Canadian City images, Seattle Bus Adventure and Dark Dreams
This is the last of the Canadian Cities images -
Saskatoon and Edmonton. Comments on Seattle buses which reiterates the need for
rapid transportation in this large and spread-out city - spread out not by
design but by geography. And some comments on the state of individual freedoms
here in the land of the free as expressed by some really dark dreams I've been
having lately.
In an unusual twist on journal style, most of the images are presented first then the words and finally some local, Seattle-area, photos.
In an unusual twist on journal style, most of the images are presented first then the words and finally some local, Seattle-area, photos.
Panorama images of
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the South Saskatchewan
River
About halfway between the University and Broadway Bridges on Saskatoon's eastside walking along Saskatchewan Crescent,
a winding roadway which sits on the high bluff on the Saskatchewan River's eastern bank across from downtown. Down below
is a river-walk hike-and-bike trail and on the sides of the bluff below are mountain bike trails between these two bridges. This is
a 360-degree panorama view with west being on both ends and east in the center of the image.
A little further south along the same crescent-shaped street. In this view the Broadway Bridge is visible on the left. Saskatoon's one
of two "big" cities in Saskatchewan Province, Regina, the capitol, is the other. Both cities are roughly equivalent in size and have
a quarter-million residents. Saskatchewan is one of Canada's three prairie states and is, along with Manitoba and Alberta, a very
large producer of wheat and other grains. This is a 360-degree panorama view with south being on the left and north in the center.
This is a few blocks from the intersection of Saskatchewan Crescent with Broadway, the street the bridge on the right is named
after. Downtown Saskatoon is on the right, across the bridge, and directly West in this view. Saskatchewan Crescent is a
residential street with some really nice but not ostentatious houses. Saskatoon looks like it was enjoying a relatively robust
economy with a lot of new buildings downtown and on the fringes on the southwest side. The city's fairly compact, being about
four miles across at its widest, southern, portions and about three miles from that end of town to the narrower northern edge.
This is a 360-degree panorama view with east being directly in the center. The river courses northeast-to-southwest.
A 360-degree panorama from the eastern edge of the Broadway bridge, on Saskatoon's eastern flank. This shore is the home of
the University of Saskatchewan, which in this view would be about a mile-and-a-half further north along the woods at the river's
edge (left side of image, river flows north in this end of the picture). The buildings at the end of the bridge are the urban village
of the city's Nutana neighborhood. Nutana was previously a separate town and was home to a serious settling of Canadian
Christian Temperance types. The strangle-hold that group had on early development and by-laws has lessened, but in earlier
times this was the "dry" side of town.
This is a 360-degree panorama from near the western end of the Broadway bridge. Saskatoon's city center is within a
short walk heading west - in this view heading toward the right. The Saskatchewan River (actually the South Saskatchewan
River since there are two major branches) is pretty close to a wild river in this section of central Saskatchewan. Both banks
are completely undeveloped throughout the city proper and both further north and south along the river's course it is
significantly less developed than even here. The river is deep and fast-flowing, there were "no swimming" signs posted
along both banks. The crossing at this area is roughly one-third of a mile.
This is a 360-degree panorama taken at the center of the circle in front of the Delta Bessborough Hotel, one of the old-style
Grand Hotels of the Canadian West. The hotel is sited along Spadina Crescent, the counter-point circular boulevard on the
city's western flank of the river. Spadina Crescent is the street on either side of the hotel, which is on both ends of this
image. 21st Street is the avenue in the middle. The city began at a bend in the South Saskatchewan River which is
today in the south end of town along the river. That early settlement established the north-south street which defines
east and west for the town's numbering system and also the prime street for the east-west streets, which are numbered
starting at First street and going north to 60th Street. On the west bank, the downtown side, the north-south streets
begin at "A" street and continue west through "Y" street and then take names. On the eastern bank, all north-south
streets are named streets. Like so many cities, the naming scheme seems completely random.
This is a 180-degree panorama of the South Saskatchewan River taken from the University bridge, which is at the northern end
of the downtown area. Downtown is on the right, western bank, side of this image. The building directly in the center with the
spire is the Delta Bessborough Hotel. Along both banks the river is lined with hike-and-bike trails and is pretty much undeveloped.
Saskatoon is at 52 degrees North lattitude and was a Cree Indian settlement before the first Canadian Europeans pushed this
far west in 1883 and founded the current city. The name Saskatoon is derived from the Cree word for a local, indigenous, berry -
the mis-sask-quah-toomina. The city is the largest exporter of uranium on the planet and the local economy includes mining,
biotechnology, food processing (Saskatchewan is a rich farm province) and distribution, and manufacturing. There's also
local symphony and theatre and a large number of art galleries and museums for a city of only a quarter-million population.
It's also quite beautiful with their major asset, the South Saskatchewan River, being kept in a nearly pristine condition. That,
coupled with the really expansive skies and gorgeous sunsets, gives the city a natural beauty unusual for its relatively flat terrain.
Panorama images of Edmonton, Alberta
A 360-degree panorama from the middle of the Capitol Plaza in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. The provincial capitol building
is on the right with the plaza running north from the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and through other provincial buildings
towards downtown Edmonton.
The fountain in front of the Alberta Provincial Legislature Building (the Alberta Capitol) in downtown Edmonton. The plaza runs north
from a bend in the river to the center of town. The capitol is set amid an array of parks which line this bank of the river.
A 360-degree panorama from in front of the capitol building with the plaza on all sides. The pool runs from the steps of the provincial
capitol to the fountain and the plaza itself covers about three city blocks in length and one block in width. Edmonton has rapid
light rail (underground mostly) and there's a Capitol Station just two blocks west of here (in this image, along the path in the
center-right of the image). The light rail system connects the University of Alberta, on the opposite shore from the capitol, with
the rest of downtown and runs the length of the major downtown east-west thoroughfare. The city also has an extensive bus
network with transit centers located in the surrounding urban villages and further-out neighborhoods. Edmonton and Calgary
are both million-plus resident cities and Alberta is a rich farming, manufacturing, mining, and headquarters province.
A 360-degree panorama along the riverfront roadway just behind the capitol building with the buildings of the University
of Alberta visible on the eastern shore of the North Saskatchewan River. The bridge to the right of center is the light
rail bridge with a hike-and-bike trail bridge suspended beneath. Both banks of the river are lined with trails.
