1. Have a socially distanced seat outside Pelican Bay Used Bookstore and Cafe. Anacortes, Washington.
2. Have a seat and a cigarette break in an alley behind a restaurant. Maybe you can use those three red lines to center yourself. Kirkland, Washington.
3. Have a seat – or maybe not – in this overturned chair by a canal. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
4. Have a seat on a bench in a garden and take pictures with your Lensbaby. Bellevue Botanical Garden, Bellevue, Washington.
5. Have a seat if you dare, at the far end of a long, dark tunnel that was once used to store ammunition to protect New York harbors. Fort Totten, Queens, New York.
6. If you don’t mind getting your bottom wet, have a seat at Urban Coffee Lounge on a rainy winter afternoon. Kirkland, Washington.
7. Have a seat in Seattle’s Westlake Park alongside Steinunn Thorarinsdottir’s sculptures and various local characters. Seattle, Washington.
8. Have a seat and another cigarette break in an alley in Kirkland, Washington.
9. Have a fashionably quaint seat next to an abandoned railroad track behind Januik Winery. Woodinville, Washington.
10. Have a seat and reminisce at the Old Town Bar and Restaurant on East 18th St. New York, NY.
11. Have a seat in an antique chair in the kitchen of an airbnb and when you’re sufficiently rested, walk over to the Fairfax Flea Market and try this cushier chair with gold cut-velvet upholstery. It will reflect well on your taste. Los Angeles, California.
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12. Have a seat on the street across from Watts Towers. Los Angeles, California.
13. Scale this restaurant facade and see if you can have a seat on the artwork. Hannover, Germany.
14. You’ll probably be grateful for this seat outdoors after visiting a patient at Banner – University Medical Center Hospital. Phoenix, Arizona.
15. Have a seat and commune with a Buddha statue at Ksitigarbha Temple. Lynnwood, Washington.
16. Have a seat in an old straight-back chair I found at an estate sale for $5.00. Kirkland, Washington.
17. Have a seat on the Edmonds – Kingston ferry and feel the breeze. Somewhere in Puget Sound, Washington.
18. Have a seat across from this busy commuter on the Staten Island Ferry. New York harbor, NY, NY.
19. Have a seat on a bike if you can unlock the lock, or unsnap the cover from this vintage MG Midget and grab a seat while the owner’s inside eating. Aren’t you bad! Leiden, Netherlands and Malibu, California.
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20. Have a seat in the truck and deliver fresh eggs to the produce store. Malty Produce Market, Maltby, Washington.
21. Have a seat here and you’re in big trouble. ‘Under the Table’ by Robert Therrien, at the Broad Museum. Los Angeles, California.
It’s a terrific place, with an excellent book selection and the best coffee for miles. There used to be a big table old and comfy old chairs where you could read the paper, but the seating is gone. Hopefully, not for long. If you ever make it over to this side of the mountains, we can meet for coffee there. 😉 Thanks, Peggy.
🙂 Really, but I always had the impression you’re a pretty well-centered guy, Howard. Still, we could all use some guidelines these days! Enjoy your weekend. 🙂
I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed you’d like the Lensbaby look. They’re fun to play with, aren’t they? And the dark tunnel, well, that was strange. Someone had placed a metal folding chair under a small light at the end of that dank, dark tunnel – what a photo op it was. You never know what you’re going to find when you go exploring, right? 😉
I’ve never used a lensbaby, but it looks like the kind of thing I’d enjoy having a mess around with. Think I’d need to do a fair bit of research first though before taking the plunge 😉
It’s a whole ‘nother animal. 😉 A blogging friend was very generous and gave me one that he had. It can be hard to get the hang of it – there’s not a lot of control. But when it succeeds, it’s really a nice effect. Maybe you’ll come across a used LB one day. 🙂
Had a quick look yesterday – there seems to be quite a few options with the optics. Tilt shift in camera is something that appeals – I’ve only ever dabbled with fake tilt shift via post processing before. Anyhow, yeah, maybe a used one would be an option.
Good idea, good project, and good post, Lynn! I’m especially drawn into 5 and 7, and I’ve been in love with MG Midgets for most of my life, though I still dream of the older TF models.
Thanks to LR tags, it wasn’t too hard to put this together. 😉 I almost put a different turquoise vintage car photo in that spot but it didn’t fit as well, so I’m glad this one resonates with you. Thanks so much, Gary, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Enjoy your weekend!
Love your “Have a Seat” collection, Lynn. Your astute eye for color and light is really evident in this series. The complementary colors and shadows in 14, the subtle light in 6, and the classic feel in 10. And whimsy, too- the man slumped and sleeping and the guard dwarfed by the Therrien.😄 And I love that chair you found for an amazing bargain!
Thanks, Jane. The colors in #14 are totally manipulated. 😉 As are #6 and #10, each in their own way. I guess I don’t manipulate images too much because my “normal” subject matter is nature, but when something like a chair is the subject maybe I feel freer to have at it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the diversion – and did you notice one photo was from the Fairfax flea market? I think it’s called Melrose Trading Post now and it probably is a zoo these days, but we had fun there one afternoon. I hope you’re enjoying your new digs. 🙂
Excellent creativity and perfect subjects to do it. I didn’t realize about the flea mkt— hope it’s not a zoo but given the numbers here, I wouldn’t be surprised. Despite the gloomy news we are enjoying our new home very much, thanks. 😊
Wow, please remain seated, this deserves a standing ovation – I could never have imagined how much fun a bunch of seats could be! Each one is of interest. #1 & #19, appreciate the color-coordination. That old MG looks like a lot of fun. #4 just looks charming, I love the slightly dreamlike feeling. #5 I just know I’m going to have that rendition/interrogation dream again. #8 the pattern on the door suggests the person sitting on that stool was vaporized, I hate it when they do that. #9 do I remember this from a post some time ago? #10 has great atmosphere, tiled floor, steam radiator, bentwood chairs, could be 1920! #16 the straight lines mirrored in the railing, cannot believe $5 for such a nice chair. #18 portrait, that commuter got quite an assemblage for a 25-minute ride, he looks set for the day! (That table & chairs in #21 really is huge, right? and not just a trick of perspective?)
