Rudy Owens Photography

Public, you are not invited to the port
This is a shot of the cargo container yard at the Port of Seattle, from behind the protective razor wire that surrounds miles of land off-limits to anyone but companies who use the port, employees, unions like Teamsters who run the unloading of goods, security teams, and those working on the ships and planes that come and go (2014).

 

Port authorities, as quasi-public entities, with minimal and almost no public oversight, amaze me with the scope of their power and the size of their land holdings. The Port of the Seattle is the largest property owner in the city. It runs an international airport and one of the country’s largest cargo container ports. Yet almost none of the city’s 600,000 or so residents have the slightest idea what happens behind the razor wire fences. Mainly all of those low-cost Asian-made goods come in, and some of our heavy materials, industrial goods, and agricultural goodies go out. I cannot fault any authority for maintaining security, but is this management structure more about protecting the interests of the large corporations that utilize these public resources for their business models or about keeping our commercial sector safe from “bad guys.” And have no doubt, bad guys do use this port to smuggle everything, from illegal drugs to people. They are like a big no-go zone that everyone agrees is good for all of us. That remains the weird part. Who decided all of this, and who benefits from all of this? (The port would say, I do, with cheap goods and a strong economy, I know.)

Danish colonial legacy in Greenland

 

A statue of Danish Lutheran missionary Hans Egede overlooks Nuuk’s harbor (1998).

A statue of Hans Egede stands over the harbor in Nuuk, capital of Greenland. Greenland was long a colony of the Kingdom of Denmark, and among the most prominent and I would say beneficent colonial settlers was  Egede, a Lutheran missionary who in the early 1700s established the then colonial town of Godthåb, which was later renamed Nuuk. This photo dates from 1998, and I wonder how much has changed on this hillside since. I imagine a fair bit. I ended up visiting Nuuk several times over three years. It was among the most interesting northern cities that I have explored.

The importance of celebrating milestones
Whenever you accomplish a goal, after investing a lot of work, remember to thank yourself for all that you did. Setting and achieving hard goals is the most satisfying of things to pursue in life.

Normally, I do not like to promote vanity, nor my own mug on my web sites. However, I was thinking about a great time nearly two years ago to the day when I finished my last graduate course at the University of Washington School of Public Health. The value of the MPH can be discussed at another time. And we can have a spirited discussion. I just happened to like how the light broke ever so perfectly. Yes, you are so vain, and this picture really is all about you! (Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Prince Rupert Highway downpour drive
Taken in August 2010.
Taken in August 2010.
Taken in August 2010.

I drove the Prince Rupert Highway (Highway 16 in British Columbia) twice. I first drove it in 2004, when I headed up to Alaska in August that year. I returned the same way in August 2010. I used the Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Prince Rupert to Haines, Ak., both times. I loved this road. It’s about 500 miles from Prince Rupert to Prince George, where one makes a sharp right on the Al-Can to head back south to the lower 48. These shots were taken in a very intense storm. I took the pictures from inside my car, while driving. The beautiful road cuts through the coastal range along the Skeena River. It’s one of my favorite drives in all of North America. But I was in a hurry then, heading back to Seattle, to find an apartment, start a grad program, and to leave Alaska forever in the rearview mirror. (Click on each photo for a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Surrender yourself to art
The collection of marble sculptures from the antiquity and beyond simply stagger the imagination at the Vatican Museum in the Vatican City, in Rome (2006).

 

I took this shot from inside of the Vatican Museum, the most mind-boggling collection of historic wealth I have seen anywhere on the face of the planet. Inside that museum I finally realized just how extensive the power of the Catholic Church truly was. (Click on the photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

The Yukon Territory in the early morning

 

I took this standing on a bridge, along the Al-Can Highway in 2010. It is a beautiful and hard place. I always loved my travels there.

Twenty-two years ago I first came “into the country” to Alaska via the Al-Can Highway through the Yukon Territory. This was taken in 2010. The scenery is beautiful, and the land is harsh, and the mosquitos plentiful, and the economics mostly mining in these parts. (Click on the picture to see a larger photo on a picture page.)

Bidding farewell to my Contax system … my good friends

 

I took this photo in Hanoi in 2003 with my Contax G1 and a Carl Zeiss 28mm lens, and I loved the results. (More photos of Vietman on my web site: http://www.rudyowens.com/vietnam/.)

In my effort to downsize everything I own, I decided to sell my Contax G1 camera and two Carl Zeiss lenses designed for the G System, the Carl Zeiss Biogon 2,8/28  and the Contax Carl Zeiss Planar T 45mm. This rangefinder and its lenses are still considered among the best in terms of providing crisp images taken on analog film. (One reviewer who loves the G System, Ken Rockwell, disses the G1, but I found it to be a tough workhorse.) They also have a cult following, and for good reason. I used my Contax system around the world, from Vietnam to Egypt to the Northwest. I loved how it could spontaneously capture people I met. Its unassuming size and its autofocus feature made it invaluable to my street photography projects.

The good news is, I am going to sell the entire set and buy a Fuji X-Pro 1 (did I say downsize?). This digital and beautifully crafted tool  mimics the world-renowned and religiously revered Leica M6, a camera I also own and will carry to the grave. These two are frequently compared, and the critics tend to agree that the Fuji, which can take M6-series Leica lenses with an adapter, is a perfectly designed camera body that caters to the desires and needs of photographers who want manual control. The Fuji X-Pro 1 also holds its own with the Leica M9, according to some. Cameras truly can be like children, but sometimes it is best to let them leave the nest and try new things.

A Farley Mowat inspiration
I took this photograph in September 2006 outside of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
I took this photograph in September 2006 outside of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
I took this photograph in September 2006 outside of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

This week, one of the world’s most acclaimed writers of all things wild took his last feisty breath. Farley Mowat died at the age 92. He left a legacy of memorable tales and a spirit celebrating the importance of the world’s wild places and its many inhabitants, including predators like wolves. I watched a clip on YouTube of Never Cry Wolf, a fabulous film that is among my favorites. The film was filmed in northern British Columbia, a breathtakingly beautiful place. I never got to the locations where production took place (near Atlin, B.C.), but I did visit the nearby Whitehorse area and took a hike above the low-lying range above town. Here are a few throw-away pictures I took. This is by no means true photography. This is just a remembrance, and a place that makes me think about wolves, wild things, and that ole’ kilt lifter, Farley. Thanks for never shutting up.

Iris blooms now taking center stage
The irises this year bloomed exactly a week earlier than in 2013. That is interesting.
The iris is a damn seductive flower, almost tawdry in its wilting, rich, dark petals dropping down (2014).
This was shot in my front yard, which is now covered with these amazing flowers (2014).

Irises give tulips a damn good run for the money. I wonder what pollinators think? They probably love those pollen rich pistils to get all crazy about and do the pollen dance.

View of Vista House, Columbia River Gorge
It was the 96th birthday party of Vista House the day I took this shot (May 4, 2014). This is just a great perch, and one visited by tens of thousands annually.

 

I used my consumer-grade Canon digital for this shot. Sure, I am a tourist, but this is one of the premier views of the Pacific Northwest, from the scenic highway along the Columbia River Gorge, about 30 miles west of Portland, Ore. Sometimes, having fun and having a good memory is what matters. (Click on the image for a larger picture on a separate page.)