This 360-degree panorama is taken from the middle of the hike-and-bike bridge suspended beneath the light rail bridge over
the North Saskatchewan River in downtown Edmonton. Downtown buildings are visible in the center and left area of the
image and the University of Alberta buildings and its associated urban village structures are visible on the right side of this
image. The University of Alberta is roughly the same size and occupies as much ground as the University of Washington.
The University was founded in 1908 and now has roughly 30,000 students in 16 colleges, including medical, nursing,
pharmaceutical, and law schools.
Along 97th Street in downtown Edmonton. Edmonton's streets developed at 1st Street and 1st Avenue at what was then the southeast
corner of the area to be developed. Consequently, the downtown city streets are in the mid-to-high nineties for both the east-west
avenues and the north-south streets. There are urban street amenities on every block, including parks and benches along the
sidewalk as well as a well-designed way-finding and transit system using kiosks and signs between street light stanchions.
Of course, one of the biggest attractions of Edmonton is the West Edmonton Mall, the largest indoor mall and entertainment complex
in the world. The mall covers three blocks east-west and two blocks north-south and is surrounded by hotels, casinos, and other
associated shopping malls. Indoors, it's two floors with a water theme park area, a circus theme park area, an ice skating arena,
an underwater submarine and aquatic park area, and a whole wing for just the four department stores which call WEM home. In
terms of style of appointment and level of interior finish and quality, this was the equivalent of Pentagon Mall or Montgomery Mall
in the Washington, DC, area or Bellevue Square in Bellevue, WA or Pacific Place in downtown Seattle. Definitely what they call
"upscale." We were there in the middle of a weekday and it was not packed but it was definitely very busy with thousands of
gawkers and shoppers on every level and in every section.
A wide angle view of the aquatic and submarine theme section of the mall. Below is the submarine "river" and at various locations
along the river were aquatic stages and cross-over bridges with amusements like the pirate ship spaced throughout the area. Both
on the top floor and at ground level this area was surrounded on all sides by shops and restaurants. This is one of six "wings"
of the West Edmonton Mall.
We took the bus from downtown to the mall, which is located on the western end of Edmonton, right near the city limits and sandwiched
by the city on the east and its western suburbs on the west. The mall is surrounded by these two and three story parking garages
with bus stops on all four block sides of the huge area. The mall entrances are numbered, this was midway along the southern
block street and was Entrance Number 48. These entrances lead along a pedestrian path to the actual mall entrance which
has doors numbered likewise on the inside. Way more complicated than Tysons I or II malls in the Virginia suburbs of
Washington, DC, or Southcenter, just south of Seattle in Tukwilla (tuh-qwilla).
At the eastern end of one of the many bridges from the downtown Edmonton side of the river (western banks of the North
Saskatchewan River) connecting to the eastern banks where the University of Alberta and more of the urban component
of Edmonton are located. This particular bridge was a lower-level automobile bridge with an upper level for a trolley
train, which had a station immediately to the left of this pedestrian walkway. The river actually makes many bends in
its course through the city proper and at times is east-west and other times north-south in orientation.
This is further along heading over the river and back north toward downtown Edmonton. The upper deck carried two rail lines
for the electrified trolley. Edmonton has light rail running downtown and connecting across another bridge to the university,
this trolley system, and an extensive and frequently-run bus system. The city has upwards of a million inhabitants and, along
with Calgary, is among Canada's largest cities. In rank order (with metro population) Canada's largest cities are Toronto (4.7 million),
Montreal (3.4 million), Vancouver (2 million), Ottawa (1 million), Calgary (1 million) , Edmonton (1 million), Quebec (700 thousand),
and Winnipeg (700 thousand). In terms of density, the rank is Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver with the rest coming in at less
than a quarter of the density of those three. In global terms, Washington, DC, metro ranks 30th for urban agglomerations,
Toronto ranks 58th, Montreal ranks 90th, Vancouver 172nd, Ottawa 367th, Calgary 393rd, Edmonton 410th, and the list
stops at urban areas less than one million even.
Seattle Bus Adventure on a "dark and dreary" day
Friday was what most folks would characterize as a dreary day. It was in the mid fifties with light rain and low-hanging clouds lingering throughout the Puget Sound area and, it seems, especially over the city. Despite repeated learning experiences I still have "some" degree of trust in AccuWeather and Weather Channel predictions. I used both websites and saw that they were both forecasting the rain to abate by mid-afternoon and for the sun to emerge from dissipating clouds. Okay, I thought, this is a dreary day but by the time I get some distance from home maybe the weather will improve and I can hike in a new part of town.
At 1:00 pm I caught a bus downtown, intending to catch a subsequent bus to Northgate, the northern big shopping area in the city. Northgate is about four-fifths the way from the southern city boundary to the northern boundary and somewhat east of the centerline of the city at that point. It's an area of shallow valleys and gently rolling hills with lots of north-south and east-west arteries connecting it to downtown, the northern suburbs, the Lake Washington northern area suburbs, and with Sand Point and the University District on the east and Ballard's Crown Hill area on the west. There are a number of smaller lakes in between Northgate and Ballard and very large destination-parks on both the Lake Washington side (Sand Point - Magnuson Park) and the Puget Sound side (Carkeek Park). I figured that if the sun actually did break out I'd walk from Northgate to one or the other parks, depending mostly on weather.
My fallback plan was that if the weather didn't break I'd make a loop around the north end of the city and stop off in Ballard on the way home. Ballard is a fun neighborhood and recently my favorite cupcake coffee shop - Verite Coffee and Cupcake Royale - had opened another coffee shop / bakery right downtown in Ballard, literally caddy-corner from the bus stop. All else failing, I would take a round-about bus trip to get a cupcake and cappuccino and head back home in the rain.
Downtown I walked two blocks to the bus tunnel to catch the express bus to Northgate. The trip to downtown's north end had taken 40 minutes, not as fast as some days but about average for the 6.5 mile trip. The wait in the bus tunnel was short, about ten minutes, and then I got on the Northgate bus which took only 30 minutes to get to the Northgate transit terminal. The Northgate bus uses the express / bus lanes on the Interstate, which connects downtown directly with Northgate so even though it was 7.5 miles it was a quick trip. Northgate, in addition to being a really large regional shopping center located in the city, is also a crossroads area for folks coming into town from the north and northeastern suburbs and connects well with the neighborhoods lining the northwest shore of Lake Washington. Consequently, the transit center is a busy place with about two dozen buses making connections there. It's a nice, high-tech, transit center with live bus updates displayed on monitor screens throughout the area. There's a coffee shop and snack bar built in to the transit center architecture and six double-bus transit bays, kind of like an island Greyhound station.