Very fun idea!
Oh, I bet you would have no trouble imagining how much fun a bunch of seats could be. Maybe there’s a certain object lurking in dozens of your photos that’s just waiting to be let out. 😉 Yes, you do remember the photo of the table & chairs by the tracks. A few others have appeared before, too, including the last one, in a post about a trip to L.A. The artist specialized in bigger-than-life sculptures of everyday objects. I enjoyed your comments about the $5 chair, the commuter, and the NYC restaurant, which was on an Esquire greatest bars list. Wiki says it’s been in continuous operation since 1892; it also says the men’s room has urinals from 1910. You’ll have to put the place on your list for the next time you’re in the city. 🙂 Thanks for the thumbs up, Robert!
Yes, what a relief a good chair is sometimes, right? It was fun to do a post about something other than nature, Dulce, thank you! Have a good weekend! 🙂
What an interesting set of pictures, good idea, and love your captions! 14 is my favourite, wonderful, and I also like 3, 4, 7, 13, 16, 17, 18 (a portrait full of interest, really well captured) and 21. 🙂
Thanks, Adrian, glad you enjoyed the diversion. The ferry commuter was a lucky break, but I will say that photographing strangers in New York is easier than other places – everyone learns to tune other people out, to an extent, and to tolerate lots of stuff going on around them. I miss the big city sometimes! 🙂
#6 is abstract enough that without your caption I might not have figured out what it shows.
The chair in #16 looks like it belongs in a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen as large a bicycle chain guard as the one in #19—or any chain guard, for that matter. Nice job of harmonizing the colors of the bike and the car.
#18 reminded me that riding the Staten Island Ferry cost a nickel when I was a child. I figured it must cost a relative fortune now, so I was surprised when I checked and found this: “The Staten Island Ferry is a free service provided by the City of New York. Be aware of scammers trying to sell tickets.” Like new immigrants being approached by a guy who wants to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.
#13 is whimsical. And now that word reminds me of popsicle.
There were quite a few nice old bikes around Leiden. 🙂 Good for you for doing the research on the ferry – pretty cool, eh? It’s the biggest bargain in the city. I lived all over NYC over the years and the last place I lived was on Staten Island. I took the ferry to work (lower Manhattan, near the WTC), and naturally, it was the best commuting experience of all. I suppose it’s hot enough in Texas for a whimsical popsicle today…maybe bubblegum flavor? 😉
I didn’t realize you’d lived in a bunch of locations in NYC. What fun to commute via ferry. I expected the ferry to cost a fortune these days because the bridges do. In the 1960s the Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridge cost 25¢. The current rate is $6.12 with E-ZPass or $9.50 by mail. According to an Internet site, $100 in 1960 = $875.50 in 2020, so you can see that the E-ZPass toll on the bridges is close to three times what you’d expect from inflation, and the pay-by-mail toll about four times what you’d expect from inflation. I also seem to remember that the bridges were supposed to become free once enough tolls had been collected to pay off the costs of construction. Dream on, right?
The real killer is the Verrazano – I never used that bridge! It’s now $19.00 to get on and back off Staten Island on the Verrazano unless you have EZPass. I used to work for the NY State Dept. of Health, at various locations within a 50-mile radius from Manhattan, and the EZPass was vital. After I moved to the Seattle area they instigated rolling tolls (special lanes) on some major highways. Between those and the bridge tolls, the Seattle version (Good to Go!) was again crucial. It’s nice not to have to be dealing with those tolls now, but the Washington State ferries – big money, Steve! If I wanted to go out to Orcas Island today (in the San Juans, which Fidalgo Island is almost part of) I would pay over $50.00. It’s much less if you don’t take a car but there’s hardly any way to get around once you’re there. As for bridges being free after the tolls paid for them, I guess that was just another way to get a bridge built in the first place. 😉
This compilation provides an excellent example of the seeing eye. Most people would pass by the objects and scenes you have focused on without giving a second glance. But through keen observation, careful selection and skilful composition you have created enjoyable and interesting pictures. I;m sure they will encourage others to be more observant.
