

I will, on rare occasion, take Marcus on a senior portrait session, but I had never taken him on an engagement session before, but in this case, it worked out great, as he got to run around some on the field.  Good times.  Oh, and those who have gone to WSU will know what the students call that turquoise structure in the first picture; for those who haven’t, this is a family blog, so I won’t be disclosing that information.