King County Metro and the University of Washington transportation study department have teamed up to equip the buses with transponders and a computer tracking program which allows anyone to see the location of all the buses in the county live on their computer. The system keeps track of the buses in realtime and provides updates on about a five-minute basis, depending on individual bus transponders and their location. It's quite a slick system and since I live on a street where I can see two bus lines I recently tested its accuracy. It was pretty much right on the mark. When the bus I was watching turned a corner and went onto another street, the on-screen icon for that bus changed direction and moved with the bus.
It was actually worse weather when I arrived at Northgate than when I left home so I decided to drop the hike and go to the backup plan. The bus which would connect me to Ballard was scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes so I just lingered with about 50-or-so other passengers waiting for a connecting bus. The shopping center and business streets are one block in two directions from the transit center so it's conveniently located had I had the weather to explore.
I get on the Ballard bus about midway in its route. That bus goes back and forth between the east and west sides of the city in this part of town and provides cross-town connections between the Lake Washington neighborhoods, including the University of Washington, and the Puget Sound neighborhoods, including several big business and shopping districts located around Ballard. By the time the cross-bus arrived it was time for school to let out and there was a sudden influx of high school students who also boarded. Probably because of that, the bus made every stop possible along its route from Northgate to Ballard's downtown area. The trip was a 5.5 mile trip which took 90 minutes. That's roughly equivalent to a fast walking pace.
I arrived at Market Street and Ballard Avenue about 3:45 pm and checked the bus schedule to see if I had time for a cupcake and cappuccino. I did, the bus home would arrive in about 15 minutes so I crossed the street, entered Verite Coffee and had a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting cupcake. Their Ballard location had opened about three weeks ago and similar to the opening of their Madrona shop, the owners had invited the community and those on their email list to an evening opening with free cupcakes and coffee. Adam and I had trekked there for that opening and noticed that there was a huge gathering. The Madrona shop I've been to several times now and it's always busy. The Ballard shop, I figured, would probably do two to three times their Madrona business. This time, even though it was mid-afternoon on a Friday, the place was packed. I had to sit on a very-rear counter table right next to the door of their bakery since there was no room. Verite offers now four different kinds of cupcakes - chocolate, vanilla, lemon and peppermint - with an equally wide array of frostings and decorations. They have expanded their baked goods and offer breakfast rolls and other sweets. They also have free wi-fi in keeping with the Seattle tradition of independent coffee shops offering the free service while the chain coffee shops (Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best) offer the paid-for variety.
I gobbled my cupcake and cappuccino - they make as good a set of coffee drinks as they do cupcakes - and walked back across the street to catch the bus home. It arrived pretty much on time and then meandered its way through Interbay, Queen Anne, downtown and finally got me back home 60 minutes later. The bus trip distance from Ballard to home was the longest, owing mostly to the meandering path it takes, and was almost 13 travel miles.
The entire round trip took four hours and covered 34 miles of city streets. That's an average speed of slightly under 10 miles per hour. A seasoned cyclist could make the same trip averaging probably 12 miles per hour and would not have any trip time loss due to bus stops and congestion. Of course a cyclist on that particular day would need serious rain gear and good brakes.
I did learn a bit more about the local bus system and how some of the northern city streets play into each other. Some streets had a pretty interesting mix of urban village shops, stores, and restaurants along with dozens and dozens of new coffee shops I hadn't imagined existed. It was a pretty interesting area - the northern reaches of the city. I would like to bike the area and would still like to hike some of the streets and neighborhoods so the bus ride was instructive in the sense that I now had a better feel for the area and a pretty good idea of where there might be some interesting diversions.
It also taught me a lesson I'd had no doubt about even before the trip. This city definitely needs rapid transportation in a large number of areas. Had the Green Line Monorail been operating, I would have been able to get home in about half the time it took simply because the Green Line mirrors the Ballard-to-West Seattle bus route and would have taken 20 minutes to make the trip rather than the hour the bus took. If Light Rail ever gets extended to Northgate, the already short bus ride from downtown would be even shorter by probably ten minutes. Had the city's two planned rapid transit systems been up and running I could have covered the same territory in half the time. There's also a strong need for rapid transit on some of the cross-town routes as was clearly expressed to me in the five-mile trip taking 90 minutes from Northgate to Ballard. There are several cross-town routes which have been proposed for both Light Rail and Monorail. Since the cross-town bus passed over the interstate I was able to observe that even in the middle of the day, I-5 was backed up to the city's northern border heading south toward downtown and was moving slowly, probably 35 mph, heading out from downtown. Once again, I don't understand why anyone would want to sit in their car under such conditions, wasting their own time, producing more pollution and wasting more of the now clearly diminishing petroleum supplies. Not to mention the high risk of accident under the crowded freeway conditions I observed.
It was an experiment in transit options as well as a potential exploration trek. The exploration trek will get picked up when the weather allows and I'll still use the bus system. And, I remain ever hopeful that the other half-million-plus residents of the city someday realize the value of rapid transit and the incredible freedom it can allow individuals who chose not to use an automobile.
I did go through two bus tokens owing to the length of the trip. That was a total of $2.50 for four hours of amusement and 34 miles. Looked at in that light it was probably a bargain - where else can you be entertained for sixty-three cents an hour?
Map and legend explaining the four-hour, 34-mile, bus ride which took place in the rain.
Dark Dreams
Now, the dark dreams. For the past several weeks the election has been weighing heavily on my mind. I'm really frightful of this administration remaining for another four years. I'm afraid that if that comes to pass our civil liberties will be even further diminished; that our domestic social policies will be further weakened and perhaps deconstructed; that our continuing loss of lives overseas will continue and perhaps grow; that our world standing will be reduced to a feared and despised stature; that our domestic security will be lessened rather than strengthened; and that our status as citizens of a free nation will be lost completely. I can't begin to express my fears about what Homeland Security is doing with personal information or how many times recently a citizen has been unjustly accused of being an enemy of the state for exercising their Constitutional rights. I'm also pretty disgusted with the methods by which this administration is quashing peaceful dissent and putting a heavy lid on freedoms of assembly and speech.