Great! A very funny post with cool pictures 🙂 #5 is somehow a bit weird, but cool too! #7 makes me laugh! I like the first one, which is so funny in itself! I like your comment on the 2nd one: Maybe you can use those three red lines to center yourself, haha! Humans are really strange, right?! 6 and 14 are fantastic and I would like to see #10 and drink a coffee there 🙂 18 is striking, I like that a lot. I had to think about #13. I thought, hm, where do I know it from 😉 I really forgot about it. Thank you for this lively “inanimate” post 🙂
#5 was a surprise – we were wandering around an old military installation and came across some dark, damp tunnels once used for storage. There was just a little light inside them and someone decided to place a folding metal chair at the end, so it looked like a scary place where someone would be interrogated. It was a photo-op. But I’m glad some of these were fun, too. I wish I took more photos when I used to ride the Staten Island ferry to work in New York. I will just have to go back! It’s funny that you didn’t instantly know where #13 was. But I did play with that photo so it’s not quite what you see from the street. I wish I could be wandering the streets of a European city this summer…but I will be lucky if we can stay overnight in our own state. Stay healthy, Almuth!! 🙂
This scene in the tunnel is really freaky! The fantasy is unlimited here, but at the same time many filmscenes pop up, when you look at this chair 😉 You took the chance for a great picture! – I would love to see New York. It is so variegated and exciting and I am sure you can make lots of photos – innumerable :-). I suppose you have many other interesting pictures from NY? – Overhere people have started to travel again. I am curious how it will work out. Who knows how long this keeps going, but we can glad to be healthy, right? Stay healthy too!!!
New York deserves at least a week of your time if you ever get there. 🙂 Other photos from NY? Of course! I wish I had more from pre-digital days. There are a few posts about NYC – “An Idiosyncratic View” “The Three Graces” and “Back Again” all from Oct. 2017. Also “Weekly Photo Challenge” from Nov. 2012, the first time we went back after moving out here in Feb. 2012.
We went to NYC again in May, 2016: You might like this post “In NY: High Line”. Look for a link to another blog – Patti Kuche – at the bottom of that post. She used to take great photos of NY street life. She was a vibrant, interesting person. Last year she had a stroke (“out of the blue!”) and died quickly. Really tragic. But her blog is still up and you can enjoy her spirit there. 🙂
I’m reading about the opening up of travel in the EU. We can’t even cross the border to Canada – I don’t blame them. Cases are rising in the US, including in our state, but not too much here, so far.
I will have a look at your posts, thank you. I remember that one abouth the Highline and the Blog from Patti Kuche! The photos from her are great! Really inspiring. – I don’t know if it is wise to open the borders for travelling, but we will see. At the moment the situation here is okay, but in other countries the numbers go up again. So you never know. I hope that the situation in the US will improve soon!
This loaded with the images in the email notification, so it was a thrill to scroll through this post and smile from start til finish! It provided a great break, especially when sandwiched between posts about the virus and protests — or else posts with snippets that I’m unable to follow the link.
In this cyber visit, I think I’ll select that quiet table for two by the railroad tracks.. My imaginary friend and I would be spinning the ‘what ifs’ of imagination.. What train once passed here? Who was on it? What were they anticipating on their next stop? What did they leave behind? What wonderful thing did they see on the journey that stood out the most?
I also thought of a fragment of a poem, which I cannot find.. I think it starts out, “What train sets out for yesterday…” and it ends something like, ‘that I can meet you there..” It’s a haunting poem, yet right now I can grasp nothing else from the faded memory!
IT’s so good to hear from you! I’m glad the pictures loaded. I found the poem – Robert Hillyer’s Nocturne.
If the deep wood is haunted, it is I
Who am the ghost; not the tall trees
Nor the white moonlight slanting down like rain,
Filling the hollows with bright pools of silver.
A long train whistle serpentines around the hill
Now shrill, now far away.
Tell me, from what dark smoky terminal
What train sets out for yesterday?
Or, since our spirits take off and resume
Their flesh as travellers their cloaks, O tell me where,
In what age and what country you will come,
That I may meet you there.
You are a dear! I was ‘wayyy’ off on recalling how it started, but yes, that’s it. I thought that the first name was Robert or Richard, and it was in a book of poems where I read it…
Go to the head of the class, young woman! You get 5 stars on your chart!
You asked about the Water Hyacinths, and yes, they are ‘native’ to either Colombia or Venezuela or Brazil — various books state conflicting info, but perhaps all three have been the original area… The gallinules certainly enjoy nibbling those flowers, and I wonder about the nutrition and the option for using them in the kitchen!
Cyber/restaurant trip was a fast one today.. heading home until the weekend.
It was pretty easy to google what you did remember, and I’m impressed that you remember poetry. Though I may enjoy reading it, I don’t remember lines. I’ll take the 5 stars though. 😉 That’s interesting about the Water hyacinths…I found this online (assuming it’s the same plant) “Even when viewed as an edible there are two down sides: While young leaves and stems can be eaten cooked or raw, raw they give quite a few people the itches, and cooked they still make a few people itch. So you have to sort that out before you eat too many.”
Just call me your research assistant, Lisa. 🙂
It’s great to have my very-own research assistant!!!
Water hyacinths are used to help purify water; they take up the toxins, so I also wonder about what nasty extras might be lurking in that snack!
So fun and smart Lynn…oh the chair in Fort Totten…that’s a whole film to itself…and I like the zipper…enjoyed your collections…funny I need chairs for a kitchen table and I dislike shopping so maybe I can choose 4 🤔😉🙂🙃 having a fun time in another bubble…smiles from white rock…back to etown now…hugs Hedy…make more art Lynn always so joyful to read your narratives 🤓🙋♀️☺️
One can’t help wondering who put that chair at the end of the tunnel. It was a brilliant move, given the lighting, the dank atmosphere, the military environment. 🙂 I bet you can find something good online for the kitchen table…chairs are wonderful objects, make it fun. 😉
I’m glad you were able to go west, young lady!! Art-making may be in the mix very soon….
“inanimated things” you call these seats, Lynn, but never before have I seen chairs and benches with such a distinct personality. Every photo tells a story, often very humorous, they make me laugh. Great design in the colours (#14 is fantastic with the tint of purple and greenish yellow. And the rest of colour in the passenger seat area in #20 !). Extremely finely stylized the black and white photos (#9 and #10 are an exquisite pair, I think).
