I’ve been working on the Americans Elect “Crash the Party” bus tour since mid-January, so the ignoring of my blog is unintentional. It was a last minute assignment, and so far, worth every moment. We only have a few days left. I’m sad. I mean – I’m happy to be heading home soon and getting back to real life, but tour life is pretty darn sweet, too. The people I’ve been living and traveling with for the last (almost) three weeks are fantastic, and I am very happy to have met them in this way. If nothing else, these new friends are wonderful.

This frame was one of my favorites from the Gasparilla Festival in Tampa, Florida. Think Mardi Gras on a smaller scale and full of pirates. We were so out of place there, and yet, so perfectly placed. While this is a typical scene for the tour of people signing up to learn more about AE, these kids were likely wasted. Almost all of the people we met that day were wasted.

Long live the pirate. Or whatever they’re dressed as.

Scott and I went to the Olympic Peninsula for vacation this past August, just after I finished up my internship at The Seattle Times. I explored the stillness and silence of the single image. Ten weeks of video; I just wanted my photographs to stop talking for a moment.

Today, I worked for a freelance client in a government agency building. There are still four more days to go on this project. It’s good work, but for the silence of the office and isolation of the hallways. I just want to be back here in the world, listening to nature.

(1. The ferry between Edmonds/Kingston. 2. Hiking up Hurricane Ridge. 3. The end of the world, Cape Flattery.)

When my brother and I were kids, not a holiday (in our case, Hanukkah) would pass without a new set of Legos. Scott and I are keeping up the tradition with his our nephew. His cousins joined in the fun to help on this one, a satellite launch pad.

It also was once my home – for college.

Scott and I went up to my old college town to visit our grad school friend Chris Dunn in her new work town. So of course, I had to show them around campus.

We found this squirrel inside the trashcan. He scared the pants off us at first. Scott put a stick into the lid to keep it open and our little friend eventually made his way out.

Then we went to see my sorority house, wherein we scared the pants off some of the sisters. When I lived there, every so often we would get some random old-looking alumni poking around the yard and coming to the door to show off the house. We thought it was creepy, yet endearing. I totally earned the “creepy alumni” pearl today.

We ended up back at Chris’s place and sat around discussing the merits and usage of ‘backs of people’ photographs and other news-y things. This was our ‘campfire.’ Chris is in the middle of a move. I’m just happy to spend time with a friend.

We capped off our evening with glow bowling, but I opted to fully enjoy it* instead of taking photographs.

Funny, in hindsight I wish I hadn’t.

* I have this strange theory that I don’t necessarily ‘fully enjoy’ experiences when I’m behind my camera. Not that I don’t enjoy being behind it – it just changes the way I see the events unfolding. I look for moments before they happen when I’m photographing, hitting that shutter just at the right time to capture something so fleeting. But when I’m just me, no camera in hand, I let time take its own course and I watch moments that could be photographs pass me by. Perhaps the fact that I still recognize those moments is why I feel like I wish I had taken some pictures that night. I see them in my memory, but not on my card. Alas, the perils of attempting to ‘just be normal’ for a moment.

Seen in Westlake Park. I heard rumors that the Occupy Seattle people were playing chess at one point, and all I could think of was this. Not sure if these people brought this set, or if it just kinda lives there.

I miss Seattle and all of its small bits of weird.

Obviously, this is not me. Just something odd I saw on the beach in Seattle.

I feel like this statement is a recurring theme, but I have so much to blog! I’ve been pre-occupied with moving home, planning a wedding, getting married, finding freelance work and applying for jobs. Y’know, the little things in life.

But starting today, and every day (hopefully) for the next week or two, I’m going to catch up. So many stories, so many photographs to share. I can’t wait.

My internship ended on August 12th. Scott arrived that same day. We proceeded to go on vacation to the Olympic Peninsula. And now we’re home.

There are so many things I need [want] to post from my last few weeks in Seattle. Now that I’m home, I’ll start posting these projects and adventures here. I needed some time to process the entire West Coast experience. It was brilliantly amazing, and I am so thankful to all who helped me learn so much in such a short amount of time.

Seattle, you will always hold a special place in my heart – where it’s 75º and sunny every day.

Sometimes he’s a dog, and sometimes he’s a fire truck. But today, he wanted to be like me.

*love*

The interns piled into a 15-passenger van today for a tour of Seattle led by Dave Boardman, editor of The Seattle Times. A good time was had by all.

I heard a commotion on Sunday afternoon, and saw some people across the street all staring at the intersection a few houses down. In the middle of the street was a loud protest with yellow signs. I didn’t have a picture of the day yet, so I ran to my room, grabbed the camera and my keys, and proceeded to follow the protest for a few blocks for pictures. From what I could tell, it was the Vietnamese community from Seattle-Tacoma area protesting against China. when I got in, I took a look on Google and found out that it was planned in solidarity with rare protests happening in Hanoi. Wild, huh.

This is what I saw coming through the intersection near my house.

This guy spent much of his time shouting into the megaphone. I don’t know exactly what he was saying, but he was emphatic.

A lot of the participants were shielding their faces with their signs from the photographers/videographer.

SPD was there and was very helpful in keeping the protest safe from drivers. The intersections can be nasty in my neck of the woods.