I knew these were concerns about which I had deep and strong convictions. My principal personal benefit of being an American is the individual freedom this country allows its citizens and those freedoms go to the heart of what this country is about - at least to me. I strongly believe in the words and intent of the French national motto - Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. We are a nation of individuals who have the government-protected right to express ourselves and to expect socially-conscious treatment from our government and to be treated with equality and even-handedness by our government and our fellow citizens. This administration has driven a wedge into the country's heart so that there is now a powerful faction of intolerant and self-centered and self-serving citizens who have risen on the rhetoric and policies of the President and his cronies in Congress.
This is not the country I want to live in. I grew up during the era of the House Un-American Activities Committee with its Communist witch-hunts and black lists and subsequent internal spying. I grew up with J. Edgar Hoover as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That was a dark time in this nation's history. It was a time when the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution were routinely stolen by the government. It was a time of citizen arrest and justice denied. That left an indelible scar on my soul. It was not the country I had studied in grammar school. It was not the country which was the darling of the world in the fifties when I was just a kid and living in France and Morocco. We were not hated then. I spent several years living in a Muslim world and experienced no malice towards me from those I encountered. To be an American in the fifties was to be the hero of the free world. Then the sixties introduced this concept of citizen oaths and wire-taps and background checks. That disturbed me greatly and was such a counterpoint to the years I had spent overseas as a grade school kid.
My high school years were good years but my soul was darkened by what I was seeing on television and reading in the newspapers and magazines. Then with the VietNam war I realized that my country's spirit needed help. I protested throughout college and participated in any number of "stop the war" activities, including reading the names of the dead solders on one cold Thanksgiving Day in State College. It was my volunteer activity and my lot fell that day so I read the names of the dead Americans from South and North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington state. I stood on the corner of College and Atherton Streets in State College, Pennsylvania, for four hours in the cold and dark afternoon reading these names. I tried to imagine who the person might be based on their name and what state they were from. I thought about the way they might have died such a long way from their home. As city editor of the Daily Collegian, the daily Penn State newspaper, I had tried to focus on ways to wake people up to the horrors of war, in general, and to the VietNam war in particular. For days on end I would run stories and photographs from the Philadelphia Veterans Hospital which showed how these returning wounded soldiers were being fitted with prosthetic limbs or shown how to use a blind-person's cane and how to navigate without the use of their sight. These were wrenching stories but I published them because I thought the real horror of war was not just the loss of human life, but the complete disruption of the lives of the living. It was a sad time.
When it came time to be drafted, since the draft was in effect then, I went to my local Draft Board and got my assignment date. In July of 1969 I was inducted in the US Army and spent the next nineteen months being trained and serving my time as a soldier. I was assigned to the 8th US Army and stationed in a suburb of Seoul, Korea. I still felt deeply and strongly that the war was wrong but also felt that I had benefitted so much from being born an American that I did, indeed, owe my country something. Not my life, mind you, but at least my time for those years.
I still feel that way and still feel that this war is the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. And, it's because of this that I've had these dark dreams lately. In these dreams I move about in a world where there are hidden monsters. They are not tangible nor identifiable but they exist behind corners, somewhere a block away, behind me when I'm not looking. They are the monsters of a controlling government. A government which could lock me away without any recourse to a hearing or trial. They are monsters which listen in on my conversations with others when I'm expressing my distrust of my government or my unhappiness with the course of events the government has invoked. They are monsters which sometimes touch my shoulder and give me chills or cause my mind to become schizophrenic and unleash great bolts of static in my head.
I wake up this side of a cold sweat. I don't believe in monsters and my dreams are never really nightmares because I don't believe in the kinds of things which cause nightmares. And, yet, these dark dreams are the closest I've had to nightmares since I was five years old and racked with ear infections and tonsillitis and had vivid nightmares of real monsters attacking my body. I know I feel strongly about this country and the rights and freedoms we have because these dreams are directly the result of my fears that these rights and freedoms will be lost.
As I said, these dreams have been persistent and continuous for the past several weeks. They sneak up inside me when I've been asleep for several hours. They won't go away, although now that I realize what's causing them I can at least begin to understand a little more about the plot and perhaps relish some form of midnight entertainment from this new era in my subconscious expressions.
I'm not going to be able to influence anyone else's personal vote in the upcoming election. But perhaps by expressing how much I want this regime to go away and how seriously badly this current administration is affecting me I can at least present what this means to one person. Think about this and your own fears and concerns when you vote. Vote your conscience, certainly, but vote for the good of the country and for the standards and rights and freedoms we were brought up to uphold. This nation is about personal freedom; it's about independence - of mind, body and spirit; it's about giving everyone an equal chance to succeed and make the best of their lives; it's about the Constitution of the United States of America. It's a great country, I know, I willingly served time to express that feeling. Let's keep it a great country and if Bush is re-elected, let's work to constrain the limitations on the Bill of Rights and to return to a time when being an American meant being tolerant of others and helpful to those who need it.
Some Seattle-area images taken this week
This is the professional, 4x5" silver-film, 3000 dpi scanned image which Bill Wright,
the photographer engaged by my architect, Lisa McNelis, took of our house. Lisa will
use this image in client presentations and perhaps on her website and in handouts.
This is the image I took using my Canon S-110 Digital Elph using Bill Wrights' lighting and
taken from basically the same spot as his 4x5 tilt-and-shift field camera was set up.
This is the same image above corrected for perspective and color and gamma to
approximate as closely as I could the professional image Wright took. Contrast this image
with the one two images above. It's clear that hiring a professional photographer is worth
the money though the amateur can compete relatively effectively.
However, look at the level of detail 4x5 film which is then digitized at 3000 dpi gives one versus the 2 megapixel
image from the Canon Digital Elph. There's really no comparison - this is a full-size (pixel-for-pixel) comparison
of the two images. Yes, more pixels is better. Also, his film had far greater color latitude than does the CCD
light bucket in the Canon.
Stopped by the U-District Farmer's Market this Saturday and caught this little girl
dancing to the beat of the accordion player's Louisiana-style music. She was definitely
bopping along with the beat. As you might note, it was a chilly Saturday morning.
Four shots out the bus window taken coming back from my 34-mile bus adventure. The skies had finally quit
dripping but the gray elements of the day were still evident. The sun was peeking through a break in the cloud
layer (West Seattle actually had sunshine).