I especially like … yes, which ones exactly? … I think #1 to #21 are my favourites.
By the way, I think it’s quite appropriate that a place in Washington State is named after you, as I see from the caption to #15.
It was time to do something a little different. I thought you might like the way #14 turned out and now, I can’t remember how I did it – but it might have been an odd kind of color infrared effect that’s available in Color Efex. For me, Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex pro are like poor man’s PhotoShop tools – easier and quicker, if not as sophisticated. I’m glad you like the first one – that’s my favorite place in town that I’m sure I’ve talked about before. It was hard when they were closed for several months. They’re slowly reopening – you can browse their books using gloves they leave out in boxes around the store, and if you forgot your mask they’ll give you one. But sadly, you can’t relax at the big old wooden table with the newspaper anymore. Their espresso and baked goods are sublime. Thanks for the chuckle about Lynnwood, which unfortunately is a small city full of ugly shopping malls. The temple is an anomaly – an amazingly colorful place that primarily serves Vietnamese people from all around Seattle. p.s. I had an interesting, rewarding time yesterday listening to Siri Hustvelt on youtube. 🙂
They should have found a place with some beauty as an appropriate place with your name!
The NIK filters also do things only to the degree their user is able to handle them. I haven’t taken much time to deepen my knowledge with NIK, but had an idea how much they could do in the right hands – yours, fo example.
Do you remember the name of the Hustvedt youtube ?
I was going to send it to you but once again I’m so behind…so, good thing you asked! 😉
The first one is older and interesting to me because it took place at a NYC bookstore I know very well. She’s being “interviewed” by her husband, noted author Paul Auster. She looks and acts quite differently in the second, more recent video, done after Trump won in 2016. Thanks again for introducing me – I knew her name but had never read her books. I will now.
An interesting collection. Even if it’s oriented around the same theme it’s quite eclectic. Favorites include 7, 9, 10, 12, and 16-21. Nice job stepping outside of nature and still demonstrating style.
Your reaction to #7 is close to my own, Ken. I don’t find it a pleasant image to look at – I know that guy isn’t in good shape and that makes me feel bad – but my brain tells me it’s an interesting mix. 🙂 It’s fun to see which images speak to you. Thanks very much!
The key is keywords, right? 😉 If I hadn’t keyworded with tags like “chair” etc. I couldn’t have gathered them together. I gleaned the chair photos and bench photos then went looking at photos taken on ferries and cities and found a few more. It was time for something different, and it was fun. I do like chairs in any case – there’s something about them… thanks Denise!
Reading your comment to Denise above, I concur…keywording and using Lightroom made this so much easier than trolling through bridge to build a collection. What a great idea to amass this theme over the years and your travels.As a furniture guy, I enjoyed seeing so many…even the non-furniture ones held interest. I love garden benches in a nice floral setting but that tunnel…huh, uh. Not going to happen. 🙂
🙂 We ventured into the tunnel, but only because it was open at one end and we knew we could get back out. 😉 Our curiosity was satisfied but it wasn’t anywhere near as pleasant as sitting on a garden bench. Keywording is something I try to keep up with and when I go back and find photos with only a location keyword I get mad at myself. I try to take a few minutes to add more keywords. It’s all in LR though – I don’t use Bridge, I guess I never really needed it and life is complicated enough. Thanks for commenting, Steve.
Bridge was all we had before Lightroom in the earlier Photoshop days. Not a catalog at all so how you created categories and stored the images was a bit more critical without a keyword search engine. Kind of like having all those yellow Kodak boxes in a bigger box and knowing somewhere in there were the trannies from your trip some place 5 years ago. 🙂
Right, and I came to digital photography a bit late and slowly, too. I was always busy with work and just used what software I could get cheaply and easily at first. I guess by the time I was a fully committed LR user it wasn’t necessary to have Bridge. Let’s not talk about the boxes…I still have some…waiting to be dealt with. 🙂
I’m following up – at home and just finished enjoying your post and the interesting comments. As I scrolled through the images, I realized how many gave me ‘pause’ – Starting with those three lines in #2, and the next in #3 – what a lovely work of art, and I thought it was a fallen gate. The back would make a fun ‘wall art’ piece if reclaimed. #5 has power. Whoever arranged for that effect had a great vision – although it can also cast an eerie effect. I could imagine various people taking turns in sitting there – all with various emotions/moods while the photographer captured each one. The man sleeping was a funny moment; you surely enjoyed capturing that image. Those lovingly-gathered eggs also gave me a smile, especially since the owner was not aware that someone else was admiring them enough to photograph them! There are so many great images, yet the one of the mesa by the train tracks was the one that burns strongest.
Scrolling through your posts leaves me wistful that each image had a ‘comment box’ — although I have trouble finding opportunity to leave even one comment during these Covid-challenged days!
Your posts are important; you have the gift of sweeping us into another realm, one always filled with a sense of calm and peace.
Lisa! I’m very late replying to your kind comment, sorry! I like your idea about various people sitting in the tunnel chair, with their various reactions – humanity! Glad you enjoyed the egg-gathering photo – it was at a farm stand that sells their own eggs, vegetables and flowers. They keep peacocks and sheep and their farm animals and make them available to people to look at, like a mini zoo. Fun place! So good for the kids, and the kid in all of us, but it’s not near me anymore.
