Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts tagged ‘Salish Sea’

Spring light over Seattle and the Salish Sea

Above/featured: “Aurora and Mercer” – 4 Mar 2020 (X70).

A favourite place is Seattle, an American city in Washington state, only 2 to 3 hours by car from Vancouver, Canada. For two metropolitan regions close by proximity, their respective evolutions have created very different cities over time. I present below 12 places around Seattle in spring. In this part of the world, there’s every chance for overcast skies and showers, but I assure you of one thing: the light is very good when the sun is out. And when there’s abundant light, I’m all about the superposition of light, shadow, construction, and person.

( Click here for images and more )

Space Needle, that tower again, Alki Beach, West Seattle, Seattle, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: native Seattle, Alki Beach Park

For a late-winter afternoon in West Seattle, Alki Beach offers a quiet and breezy respite from the hustle and bustle of the downtown area which as the cityscape (and the presence of the Space Needle) shows is only a few miles away. The differences come as no surprise: the pace is slower, the sensibility is uncomplicated, outlook and livelihood directed by the adjacent waters of the Salish Sea (Puget Sound).⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣Perhaps it’s the latter what the indigenous Duwamish and Coast Salish people were pondering when a group of white settlers in the Denny party came ashore in November 1851. With his own group, Chief Seathl (siʔaɫ, Si’ahl, Sealth) of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes arrived to meet the strangers from the sea. Today, a monument and various plaques around Alki Beach Park highlight how the Denny party attempted to start their new life in what is now West Seattle, before they pulled up stakes and moved the following April onto the high ground next to the muddy flats of what is now the Pioneer Square District. ⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣In its place, the city might have once been called “New York Alki” by early white settlers, but eventually, the growing city would take the name of the indigenous chief.⁣⁣⁣⁣ The intervening decades would see competing views of “place-stories” to fit future dreams and mourn the apparent loss of the “pristine past” without any acknowledgment of responsibility; both could and would be used to sell the image of the city.
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
I acknowledge my visit to the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish (Dxʷdəwʔabš) People past and present, and honour with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe (src). I made the photo above on 6 March 2020 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/60-sec, f/11, ISO 800, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-h9L.

A Salish Welcome, Marvin Oliver, Shilshole, Duwasmish, Salmon Bay, Puget Sound, Salish Sea, Ballard, Seattle, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: native Seattle, A Salish Welcome

The western edge of present-day Ballard where Salmon Bay meets Puget Sound (Salish Sea) was once a lively place for local indigenous people, near k̓iłalabəd (“hanging on the shoulder”) and šəlšúlucid (“mouth of Shilshole”). The Chittenden locks would have been near or at the location of the former indigenous village of šəlšúl for the Shilshole people. The 2010 wood statue, “A Salish Welcome” by Marvin Oliver, stands facing Salmon Bay. With support from Seattle Public Utilities and Seattle Office Of Arts, the accompanying plaque for the statue reads:⁣⁣

‘A Salish Welcome’ blends traditional Salish forms with contemporary media to create a sculpture that honors the local indigenous people and celebrates the abundant and vital life on this restored salmon habitat. The Welcome Figure traditionally stood in a prominent place in a Salish village to welcome guests. It is intended to mark and enhance this gathering place for contemplating our rich cultural heritage and connecting with the native landscape. This monumental Salish figure in ceremonial robe greets us and reminds us that we are stewards of this evolving living landscape for new generations of salmon and people alike. The disk of salmon represents the vital life cycle of the Pacific salmon, creating a timeless ‘vision’ for future generations.

⁣Marvin Oliver who was of Quinault and Isleta-Pueblo ancestry passed away on 17 July 2019 at the age of 73.

I obtained place names from ⁣⁣from “An Atlas of Indigenous Seattle” by Coll Thrush and Nile Thompson with maps by Amir Sheikh, appearing in Thrush’s book “Native Seattle” (2nd edition, 2017).

I acknowledge my visit to the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish (Dxʷdəwʔabš) People past and present, and honour with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe (src). I made the photo above on 5 March 2020 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the following settings: 1/1000-sec, f/8, ISO 1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-h9C.

Anacortes, Fidalgo Bay, Fidalgo Island, Salish Sea, Hat Island, Skagit County, Mount Baker, Washington, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday on Fidalgo Island: Anacortes, Seafarers Memorial Park

The following monthly series is based on a trip to the annual tulip festival in northwestern United States.

In northwestern Washington State, Fidalgo Island is located in the waters of the Salish Sea, about 14 miles (23 km) west from Mount Vernon and 38 miles (61 km) south from Bellingham.

In Anacortes, Seafarers Memorial Park is a tribute to the people lost at sea. The park’s location was once fishing grounds for the indigenous Samish Nation, and with subsequent European colonization, wood products were processed at mills along the shoreline until the 1970s. Decades of industrial contamination and waste accumulation had to be removed in the process of cleaning, clearing, and converting the land to a public green space.

From the edge of the park, the ship “Island Explorer 4” from Island Adventures appears and slices through choppy waves on the waters of Fidalgo Bay and the Salish Sea. Behind Hat Island in the distance is the snowy base of Mount Baker (left centre) whose peak is hidden in low-lying cloud.

I made the photo above on 19 April 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark 1 with the following settings: 1/400-sec, f/16, ISO1000, and 105mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-g2D.

Anacortes, March Point, Fidalgo Bay, Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve, Fidalgo Island, Salish Sea, Skagit County, Washington, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday on Fidalgo Island: Anacortes, Fidalgo Bay

The following monthly series is based on a trip to the annual tulip festival in northwestern United States.

In northwestern Washington State, Fidalgo Island is located in the waters of the Salish Sea, about 14 miles (23 km) west from Mount Vernon and 38 miles (61 km) south from Bellingham.

The Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve lies in Fidalgo Bay. Facing east across the Bay to March Point is the tank farm associated with the Marathon Petroleum Refinery. When this image was taken, the refinery was operated by Tesoro, which was taken over by Andeavor, which in turn was bought out by Marathon Petroleum.

The trestle at lower-centre is the Tommy Thompson Trail which pedestrians and bicyclists use to traverse Fidalgo Bay. At right-centre on March Point is North Texas Road, which separates Marathon Refinery to the left (north) and Shell Puget Sound Refinery to the right (south). Cows graze on the pasture flanking the southern end of Marathon Refinery.

I made the photo above on 19 April 2017 with a Canon EOS6D mark 1 with the following settings: 1/320-sec, f/16, ISO1000, and 300mm focal length. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-g2v.