Because the skies and water were such an even shade of gray, I decided to take a single image and run through the gamut
of hue angles in Photoshop. The skies and water in these 18 identical images are pretty much a neutral gray. The hue was
altered 20 degrees between each of the adjacent images - the actual, correct, color hue is the image in the third row on the
right end (the 9th image in the sequence).
Chas
About halfway between the University and Broadway Bridges on Saskatoon's eastside walking along Saskatchewan Crescent,
a winding roadway which sits on the high bluff on the Saskatchewan River's eastern bank across from downtown. Down below
is a river-walk hike-and-bike trail and on the sides of the bluff below are mountain bike trails between these two bridges. This is
a 360-degree panorama view with west being on both ends and east in the center of the image.
A little further south along the same crescent-shaped street. In this view the Broadway Bridge is visible on the left. Saskatoon's one
of two "big" cities in Saskatchewan Province, Regina, the capitol, is the other. Both cities are roughly equivalent in size and have
a quarter-million residents. Saskatchewan is one of Canada's three prairie states and is, along with Manitoba and Alberta, a very
large producer of wheat and other grains. This is a 360-degree panorama view with south being on the left and north in the center.
This is a few blocks from the intersection of Saskatchewan Crescent with Broadway, the street the bridge on the right is named
after. Downtown Saskatoon is on the right, across the bridge, and directly West in this view. Saskatchewan Crescent is a
residential street with some really nice but not ostentatious houses. Saskatoon looks like it was enjoying a relatively robust
economy with a lot of new buildings downtown and on the fringes on the southwest side. The city's fairly compact, being about
four miles across at its widest, southern, portions and about three miles from that end of town to the narrower northern edge.
This is a 360-degree panorama view with east being directly in the center. The river courses northeast-to-southwest.
A 360-degree panorama from the eastern edge of the Broadway bridge, on Saskatoon's eastern flank. This shore is the home of
the University of Saskatchewan, which in this view would be about a mile-and-a-half further north along the woods at the river's
edge (left side of image, river flows north in this end of the picture). The buildings at the end of the bridge are the urban village
of the city's Nutana neighborhood. Nutana was previously a separate town and was home to a serious settling of Canadian
Christian Temperance types. The strangle-hold that group had on early development and by-laws has lessened, but in earlier
times this was the "dry" side of town.
This is a 360-degree panorama from near the western end of the Broadway bridge. Saskatoon's city center is within a
short walk heading west - in this view heading toward the right. The Saskatchewan River (actually the South Saskatchewan
River since there are two major branches) is pretty close to a wild river in this section of central Saskatchewan. Both banks
are completely undeveloped throughout the city proper and both further north and south along the river's course it is
significantly less developed than even here. The river is deep and fast-flowing, there were "no swimming" signs posted
along both banks. The crossing at this area is roughly one-third of a mile.
This is a 360-degree panorama taken at the center of the circle in front of the Delta Bessborough Hotel, one of the old-style
Grand Hotels of the Canadian West. The hotel is sited along Spadina Crescent, the counter-point circular boulevard on the
city's western flank of the river. Spadina Crescent is the street on either side of the hotel, which is on both ends of this
image. 21st Street is the avenue in the middle. The city began at a bend in the South Saskatchewan River which is
today in the south end of town along the river. That early settlement established the north-south street which defines
east and west for the town's numbering system and also the prime street for the east-west streets, which are numbered
starting at First street and going north to 60th Street. On the west bank, the downtown side, the north-south streets
begin at "A" street and continue west through "Y" street and then take names. On the eastern bank, all north-south
streets are named streets. Like so many cities, the naming scheme seems completely random.
This is a 180-degree panorama of the South Saskatchewan River taken from the University bridge, which is at the northern end
of the downtown area. Downtown is on the right, western bank, side of this image. The building directly in the center with the
spire is the Delta Bessborough Hotel. Along both banks the river is lined with hike-and-bike trails and is pretty much undeveloped.
Saskatoon is at 52 degrees North lattitude and was a Cree Indian settlement before the first Canadian Europeans pushed this
far west in 1883 and founded the current city. The name Saskatoon is derived from the Cree word for a local, indigenous, berry -
the mis-sask-quah-toomina. The city is the largest exporter of uranium on the planet and the local economy includes mining,
biotechnology, food processing (Saskatchewan is a rich farm province) and distribution, and manufacturing. There's also
local symphony and theatre and a large number of art galleries and museums for a city of only a quarter-million population.
It's also quite beautiful with their major asset, the South Saskatchewan River, being kept in a nearly pristine condition. That,
coupled with the really expansive skies and gorgeous sunsets, gives the city a natural beauty unusual for its relatively flat terrain.
Panorama images of Edmonton, Alberta
A 360-degree panorama from the middle of the Capitol Plaza in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. The provincial capitol building
is on the right with the plaza running north from the banks of the North Saskatchewan River and through other provincial buildings
towards downtown Edmonton.
The fountain in front of the Alberta Provincial Legislature Building (the Alberta Capitol) in downtown Edmonton. The plaza runs north
from a bend in the river to the center of town. The capitol is set amid an array of parks which line this bank of the river.
A 360-degree panorama from in front of the capitol building with the plaza on all sides. The pool runs from the steps of the provincial
capitol to the fountain and the plaza itself covers about three city blocks in length and one block in width. Edmonton has rapid
light rail (underground mostly) and there's a Capitol Station just two blocks west of here (in this image, along the path in the
center-right of the image). The light rail system connects the University of Alberta, on the opposite shore from the capitol, with
the rest of downtown and runs the length of the major downtown east-west thoroughfare. The city also has an extensive bus
network with transit centers located in the surrounding urban villages and further-out neighborhoods. Edmonton and Calgary
are both million-plus resident cities and Alberta is a rich farming, manufacturing, mining, and headquarters province.
A 360-degree panorama along the riverfront roadway just behind the capitol building with the buildings of the University
of Alberta visible on the eastern shore of the North Saskatchewan River. The bridge to the right of center is the light
rail bridge with a hike-and-bike trail bridge suspended beneath. Both banks of the river are lined with trails.
This 360-degree panorama is taken from the middle of the hike-and-bike bridge suspended beneath the light rail bridge over
the North Saskatchewan River in downtown Edmonton. Downtown buildings are visible in the center and left area of the
image and the University of Alberta buildings and its associated urban village structures are visible on the right side of this
image. The University of Alberta is roughly the same size and occupies as much ground as the University of Washington.
