Marine life
Karissa Spafford, an aquatic assistant at the Marine Life Center, cleans out the eel grass aquarium on February 28, 2010.
Fire in Old Town
Bellingham firefighter, Ryan Hillmon, hoses down the remains of three buildings from a fire at Bellingham’s Old Town district in the 400 block of West Holly Street Monday morning.
Here are a few photos from the fire this week. I got a call early in the morning to head to Old Town from one of our editors. I could see the smoke from Janette’s window downtown. I geared up and headed to the scene. To my dissatisfaction, the firefighters were on the tail end of extinguishing the blaze. I was throwing a fit all day and pretty upset that I missed the call when the actual fire was happening at 3 a.m. However, these photos ended up running in photoblogs around the nation, The Guardian and in print for The Wall Street Journal. I learned that you can’t control everything and that things can end up better than you expect them to. I’m so impatient sometimes.
Pillow power
Organizer Andrew Harbour, left, smacks Robert Daniel in the face after awarding him a trophy for the best pillow fighter at Western Washington University’s Red Square on February 14, 2010.
There was an organized pillow fight at Western Washington’s Red Square on Valentine’s Day. It was flash mob style, where people who wanted to participate just had to show up. I was working that day and found the event on craigslist. Thought it would be a hoot and invited Andy Bronson along. Everyone had a blast! You get to hit a complete stranger with a pillow, who wouldn’t enjoy themselves? Here are couple frames from the online gallery.
Vigil
Howdy. Haven’t posted in awhile. Work has been busy and I’ve been shooting freelance assignments on my days off. I’m surprised I still have a girlfriend. I’ve been in the middle of updating portfolio stuff in the meantime, hence the missing albums in the portfolio section.
Here are some frames from a vigil in Maple Falls. This was a hard one to shoot, especially since I followed it from the beginning. It was weird. I had responded to more deaths and spot news in the first two weeks in January than I have ever had in the past two years working steadily.
Circus
Janette took me on a sweet date after work last week. The CIRCUS!!!
Here are a few frames from my seat. We had a magical time and we hope to go again.
-Mark
Karaoke
Here are a few portraits at the Fairhaven Pub and Martini Bar’s Karaoke Night. I started up after rushing back from a vigil in Maple Falls. So it was kinda a big shift in the atmosphere. Andy Bronson from The Bellingham Herald gave me some help and pointers. I learned that I needed to calm down when I shoot portraits. I get all flustered and sweaty. “Patience, young grasshopper…”. Thanks to those who participated.
2010 baby
I loved this family. It was great to hangout with them for awhile and see how much love they had for one another (single tear). Terry Holloway gave birth to her son Winter Brouillet Holloway at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2010. Here is the story.
Selling salmon
I had to get a CLO (cutline only) last week and decided to take advantage of a nice day by going down to the harbor. I met Traesti Gudmundson who works for his dad at a local fish company, they sell straight from their boat. They fish all summer in Alaska and head back to sell their product up until February. The family business has been going strong for the past six years. I picked up a couple of fillets, yummy brain food!
-Mark
Back to work in the ham
I’m back in Bellingham and started a six-month contract at The Bellingham Herald. I’m going to use this time to build a stronger portfolio so I can eventually move.
It was a looong first week. Phil Dwyer was out recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome surgery, use a wrist rest! It’s good to be back to a regular paycheck. I’ll be posting more now that I’m done with the holidays and family time. Here is a paddler at Lake Padden in the early morning last weekend.
-Mark