You called the table by the tracks “mesa” which reminded me that it means table in Spanish – a good reminder! I never took Spanish, unfortunately. I’m taking your compliment in, and I thank you for it. 🙂
bluebrightly 
smiles!
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Back at ya!
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clever
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Thanks Don! 🙂
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What a fun theme. I’ll take #4, thank you! Though #13 looked like fun… 😀
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Thanks, Gunta…that garden is a beauty. Too bad it’s no longer nearby. Enjoy your weekend, OK? 🙂
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My favorite is the first one, love the matching color!
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It’s a terrific place, with an excellent book selection and the best coffee for miles. There used to be a big table old and comfy old chairs where you could read the paper, but the seating is gone. Hopefully, not for long. If you ever make it over to this side of the mountains, we can meet for coffee there. 😉 Thanks, Peggy.
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Fun! What a great collection. #9 so soft and enticing, #18 great subject and lighting, and I love that cut velvet!
Alison
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Thank you, Alison, something different to change it up. 😉 Have a good weekend!
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Thanks. You too.
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What a great variety of seats! Thanks for the fun!
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It’s good to hear from you, Angela, and did you notice that #11 is from L.A.? Have a great weekend. 🙂
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Yes, from the Broad Museum!
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So appropriate for the Covid era. I may have to center myself with the three red lines
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🙂 Really, but I always had the impression you’re a pretty well-centered guy, Howard. Still, we could all use some guidelines these days! Enjoy your weekend. 🙂
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What a lovely light-hearted look at the ‘seating business’. Thoroughly enjoyed the series, Lynn 🙂
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The seating business, yes. It was fun to do and I’m glad you enjoyed it, Vicki. Thanks!! 🙂
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Splendid thematic collection! Loving the lensbaby blur, and oh, of course, the dark tunnel 🙂
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I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed you’d like the Lensbaby look. They’re fun to play with, aren’t they? And the dark tunnel, well, that was strange. Someone had placed a metal folding chair under a small light at the end of that dank, dark tunnel – what a photo op it was. You never know what you’re going to find when you go exploring, right? 😉
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I’ve never used a lensbaby, but it looks like the kind of thing I’d enjoy having a mess around with. Think I’d need to do a fair bit of research first though before taking the plunge 😉
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It’s a whole ‘nother animal. 😉 A blogging friend was very generous and gave me one that he had. It can be hard to get the hang of it – there’s not a lot of control. But when it succeeds, it’s really a nice effect. Maybe you’ll come across a used LB one day. 🙂
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Had a quick look yesterday – there seems to be quite a few options with the optics. Tilt shift in camera is something that appeals – I’ve only ever dabbled with fake tilt shift via post processing before. Anyhow, yeah, maybe a used one would be an option.
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Good idea, good project, and good post, Lynn! I’m especially drawn into 5 and 7, and I’ve been in love with MG Midgets for most of my life, though I still dream of the older TF models.
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Thanks to LR tags, it wasn’t too hard to put this together. 😉 I almost put a different turquoise vintage car photo in that spot but it didn’t fit as well, so I’m glad this one resonates with you. Thanks so much, Gary, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Enjoy your weekend!
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The Fort Totten seat looks a tad unwelcoming!!
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Just a tad, I think. 😉 Have a good weekend, Sue! 🙂
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And you, have a lovely weekend!
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Love your “Have a Seat” collection, Lynn. Your astute eye for color and light is really evident in this series. The complementary colors and shadows in 14, the subtle light in 6, and the classic feel in 10. And whimsy, too- the man slumped and sleeping and the guard dwarfed by the Therrien.😄 And I love that chair you found for an amazing bargain!
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Thanks, Jane. The colors in #14 are totally manipulated. 😉 As are #6 and #10, each in their own way. I guess I don’t manipulate images too much because my “normal” subject matter is nature, but when something like a chair is the subject maybe I feel freer to have at it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the diversion – and did you notice one photo was from the Fairfax flea market? I think it’s called Melrose Trading Post now and it probably is a zoo these days, but we had fun there one afternoon. I hope you’re enjoying your new digs. 🙂
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Excellent creativity and perfect subjects to do it. I didn’t realize about the flea mkt— hope it’s not a zoo but given the numbers here, I wouldn’t be surprised. Despite the gloomy news we are enjoying our new home very much, thanks. 😊
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Ahh, good (about the home!) because these days, we need a good place to rest our hats. 😉
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Wow, please remain seated, this deserves a standing ovation – I could never have imagined how much fun a bunch of seats could be! Each one is of interest. #1 & #19, appreciate the color-coordination. That old MG looks like a lot of fun. #4 just looks charming, I love the slightly dreamlike feeling. #5 I just know I’m going to have that rendition/interrogation dream again. #8 the pattern on the door suggests the person sitting on that stool was vaporized, I hate it when they do that. #9 do I remember this from a post some time ago? #10 has great atmosphere, tiled floor, steam radiator, bentwood chairs, could be 1920! #16 the straight lines mirrored in the railing, cannot believe $5 for such a nice chair. #18 portrait, that commuter got quite an assemblage for a 25-minute ride, he looks set for the day! (That table & chairs in #21 really is huge, right? and not just a trick of perspective?)
Very fun idea!