The University was founded in 1908 and now has roughly 30,000 students in 16 colleges, including medical, nursing,
pharmaceutical, and law schools.
Along 97th Street in downtown Edmonton. Edmonton's streets developed at 1st Street and 1st Avenue at what was then the southeast
corner of the area to be developed. Consequently, the downtown city streets are in the mid-to-high nineties for both the east-west
avenues and the north-south streets. There are urban street amenities on every block, including parks and benches along the
sidewalk as well as a well-designed way-finding and transit system using kiosks and signs between street light stanchions.
Of course, one of the biggest attractions of Edmonton is the West Edmonton Mall, the largest indoor mall and entertainment complex
in the world. The mall covers three blocks east-west and two blocks north-south and is surrounded by hotels, casinos, and other
associated shopping malls. Indoors, it's two floors with a water theme park area, a circus theme park area, an ice skating arena,
an underwater submarine and aquatic park area, and a whole wing for just the four department stores which call WEM home. In
terms of style of appointment and level of interior finish and quality, this was the equivalent of Pentagon Mall or Montgomery Mall
in the Washington, DC, area or Bellevue Square in Bellevue, WA or Pacific Place in downtown Seattle. Definitely what they call
"upscale." We were there in the middle of a weekday and it was not packed but it was definitely very busy with thousands of
gawkers and shoppers on every level and in every section.
A wide angle view of the aquatic and submarine theme section of the mall. Below is the submarine "river" and at various locations
along the river were aquatic stages and cross-over bridges with amusements like the pirate ship spaced throughout the area. Both
on the top floor and at ground level this area was surrounded on all sides by shops and restaurants. This is one of six "wings"
of the West Edmonton Mall.
We took the bus from downtown to the mall, which is located on the western end of Edmonton, right near the city limits and sandwiched
by the city on the east and its western suburbs on the west. The mall is surrounded by these two and three story parking garages
with bus stops on all four block sides of the huge area. The mall entrances are numbered, this was midway along the southern
block street and was Entrance Number 48. These entrances lead along a pedestrian path to the actual mall entrance which
has doors numbered likewise on the inside. Way more complicated than Tysons I or II malls in the Virginia suburbs of
Washington, DC, or Southcenter, just south of Seattle in Tukwilla (tuh-qwilla).
At the eastern end of one of the many bridges from the downtown Edmonton side of the river (western banks of the North
Saskatchewan River) connecting to the eastern banks where the University of Alberta and more of the urban component
of Edmonton are located. This particular bridge was a lower-level automobile bridge with an upper level for a trolley
train, which had a station immediately to the left of this pedestrian walkway. The river actually makes many bends in
its course through the city proper and at times is east-west and other times north-south in orientation.
This is further along heading over the river and back north toward downtown Edmonton. The upper deck carried two rail lines
for the electrified trolley. Edmonton has light rail running downtown and connecting across another bridge to the university,
this trolley system, and an extensive and frequently-run bus system. The city has upwards of a million inhabitants and, along
with Calgary, is among Canada's largest cities. In rank order (with metro population) Canada's largest cities are Toronto (4.7 million),
Montreal (3.4 million), Vancouver (2 million), Ottawa (1 million), Calgary (1 million) , Edmonton (1 million), Quebec (700 thousand),
and Winnipeg (700 thousand). In terms of density, the rank is Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver with the rest coming in at less
than a quarter of the density of those three. In global terms, Washington, DC, metro ranks 30th for urban agglomerations,
Toronto ranks 58th, Montreal ranks 90th, Vancouver 172nd, Ottawa 367th, Calgary 393rd, Edmonton 410th, and the list
stops at urban areas less than one million even.
Seattle Bus Adventure on a "dark and dreary" day
Friday was what most folks would characterize as a dreary day. It was in the mid fifties with light rain and low-hanging clouds lingering throughout the Puget Sound area and, it seems, especially over the city. Despite repeated learning experiences I still have "some" degree of trust in AccuWeather and Weather Channel predictions. I used both websites and saw that they were both forecasting the rain to abate by mid-afternoon and for the sun to emerge from dissipating clouds. Okay, I thought, this is a dreary day but by the time I get some distance from home maybe the weather will improve and I can hike in a new part of town.
At 1:00 pm I caught a bus downtown, intending to catch a subsequent bus to Northgate, the northern big shopping area in the city. Northgate is about four-fifths the way from the southern city boundary to the northern boundary and somewhat east of the centerline of the city at that point. It's an area of shallow valleys and gently rolling hills with lots of north-south and east-west arteries connecting it to downtown, the northern suburbs, the Lake Washington northern area suburbs, and with Sand Point and the University District on the east and Ballard's Crown Hill area on the west. There are a number of smaller lakes in between Northgate and Ballard and very large destination-parks on both the Lake Washington side (Sand Point - Magnuson Park) and the Puget Sound side (Carkeek Park). I figured that if the sun actually did break out I'd walk from Northgate to one or the other parks, depending mostly on weather.
My fallback plan was that if the weather didn't break I'd make a loop around the north end of the city and stop off in Ballard on the way home. Ballard is a fun neighborhood and recently my favorite cupcake coffee shop - Verite Coffee and Cupcake Royale - had opened another coffee shop / bakery right downtown in Ballard, literally caddy-corner from the bus stop. All else failing, I would take a round-about bus trip to get a cupcake and cappuccino and head back home in the rain.
Downtown I walked two blocks to the bus tunnel to catch the express bus to Northgate. The trip to downtown's north end had taken 40 minutes, not as fast as some days but about average for the 6.5 mile trip. The wait in the bus tunnel was short, about ten minutes, and then I got on the Northgate bus which took only 30 minutes to get to the Northgate transit terminal. The Northgate bus uses the express / bus lanes on the Interstate, which connects downtown directly with Northgate so even though it was 7.5 miles it was a quick trip. Northgate, in addition to being a really large regional shopping center located in the city, is also a crossroads area for folks coming into town from the north and northeastern suburbs and connects well with the neighborhoods lining the northwest shore of Lake Washington. Consequently, the transit center is a busy place with about two dozen buses making connections there. It's a nice, high-tech, transit center with live bus updates displayed on monitor screens throughout the area. There's a coffee shop and snack bar built in to the transit center architecture and six double-bus transit bays, kind of like an island Greyhound station.
