The massive Port of Seattle provides an impressive backdrop for my there again and back again, and there again and back again commute. This is one of the country’s largest cargo container ports (eighth busiest, it claims), and most of it is blocked off to the public for miles. Highway 99 is one of the few places citizens can see where our nation unloads containers filled with consumer goods destined for Walmart and other retailers nationwide. In essence, I am penetrating the beating heart of our nation’s mostly consumer-driven economy everyday, enveloped by its brawn, by its scale, and by its relentless motion. For some stretches, this also happens to be one of the most scenic commutes in the country, too.
Transportation
A GoPro view of the Seattle commute grind
A GoPro captures the evening grind on Highway 99 past downtown Seattle (2014).
A GoPro captures the evening grind on Highway 99 past downtown Seattle (2014).
A GoPro captures the evening grind on Highway 99 past downtown Seattle (2014).
A GoPro captures the evening grind on Highway 99 past downtown Seattle (2014).
I am just beginning to explore the powers and possibilities of the GoPro as a still camera. This is the back seat view, as I drive over the earthquake-weakened Alaska Way Viaduct, which will be torn down in about two years (if the tunnel boring machine gets unstuck and fixed). There is a zombie like quality to all of us, in our metal and plastic boxes, heading from who knows where, to our homes or to work. I pass this scene every day, five days a week.
Kotzebue, Alaska, spring 2008
I visited Kotzebue, Alaska, just north of the Arctic Circle, in 2008. It was a fabulous trip to the largest city in northwest Alaska. I ate beluga whale and was treated with great hospitality by residents. This was a work trip, and one of my most memorable visits to Bush Alaska during my six years living and working in the Great Land. Other photos from the 49th state can be found in my web site’s Alaska gallery.
One of many homes facing the sea, in Kotzebue (2008).
Old appliances decorate many Kotzebue roads (2008)
Shore Avenue runs along the water’s edge of the Chukchi sea (2008).
Caribou provide an important role in the diet and lifestyle of Kotzebue’s most Inupiat residents.
Hundreds of sled dogs call Kotzebue home (2008).
Off-road vehicles and snowmachines are the most common vehicles in Kotzebue (2008).
Plastic flowers and an old trophy are laid in remembrance at a grave (2008).
From Interbay to Elliott Bay, Seattle
A couple of months back, I took a late afternoon photo outing to capture some industrial scenes in Seattle’s Interbay railyard and the always photogenic Elliott Bay and Puget Sound, adjacent to Seattle. More of this ongoing series can be found on my photo gallery.
BNSF Locomotives, Interbay Railyard
Pier 91 at Elliott Bay, Looking on to the Olympic Mountains
One of many grain ships filling its hull for the global market
Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, rush hour in twilight
Rush hour in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. It used to be sleepy back in the late ’80s. Now it is home to Adobe, Google, and bars a aplenty. I have biked through here hundreds of times. I took two views, using my beloved GoPro Hero 3 edition video camera. There will plenty more videos to come with my GoPro.
What Beautiful Light 