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Oh, I bet you would have no trouble imagining how much fun a bunch of seats could be. Maybe there’s a certain object lurking in dozens of your photos that’s just waiting to be let out. 😉 Yes, you do remember the photo of the table & chairs by the tracks. A few others have appeared before, too, including the last one, in a post about a trip to L.A. The artist specialized in bigger-than-life sculptures of everyday objects. I enjoyed your comments about the $5 chair, the commuter, and the NYC restaurant, which was on an Esquire greatest bars list. Wiki says it’s been in continuous operation since 1892; it also says the men’s room has urinals from 1910. You’ll have to put the place on your list for the next time you’re in the city. 🙂 Thanks for the thumbs up, Robert!
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A “peaceful look” also likes to rest in a chair!
Different and innovative!
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Yes, what a relief a good chair is sometimes, right? It was fun to do a post about something other than nature, Dulce, thank you! Have a good weekend! 🙂
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What an interesting set of pictures, good idea, and love your captions! 14 is my favourite, wonderful, and I also like 3, 4, 7, 13, 16, 17, 18 (a portrait full of interest, really well captured) and 21. 🙂
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Thanks, Adrian, glad you enjoyed the diversion. The ferry commuter was a lucky break, but I will say that photographing strangers in New York is easier than other places – everyone learns to tune other people out, to an extent, and to tolerate lots of stuff going on around them. I miss the big city sometimes! 🙂
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‘And Now for Something Completely Different’.. Nice set, Lynn; some funny ones, but I go for nr5, with it’s almost-electric-chair-mood.. 🙂
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Going on the dark side, eh Harrie? 😉 I’m glad you liked something different. 😉 Enjoy the weekend, OK? 🙂
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Just trying to be allround… 😟✋
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#6 is abstract enough that without your caption I might not have figured out what it shows.
The chair in #16 looks like it belongs in a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen as large a bicycle chain guard as the one in #19—or any chain guard, for that matter. Nice job of harmonizing the colors of the bike and the car.
#18 reminded me that riding the Staten Island Ferry cost a nickel when I was a child. I figured it must cost a relative fortune now, so I was surprised when I checked and found this: “The Staten Island Ferry is a free service provided by the City of New York. Be aware of scammers trying to sell tickets.” Like new immigrants being approached by a guy who wants to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge.
#13 is whimsical. And now that word reminds me of popsicle.
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There were quite a few nice old bikes around Leiden. 🙂 Good for you for doing the research on the ferry – pretty cool, eh? It’s the biggest bargain in the city. I lived all over NYC over the years and the last place I lived was on Staten Island. I took the ferry to work (lower Manhattan, near the WTC), and naturally, it was the best commuting experience of all. I suppose it’s hot enough in Texas for a whimsical popsicle today…maybe bubblegum flavor? 😉
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I didn’t realize you’d lived in a bunch of locations in NYC. What fun to commute via ferry. I expected the ferry to cost a fortune these days because the bridges do. In the 1960s the Whitestone and Throgs Neck Bridge cost 25¢. The current rate is $6.12 with E-ZPass or $9.50 by mail. According to an Internet site, $100 in 1960 = $875.50 in 2020, so you can see that the E-ZPass toll on the bridges is close to three times what you’d expect from inflation, and the pay-by-mail toll about four times what you’d expect from inflation. I also seem to remember that the bridges were supposed to become free once enough tolls had been collected to pay off the costs of construction. Dream on, right?
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The real killer is the Verrazano – I never used that bridge! It’s now $19.00 to get on and back off Staten Island on the Verrazano unless you have EZPass. I used to work for the NY State Dept. of Health, at various locations within a 50-mile radius from Manhattan, and the EZPass was vital. After I moved to the Seattle area they instigated rolling tolls (special lanes) on some major highways. Between those and the bridge tolls, the Seattle version (Good to Go!) was again crucial. It’s nice not to have to be dealing with those tolls now, but the Washington State ferries – big money, Steve! If I wanted to go out to Orcas Island today (in the San Juans, which Fidalgo Island is almost part of) I would pay over $50.00. It’s much less if you don’t take a car but there’s hardly any way to get around once you’re there. As for bridges being free after the tolls paid for them, I guess that was just another way to get a bridge built in the first place. 😉
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This compilation provides an excellent example of the seeing eye. Most people would pass by the objects and scenes you have focused on without giving a second glance. But through keen observation, careful selection and skilful composition you have created enjoyable and interesting pictures. I;m sure they will encourage others to be more observant.
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Louis, your comment is much appreciated. Years of training! 😉
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Great! A very funny post with cool pictures 🙂 #5 is somehow a bit weird, but cool too! #7 makes me laugh! I like the first one, which is so funny in itself! I like your comment on the 2nd one: Maybe you can use those three red lines to center yourself, haha! Humans are really strange, right?! 6 and 14 are fantastic and I would like to see #10 and drink a coffee there 🙂 18 is striking, I like that a lot. I had to think about #13. I thought, hm, where do I know it from 😉 I really forgot about it. Thank you for this lively “inanimate” post 🙂
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#5 was a surprise – we were wandering around an old military installation and came across some dark, damp tunnels once used for storage. There was just a little light inside them and someone decided to place a folding metal chair at the end, so it looked like a scary place where someone would be interrogated. It was a photo-op. But I’m glad some of these were fun, too. I wish I took more photos when I used to ride the Staten Island ferry to work in New York. I will just have to go back! It’s funny that you didn’t instantly know where #13 was. But I did play with that photo so it’s not quite what you see from the street. I wish I could be wandering the streets of a European city this summer…but I will be lucky if we can stay overnight in our own state. Stay healthy, Almuth!! 🙂
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This scene in the tunnel is really freaky! The fantasy is unlimited here, but at the same time many filmscenes pop up, when you look at this chair 😉 You took the chance for a great picture! – I would love to see New York. It is so variegated and exciting and I am sure you can make lots of photos – innumerable :-). I suppose you have many other interesting pictures from NY? – Overhere people have started to travel again. I am curious how it will work out. Who knows how long this keeps going, but we can glad to be healthy, right? Stay healthy too!!!