King County Metro and the University of Washington transportation study department have teamed up to equip the buses with transponders and a computer tracking program which allows anyone to see the location of all the buses in the county live on their computer. The system keeps track of the buses in realtime and provides updates on about a five-minute basis, depending on individual bus transponders and their location. It's quite a slick system and since I live on a street where I can see two bus lines I recently tested its accuracy. It was pretty much right on the mark. When the bus I was watching turned a corner and went onto another street, the on-screen icon for that bus changed direction and moved with the bus.
It was actually worse weather when I arrived at Northgate than when I left home so I decided to drop the hike and go to the backup plan. The bus which would connect me to Ballard was scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes so I just lingered with about 50-or-so other passengers waiting for a connecting bus. The shopping center and business streets are one block in two directions from the transit center so it's conveniently located had I had the weather to explore.
I get on the Ballard bus about midway in its route. That bus goes back and forth between the east and west sides of the city in this part of town and provides cross-town connections between the Lake Washington neighborhoods, including the University of Washington, and the Puget Sound neighborhoods, including several big business and shopping districts located around Ballard. By the time the cross-bus arrived it was time for school to let out and there was a sudden influx of high school students who also boarded. Probably because of that, the bus made every stop possible along its route from Northgate to Ballard's downtown area. The trip was a 5.5 mile trip which took 90 minutes. That's roughly equivalent to a fast walking pace.
I arrived at Market Street and Ballard Avenue about 3:45 pm and checked the bus schedule to see if I had time for a cupcake and cappuccino. I did, the bus home would arrive in about 15 minutes so I crossed the street, entered Verite Coffee and had a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting cupcake. Their Ballard location had opened about three weeks ago and similar to the opening of their Madrona shop, the owners had invited the community and those on their email list to an evening opening with free cupcakes and coffee. Adam and I had trekked there for that opening and noticed that there was a huge gathering. The Madrona shop I've been to several times now and it's always busy. The Ballard shop, I figured, would probably do two to three times their Madrona business. This time, even though it was mid-afternoon on a Friday, the place was packed. I had to sit on a very-rear counter table right next to the door of their bakery since there was no room. Verite offers now four different kinds of cupcakes - chocolate, vanilla, lemon and peppermint - with an equally wide array of frostings and decorations. They have expanded their baked goods and offer breakfast rolls and other sweets. They also have free wi-fi in keeping with the Seattle tradition of independent coffee shops offering the free service while the chain coffee shops (Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best) offer the paid-for variety.
I gobbled my cupcake and cappuccino - they make as good a set of coffee drinks as they do cupcakes - and walked back across the street to catch the bus home. It arrived pretty much on time and then meandered its way through Interbay, Queen Anne, downtown and finally got me back home 60 minutes later. The bus trip distance from Ballard to home was the longest, owing mostly to the meandering path it takes, and was almost 13 travel miles.
The entire round trip took four hours and covered 34 miles of city streets. That's an average speed of slightly under 10 miles per hour. A seasoned cyclist could make the same trip averaging probably 12 miles per hour and would not have any trip time loss due to bus stops and congestion. Of course a cyclist on that particular day would need serious rain gear and good brakes.
I did learn a bit more about the local bus system and how some of the northern city streets play into each other. Some streets had a pretty interesting mix of urban village shops, stores, and restaurants along with dozens and dozens of new coffee shops I hadn't imagined existed. It was a pretty interesting area - the northern reaches of the city. I would like to bike the area and would still like to hike some of the streets and neighborhoods so the bus ride was instructive in the sense that I now had a better feel for the area and a pretty good idea of where there might be some interesting diversions.
It also taught me a lesson I'd had no doubt about even before the trip. This city definitely needs rapid transportation in a large number of areas. Had the Green Line Monorail been operating, I would have been able to get home in about half the time it took simply because the Green Line mirrors the Ballard-to-West Seattle bus route and would have taken 20 minutes to make the trip rather than the hour the bus took. If Light Rail ever gets extended to Northgate, the already short bus ride from downtown would be even shorter by probably ten minutes. Had the city's two planned rapid transit systems been up and running I could have covered the same territory in half the time. There's also a strong need for rapid transit on some of the cross-town routes as was clearly expressed to me in the five-mile trip taking 90 minutes from Northgate to Ballard. There are several cross-town routes which have been proposed for both Light Rail and Monorail. Since the cross-town bus passed over the interstate I was able to observe that even in the middle of the day, I-5 was backed up to the city's northern border heading south toward downtown and was moving slowly, probably 35 mph, heading out from downtown. Once again, I don't understand why anyone would want to sit in their car under such conditions, wasting their own time, producing more pollution and wasting more of the now clearly diminishing petroleum supplies. Not to mention the high risk of accident under the crowded freeway conditions I observed.
It was an experiment in transit options as well as a potential exploration trek. The exploration trek will get picked up when the weather allows and I'll still use the bus system. And, I remain ever hopeful that the other half-million-plus residents of the city someday realize the value of rapid transit and the incredible freedom it can allow individuals who chose not to use an automobile.
I did go through two bus tokens owing to the length of the trip. That was a total of $2.50 for four hours of amusement and 34 miles. Looked at in that light it was probably a bargain - where else can you be entertained for sixty-three cents an hour?
Map and legend explaining the four-hour, 34-mile, bus ride which took place in the rain.
Dark Dreams
Now, the dark dreams. For the past several weeks the election has been weighing heavily on my mind. I'm really frightful of this administration remaining for another four years. I'm afraid that if that comes to pass our civil liberties will be even further diminished; that our domestic social policies will be further weakened and perhaps deconstructed; that our continuing loss of lives overseas will continue and perhaps grow; that our world standing will be reduced to a feared and despised stature; that our domestic security will be lessened rather than strengthened; and that our status as citizens of a free nation will be lost completely. I can't begin to express my fears about what Homeland Security is doing with personal information or how many times recently a citizen has been unjustly accused of being an enemy of the state for exercising their Constitutional rights. I'm also pretty disgusted with the methods by which this administration is quashing peaceful dissent and putting a heavy lid on freedoms of assembly and speech.
I knew these were concerns about which I had deep and strong convictions. My principal personal benefit of being an American is the individual freedom this country allows its citizens and those freedoms go to the heart of what this country is about - at least to me. I strongly believe in the words and intent of the French national motto - Liberty, Fraternity and Equality. We are a nation of individuals who have the government-protected right to express ourselves and to expect socially-conscious treatment from our government and to be treated with equality and even-handedness by our government and our fellow citizens. This administration has driven a wedge into the country's heart so that there is now a powerful faction of intolerant and self-centered and self-serving citizens who have risen on the rhetoric and policies of the President and his cronies in Congress.
