Rudy Owens Photography

Boys and military toys
Taken in 1999.

Every August, Seattle celebrates Seafair. This includes visits by U.S. warships and, with the exception of last year, flyovers by the Blue Angels jets. Inevitably, this leads to endless local debates about the value of high-priced spectacles that glorify military prowess and hardware, even as we fail to meet the basic needs of millions of citizens. Supporters of the event adore the spectacle, and truly, it is a spectacle. In 1999, when the event was even bigger, visitors were allowed on the U.S. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. That is when I snapped this photo of young boys literally groping the nose cone of a navy jet. There is something profoundly male and telling about this. We boys grow up loving and then using these tools of war.  I believe were I that I age, I would be one of the guys reaching up to touch the icon. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Drift ice swirl, north Atlantic
Taken in 1997.

The swirl is one of the shapes one sees consistently in nature, from the shape of the galaxies to the form of a nautilus shell to the patterns of whirlpools and tornadoes. I found the pattern mesmerizing as I flew over the north Atlantic in between Iceland and Greenland. I snapped the photo, since I had never seen anything like this before. It was a very propitious trip, as it inspired my later travels to the Arctic, in Greenland and Iceland, starting exactly 10 months later. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Sunset over Seattle’s Salmon Bay
Taken in July 2014.

We have had an amazing string of clear, warm evenings. All of them produce scenes like the one here, as the sun sets over the distant Olympic Mountains and boat traffic quiets down near the Fishermen’s Terminal at Salmon Bay. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Seattle industrial typology study
One of two views of ducts near the Ship Canal boat yards (taken July 2014).
One of two views of ducts near the Ship Canal boat yards (taken July 2014).

I have always been fascinated by the forms that our modern building systems display. Exhaust, air, heating, and cooling systems are about as basic systems as one finds, and they usually have a place of prominence on rooftops, unadorned and standing like metallic animals and sculptures. Bernd and Hilla Becher called these forms typologies and made a career highlighting them in their master prints and publications. Check them out if you have never heard of them. They, more than any photographers in a long while, have influenced how I see the world and how I think about the ways we construct our physical environment to suit our economic system. (Click on each photograph to see a larger photo on a separate picture page.)

Traditional Greenland kayak and kayak methods

 

Taken in 2000.

In Greenland. the current generation of Greenlanders have rediscovered the historic kayak building, paddling, and handling techniques. The kayak, or qajaq, enabled Greenlanders to populate the entire western coastline and southeast coastline and survive, mainly by giving the hunters the ability to hunt sea mammals. These boats were all built by hand by people with no modern tools, and all from materials available from animals, bones, and driftwood. Greenlanders, like this man, practice their techniques, including flips with and without their traditional paddles. I took this in Qassaiarsuk in 2000, when there were more than a dozen paddlers showing off their finely honed skins on traditionally built kayaks. See more of my pictures of Greenland on my Greenland gallery. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Greenlandic Elder, Qassiarsuk
Photographed in Qassiarsuk, Greenland, in 2000.

 

I photographed the 1,000-year anniversary of Leif Ericsson’s exploration to the New World in Greenland in 2000. The attendees included the Queen of Denmark and the President of Iceland, along with all of the prominent Greenlandic leaders, artists, and respected elders. I shot this picture of a Greenlandic elder at the celebration ceremonies that took place in the old Greenland VIking settlement of Brattahlid, today known as Qassiarsuk. That was a very memorable experience. I loved it. You can see more of my Greenland portraits on my Greenlanders gallery. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Cherry pickers, Washington state
I took this photo in 1999 of cherry pickers who were living in the woods near Wenatchee.

Given that the fate of migrant children from Central America arriving at the United States’ southern border is now an international news story, I decided to dig up and publish some of my picture series taken in 1999, on cherry pickers and migrant workers in Washington state. The agricultural industry in Washington is staffed almost entirely by foreign-born labor to pick, harvest, and sort the many crops from cherries to apples to hops that make your local beer tasty. Some are workers who travel seasonally. Some are brought here under temporary permits, the H-2A visas. Make no mistake, the state’s economy would grind to a halt without these workers, and their work contributes to the wealth of this huge economic sector, which at last count in 2012 generated nearly $10 billion in the state.

When I took this photo, there was a housing crisis, and workers were camping on public lands, and efforts were launched to find affordable housing. These problems remain. Meanwhile, the debate over immigration and the fate of millions of undocumented workers continues. Here in Washington state, some of the workers will be authorized (they are being brought in from Jamaica, even). Others will be here without authorization. And nearly all of us who eat fruits and vegetables will be continue buying the low-cost produce picked by people why do hard work many U.S. citizens do not wish to do.

For more portrait photographs, please visit my portrait gallery on my web site. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

That which we call a Seattle rose
Taken in July 2014.
Taken in July 2014.
Taken in July 2014.
Taken in July 2014.

 

July means all of the roses are in full bloom at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo Rose Garden. This is a beautiful place, in the highly organized, English garden sort of way, with a diverse palate of roses arranged in the tidiest of beds. Lots of weddings are held here, which likely surprises no one. I came here right after an evening rain. I found the ambiance just right for appreciating these thorny plants that star-crossed lovers and clever florists deem to be essential elements in the critical matters of the heart. (Click on each photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

 

The Ballard Locks, meeting place of tourists and salmon
A father and son watch migrating sockeye in the viewing area where salmon can swim up fish ladders on their way to breeding grounds upstream. (Taken in July 2014.)
It warms my heart to see people watching the glory of nature and not connected to machines and not caught in distractions that take away from the wonder of the present moment. (Taken in July 2014).
Tourists listen to an interpreter at the Ballard Locks, July 2014.

The Ballard Locks, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is one of the most popular spots for visitors and locals alike. July is a particularly great time to visit, to see migrating sockeye, and even an occasional king, swim up the fish ladders, en route to their breeding grounds upstream from Lake Washington. Even if you live here, this is a great place to visit, often. No visitor I have hosted has walked away disappointed. For the record, the official name of this site, built originally for regional flood control, is the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. (Click on each photo to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

 

The Raven and Eagle clans

 

Taken in Sitka, Alaska.
Taken in Sitka, Alaska.

Two traditionally carved canoes on display in Sitka, Alaska, show two major clans of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, the Tlingit and Haida bands. According to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, tribal members people are born into either the raven or eagle clan line, established matrilineally through their mother’s family. The council’s web site notes that in Tlingit, Yeil is Raven and Ch’aak is Eagle (Wolf is sometimes used interchangeably with Eagle).

If you have ever been to Southeast Alaska, one can see why these two powerful animals are chosen. The raven is the crafty trickster, the one who helped bring man into the world according to legend. The sneaky and beautiful raven makes haunting, complex noises that echo mysteriously in the damp forests of the region and can create a feast with any food that comes its way (my favorite Alaskan animal). Greenlanders on the far side of the Arctic I met also spoke highly of the raven for being a food thief from other predators. The eagle is the great and proud hunter, with the most watchful gaze one can imagine. Seeing it catch a salmon is an unforgettable sight. But they can also be dumpster divers, going after fish scraps from fish processing plants in Alaska, sometimes with sad consequences.

Personally, I think the raven run circles around the eagle, as bird intellects go.

These photos were taken in 1999. Click on each photo to see a larger picture in a separate picture page