cliff despeaux's photoblog

Seafair 2009

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:23:00 -0700

This weekend, I shot the Seafair festivities on Lake Washington for seattlepi.com, including the Chevrolet Cup (hydroplanes!) and the Blue Angels. It was pretty crazy, as usual: thousands of people lined the shores of the lake, and hundreds (thousands?) of boats surrounded the log boom (picture above).

Thom Weinstein, one of the two photo interns at seattlepi.com, and I collectively created a 100-image gallery, which can be viewed here.

Hottest Day Ever

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:16:17 -0700

I’m not even exaggerating for effect: today really was the hottest day ever recorded in Seattle — 103°. So, I decided to head down to Richmond Beach, a community just south of Edmonds. Turns out it’s my new favorite beach.

Right as I arrived, a train was passing under the overpass. This kid with the skateboard caught my eye:

I wanted to check out the sunset to see if there was anything unique because of the weather. I’m certainly no meteorologist, and I can’t explain what’s going on here, but there were four different colors over the sun:

There were a lot of people down there, including this girl who was flipping out over what must have been cold water:

Here’s that train I mentioned above that was passing under the footbridge, from the other side:

And one more just for the hell of it:

Hot Day for a Mariner's Game

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:08:47 -0700

Today I went down to a Mariner’s game.

It was hot. This guy would agree:

A Mariner’s fan cools off in front of giant water-misting fans before the July 27, 2009 match against the Blue Jay’s.

We lost the game 11-4. But at least the Mariner Moose decided to come and dance next to us:

Here’s that same picture, but moving:

And, my friend Curtis got his picture with the Moose:

OK, enough Moosey business. Afterwards, we went to Molly Moon’s in Wallingford:

Good night.

Carkeek Park

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:44:36 -0700

I just got back from a drive to Carkeek Park, but left sooner than expected due to the rain. Before I left, I caught this fisherman wading in the water with some of his buddies:

Skinny Dippers at Green Lake

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:03:00 -0700

After the bike ride today, I went to Ivar’s down by the ferry terminal for some halibut ‘n chips. Eventually, Zach and I made our way to Green Lake to hang out on the beach.

70 mm, 0.6/sec, f/2.8, ISO 25600
(click on image for slightly larger version)

Right at the main entrance (across from the parking lot) were a couple dozen skinny-dippers having a great time. After most people left and the fun died down, one man stood on the diving board for around 5 minutes, checking out the view. Fortunately, he stayed there long enough for me to successfully hand-hold a half-second exposure (above).

Nothing in the above image is edited beyond standard levels and tone adjustments.

Oh, and I ran into a buddy of mine from a UW acting class last year, Darren Keegan, while I was at Ivar’s (below). We had a great time kicking ass in that class :-)

Owwwuch

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:42:23 -0700

A couple wade with their dog at Log Boom Park at the north tip of Lake Washington Friday evening.

This will be short. It hurts to type.

I just walked in the door from a (successful) bike ride to Paseo in Fremont. Successful, as in, I’m alive, and I’m home. My bike was never fitted to me properly, and about 20 miles into the 30 mile ride, all the pressure placed on my hands really started to get to me — in the form of immense pain. All in all, it took us 6 hours round trip (with plenty of breaks).

Oh, and a barge with a Holy Crap amount of dirt and gravel passed by me down near the Fremont bridge:

Failed Bike Ride

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:24:10 -0700

Today, Matt and I attempted a bike ride to Paseo.

We failed.

That’s him above, bringing his tire-less bike into Recycled Cycles.

As we later found out, his old school rims won’t allow his tubes to inflate to more than 40 PSI before they explode.

It took us all day to figure that out.

So, today = fail. No bike ride for me.

Girls Fastpitch World Series

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:34:00 -0700

Today I went to help out a guy who’s doing portraits of players in the 2009 Girls Fastpitch World Series up in Everett. I’ll be heading back tomorrow… below are a few pics of what was going on.

Tomorrow will be the first day of game action!

This is more like what I was actually there to shoot (she’s looking at the other photog):