This is not the country I want to live in. I grew up during the era of the House Un-American Activities Committee with its Communist witch-hunts and black lists and subsequent internal spying. I grew up with J. Edgar Hoover as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That was a dark time in this nation's history. It was a time when the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution were routinely stolen by the government. It was a time of citizen arrest and justice denied. That left an indelible scar on my soul. It was not the country I had studied in grammar school. It was not the country which was the darling of the world in the fifties when I was just a kid and living in France and Morocco. We were not hated then. I spent several years living in a Muslim world and experienced no malice towards me from those I encountered. To be an American in the fifties was to be the hero of the free world. Then the sixties introduced this concept of citizen oaths and wire-taps and background checks. That disturbed me greatly and was such a counterpoint to the years I had spent overseas as a grade school kid.
My high school years were good years but my soul was darkened by what I was seeing on television and reading in the newspapers and magazines. Then with the VietNam war I realized that my country's spirit needed help. I protested throughout college and participated in any number of "stop the war" activities, including reading the names of the dead solders on one cold Thanksgiving Day in State College. It was my volunteer activity and my lot fell that day so I read the names of the dead Americans from South and North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington state. I stood on the corner of College and Atherton Streets in State College, Pennsylvania, for four hours in the cold and dark afternoon reading these names. I tried to imagine who the person might be based on their name and what state they were from. I thought about the way they might have died such a long way from their home. As city editor of the Daily Collegian, the daily Penn State newspaper, I had tried to focus on ways to wake people up to the horrors of war, in general, and to the VietNam war in particular. For days on end I would run stories and photographs from the Philadelphia Veterans Hospital which showed how these returning wounded soldiers were being fitted with prosthetic limbs or shown how to use a blind-person's cane and how to navigate without the use of their sight. These were wrenching stories but I published them because I thought the real horror of war was not just the loss of human life, but the complete disruption of the lives of the living. It was a sad time.
When it came time to be drafted, since the draft was in effect then, I went to my local Draft Board and got my assignment date. In July of 1969 I was inducted in the US Army and spent the next nineteen months being trained and serving my time as a soldier. I was assigned to the 8th US Army and stationed in a suburb of Seoul, Korea. I still felt deeply and strongly that the war was wrong but also felt that I had benefitted so much from being born an American that I did, indeed, owe my country something. Not my life, mind you, but at least my time for those years.
I still feel that way and still feel that this war is the wrong thing at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. And, it's because of this that I've had these dark dreams lately. In these dreams I move about in a world where there are hidden monsters. They are not tangible nor identifiable but they exist behind corners, somewhere a block away, behind me when I'm not looking. They are the monsters of a controlling government. A government which could lock me away without any recourse to a hearing or trial. They are monsters which listen in on my conversations with others when I'm expressing my distrust of my government or my unhappiness with the course of events the government has invoked. They are monsters which sometimes touch my shoulder and give me chills or cause my mind to become schizophrenic and unleash great bolts of static in my head.
I wake up this side of a cold sweat. I don't believe in monsters and my dreams are never really nightmares because I don't believe in the kinds of things which cause nightmares. And, yet, these dark dreams are the closest I've had to nightmares since I was five years old and racked with ear infections and tonsillitis and had vivid nightmares of real monsters attacking my body. I know I feel strongly about this country and the rights and freedoms we have because these dreams are directly the result of my fears that these rights and freedoms will be lost.
As I said, these dreams have been persistent and continuous for the past several weeks. They sneak up inside me when I've been asleep for several hours. They won't go away, although now that I realize what's causing them I can at least begin to understand a little more about the plot and perhaps relish some form of midnight entertainment from this new era in my subconscious expressions.
I'm not going to be able to influence anyone else's personal vote in the upcoming election. But perhaps by expressing how much I want this regime to go away and how seriously badly this current administration is affecting me I can at least present what this means to one person. Think about this and your own fears and concerns when you vote. Vote your conscience, certainly, but vote for the good of the country and for the standards and rights and freedoms we were brought up to uphold. This nation is about personal freedom; it's about independence - of mind, body and spirit; it's about giving everyone an equal chance to succeed and make the best of their lives; it's about the Constitution of the United States of America. It's a great country, I know, I willingly served time to express that feeling. Let's keep it a great country and if Bush is re-elected, let's work to constrain the limitations on the Bill of Rights and to return to a time when being an American meant being tolerant of others and helpful to those who need it.
Some Seattle-area images taken this week
This is the professional, 4x5" silver-film, 3000 dpi scanned image which Bill Wright,
the photographer engaged by my architect, Lisa McNelis, took of our house. Lisa will
use this image in client presentations and perhaps on her website and in handouts.
This is the image I took using my Canon S-110 Digital Elph using Bill Wrights' lighting and
taken from basically the same spot as his 4x5 tilt-and-shift field camera was set up.
This is the same image above corrected for perspective and color and gamma to
approximate as closely as I could the professional image Wright took. Contrast this image
with the one two images above. It's clear that hiring a professional photographer is worth
the money though the amateur can compete relatively effectively.
However, look at the level of detail 4x5 film which is then digitized at 3000 dpi gives one versus the 2 megapixel
image from the Canon Digital Elph. There's really no comparison - this is a full-size (pixel-for-pixel) comparison
of the two images. Yes, more pixels is better. Also, his film had far greater color latitude than does the CCD
light bucket in the Canon.
Stopped by the U-District Farmer's Market this Saturday and caught this little girl
dancing to the beat of the accordion player's Louisiana-style music. She was definitely
bopping along with the beat. As you might note, it was a chilly Saturday morning.
Four shots out the bus window taken coming back from my 34-mile bus adventure. The skies had finally quit
dripping but the gray elements of the day were still evident. The sun was peeking through a break in the cloud
layer (West Seattle actually had sunshine).
Because the skies and water were such an even shade of gray, I decided to take a single image and run through the gamut
of hue angles in Photoshop. The skies and water in these 18 identical images are pretty much a neutral gray. The hue was
altered 20 degrees between each of the adjacent images - the actual, correct, color hue is the image in the third row on the
right end (the 9th image in the sequence).
Chas
Posted: Sat - October 23, 2004 at 12:28 AM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM
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Published On: Jul 04, 2005 05:41 PM