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New York deserves at least a week of your time if you ever get there. 🙂 Other photos from NY? Of course! I wish I had more from pre-digital days. There are a few posts about NYC – “An Idiosyncratic View” “The Three Graces” and “Back Again” all from Oct. 2017. Also “Weekly Photo Challenge” from Nov. 2012, the first time we went back after moving out here in Feb. 2012.
We went to NYC again in May, 2016: You might like this post “In NY: High Line”. Look for a link to another blog – Patti Kuche – at the bottom of that post. She used to take great photos of NY street life. She was a vibrant, interesting person. Last year she had a stroke (“out of the blue!”) and died quickly. Really tragic. But her blog is still up and you can enjoy her spirit there. 🙂
I’m reading about the opening up of travel in the EU. We can’t even cross the border to Canada – I don’t blame them. Cases are rising in the US, including in our state, but not too much here, so far.
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I will have a look at your posts, thank you. I remember that one abouth the Highline and the Blog from Patti Kuche! The photos from her are great! Really inspiring. – I don’t know if it is wise to open the borders for travelling, but we will see. At the moment the situation here is okay, but in other countries the numbers go up again. So you never know. I hope that the situation in the US will improve soon!
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This loaded with the images in the email notification, so it was a thrill to scroll through this post and smile from start til finish! It provided a great break, especially when sandwiched between posts about the virus and protests — or else posts with snippets that I’m unable to follow the link.
In this cyber visit, I think I’ll select that quiet table for two by the railroad tracks.. My imaginary friend and I would be spinning the ‘what ifs’ of imagination.. What train once passed here? Who was on it? What were they anticipating on their next stop? What did they leave behind? What wonderful thing did they see on the journey that stood out the most?
I also thought of a fragment of a poem, which I cannot find.. I think it starts out, “What train sets out for yesterday…” and it ends something like, ‘that I can meet you there..” It’s a haunting poem, yet right now I can grasp nothing else from the faded memory!
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IT’s so good to hear from you! I’m glad the pictures loaded. I found the poem – Robert Hillyer’s Nocturne.
If the deep wood is haunted, it is I
Who am the ghost; not the tall trees
Nor the white moonlight slanting down like rain,
Filling the hollows with bright pools of silver.
A long train whistle serpentines around the hill
Now shrill, now far away.
Tell me, from what dark smoky terminal
What train sets out for yesterday?
Or, since our spirits take off and resume
Their flesh as travellers their cloaks, O tell me where,
In what age and what country you will come,
That I may meet you there.
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You are a dear! I was ‘wayyy’ off on recalling how it started, but yes, that’s it. I thought that the first name was Robert or Richard, and it was in a book of poems where I read it…
Go to the head of the class, young woman! You get 5 stars on your chart!
You asked about the Water Hyacinths, and yes, they are ‘native’ to either Colombia or Venezuela or Brazil — various books state conflicting info, but perhaps all three have been the original area… The gallinules certainly enjoy nibbling those flowers, and I wonder about the nutrition and the option for using them in the kitchen!
Cyber/restaurant trip was a fast one today.. heading home until the weekend.
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It was pretty easy to google what you did remember, and I’m impressed that you remember poetry. Though I may enjoy reading it, I don’t remember lines. I’ll take the 5 stars though. 😉 That’s interesting about the Water hyacinths…I found this online (assuming it’s the same plant) “Even when viewed as an edible there are two down sides: While young leaves and stems can be eaten cooked or raw, raw they give quite a few people the itches, and cooked they still make a few people itch. So you have to sort that out before you eat too many.”
Just call me your research assistant, Lisa. 🙂
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It’s great to have my very-own research assistant!!!
Water hyacinths are used to help purify water; they take up the toxins, so I also wonder about what nasty extras might be lurking in that snack!
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So fun and smart Lynn…oh the chair in Fort Totten…that’s a whole film to itself…and I like the zipper…enjoyed your collections…funny I need chairs for a kitchen table and I dislike shopping so maybe I can choose 4 🤔😉🙂🙃 having a fun time in another bubble…smiles from white rock…back to etown now…hugs Hedy…make more art Lynn always so joyful to read your narratives 🤓🙋♀️☺️
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One can’t help wondering who put that chair at the end of the tunnel. It was a brilliant move, given the lighting, the dank atmosphere, the military environment. 🙂 I bet you can find something good online for the kitchen table…chairs are wonderful objects, make it fun. 😉
I’m glad you were able to go west, young lady!! Art-making may be in the mix very soon….
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“inanimated things” you call these seats, Lynn, but never before have I seen chairs and benches with such a distinct personality. Every photo tells a story, often very humorous, they make me laugh. Great design in the colours (#14 is fantastic with the tint of purple and greenish yellow. And the rest of colour in the passenger seat area in #20 !). Extremely finely stylized the black and white photos (#9 and #10 are an exquisite pair, I think).
I especially like … yes, which ones exactly? … I think #1 to #21 are my favourites.
By the way, I think it’s quite appropriate that a place in Washington State is named after you, as I see from the caption to #15.
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It was time to do something a little different. I thought you might like the way #14 turned out and now, I can’t remember how I did it – but it might have been an odd kind of color infrared effect that’s available in Color Efex. For me, Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex pro are like poor man’s PhotoShop tools – easier and quicker, if not as sophisticated. I’m glad you like the first one – that’s my favorite place in town that I’m sure I’ve talked about before. It was hard when they were closed for several months. They’re slowly reopening – you can browse their books using gloves they leave out in boxes around the store, and if you forgot your mask they’ll give you one. But sadly, you can’t relax at the big old wooden table with the newspaper anymore. Their espresso and baked goods are sublime. Thanks for the chuckle about Lynnwood, which unfortunately is a small city full of ugly shopping malls. The temple is an anomaly – an amazingly colorful place that primarily serves Vietnamese people from all around Seattle. p.s. I had an interesting, rewarding time yesterday listening to Siri Hustvelt on youtube. 🙂
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They should have found a place with some beauty as an appropriate place with your name!
The NIK filters also do things only to the degree their user is able to handle them. I haven’t taken much time to deepen my knowledge with NIK, but had an idea how much they could do in the right hands – yours, fo example.
Do you remember the name of the Hustvedt youtube ?
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I was going to send it to you but once again I’m so behind…so, good thing you asked! 😉
The first one is older and interesting to me because it took place at a NYC bookstore I know very well. She’s being “interviewed” by her husband, noted author Paul Auster. She looks and acts quite differently in the second, more recent video, done after Trump won in 2016. Thanks again for introducing me – I knew her name but had never read her books. I will now.
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An interesting collection. Even if it’s oriented around the same theme it’s quite eclectic. Favorites include 7, 9, 10, 12, and 16-21. Nice job stepping outside of nature and still demonstrating style.
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Eclectic’s the word, Dave! 😉 I think you know I like to change it up sometimes. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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#5 is fantastic! #14 made me smile! #16 is gorgeous! But #7 is (fill in the blank)!!!
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Your reaction to #7 is close to my own, Ken. I don’t find it a pleasant image to look at – I know that guy isn’t in good shape and that makes me feel bad – but my brain tells me it’s an interesting mix. 🙂 It’s fun to see which images speak to you. Thanks very much!
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Oh my gosh … I love your theme here! You must have been collecting these for awhile? They are all great but together in one post … marvelous!
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The key is keywords, right? 😉 If I hadn’t keyworded with tags like “chair” etc. I couldn’t have gathered them together. I gleaned the chair photos and bench photos then went looking at photos taken on ferries and cities and found a few more. It was time for something different, and it was fun. I do like chairs in any case – there’s something about them… thanks Denise!
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Reading your comment to Denise above, I concur…keywording and using Lightroom made this so much easier than trolling through bridge to build a collection. What a great idea to amass this theme over the years and your travels.As a furniture guy, I enjoyed seeing so many…even the non-furniture ones held interest. I love garden benches in a nice floral setting but that tunnel…huh, uh. Not going to happen. 🙂
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🙂 We ventured into the tunnel, but only because it was open at one end and we knew we could get back out. 😉 Our curiosity was satisfied but it wasn’t anywhere near as pleasant as sitting on a garden bench. Keywording is something I try to keep up with and when I go back and find photos with only a location keyword I get mad at myself. I try to take a few minutes to add more keywords. It’s all in LR though – I don’t use Bridge, I guess I never really needed it and life is complicated enough. Thanks for commenting, Steve.
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Bridge was all we had before Lightroom in the earlier Photoshop days. Not a catalog at all so how you created categories and stored the images was a bit more critical without a keyword search engine. Kind of like having all those yellow Kodak boxes in a bigger box and knowing somewhere in there were the trannies from your trip some place 5 years ago. 🙂
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Right, and I came to digital photography a bit late and slowly, too. I was always busy with work and just used what software I could get cheaply and easily at first. I guess by the time I was a fully committed LR user it wasn’t necessary to have Bridge. Let’s not talk about the boxes…I still have some…waiting to be dealt with. 🙂
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I’m following up – at home and just finished enjoying your post and the interesting comments. As I scrolled through the images, I realized how many gave me ‘pause’ – Starting with those three lines in #2, and the next in #3 – what a lovely work of art, and I thought it was a fallen gate. The back would make a fun ‘wall art’ piece if reclaimed. #5 has power. Whoever arranged for that effect had a great vision – although it can also cast an eerie effect. I could imagine various people taking turns in sitting there – all with various emotions/moods while the photographer captured each one. The man sleeping was a funny moment; you surely enjoyed capturing that image. Those lovingly-gathered eggs also gave me a smile, especially since the owner was not aware that someone else was admiring them enough to photograph them! There are so many great images, yet the one of the mesa by the train tracks was the one that burns strongest.
Scrolling through your posts leaves me wistful that each image had a ‘comment box’ — although I have trouble finding opportunity to leave even one comment during these Covid-challenged days!
Your posts are important; you have the gift of sweeping us into another realm, one always filled with a sense of calm and peace.
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Lisa! I’m very late replying to your kind comment, sorry! I like your idea about various people sitting in the tunnel chair, with their various reactions – humanity! Glad you enjoyed the egg-gathering photo – it was at a farm stand that sells their own eggs, vegetables and flowers. They keep peacocks and sheep and their farm animals and make them available to people to look at, like a mini zoo. Fun place! So good for the kids, and the kid in all of us, but it’s not near me anymore.
You called the table by the tracks “mesa” which reminded me that it means table in Spanish – a good reminder! I never took Spanish, unfortunately. I’m taking your compliment in, and I thank you for it. 🙂
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