Particles on The Wall - Press Release!

 Dear Friends,
If you find yourself in Ellensburg over the next couple of months please stop by this fantastic exhibition at Central Wa University.
I have one piece in it entitled Japan.
Post Tsunami Japan was when I made this and I literally took in a life with nuclear energy.
from that crazy jelly bean eating Reagan and his star wars- which literally scared the crap out of me as a kid if i wasn't gonna catch aids from a mosquito (something hear on NPR a long long time ago) then i sure as well was goona go out when the star wars missile defense went up and lord Reagan took up the high command of his own death star.
It's a life entangled with aftermaths of Nuclear energy and the massive power it has- to see Japan twice gotten in such a massive way...
please stop by and check it out should be an interesting mash up!
x

Soap Lake, Wa

My girl at Soap Lake , probably saying "come on let's go in, when can we go in it?" or something of that sort.
see a few more over at Nature Big Nature Small

Cupolas From The Gray , Northern State

nothing left but a couple of cupolas. say that five times fast.
This was The Gray- gone but the aforementioned and the tiles of a floor.

abstract bits and pieces of decay

 broken window play without enough light or tripod use what you got and shoot what you can.

The Chapel , Northern State Hospital

The Chapel - was the only building to have open doors to us.
This site (the whole campus) is on the register for historic places- not that it means anything will happen. The Olmsteads designed the landscaping here- they sure do seem to get around - they were all over Buffalo. Last year it almost got sold as surplus property so it lives an existence on the edge. i guess that's existence for you even if it doesn't seem on the edge , well it could be.
I just miss playing frisbee in a 13th century abbey grounds- a little history would be nice.
just a touch?
how boring will it be in 100 years when the architecture left is abundantly similar to any strip mall in any town america. surrounded by citys with corporate sponsorship - like the city in Florida that Disney built Celebration, Florida.
it will be Starbucks Grande , Starbucks Venti  the later being south of the former. the only colors of building will be the Starbucks green and instead of water Starbucks drip will be pumped through your faucet continuously. Then their will be McDonalds land where every one travels round on a conveyer belt as they honestly just can't be arsed any more, lining the sides of the conveyers will be defecation troughs for those who again just can't be arsed. And after those familiar sounding urban metropolises?
well the rest is just Monsanto land - where everyone is a little bit different.
some have 12 teats and feed babies that could be human and others have fur lined mouths and their organs on the outside - hence they walk round in plastic bags.what does this have to do with northern state hospital? well i guess i cant imagine my plastic present urban culture to live or look good for the next 100 years.
its a shame buildings are more like boxes then ever. and that it became so -  we don't see how cheap and throw away it is til looking at a sculptural majesty such as this site- maybe that's why it happens so we can get further boxed in and never remembering when life was anything but inside a box.

Power Plant,Northern State Hospital

 The power plant where the Vaux's Swifts hang out on their southward migration.
check out some silhouetted bird pics at nature big nature small

Trevennen Hall, Northern State Hospital, Sedro Woolley

This was essentially the last stop  on our tour Trevennen Hall. We were meant to be going in but the black mold inside apparently too overcoming to expose anyone to.
Always one step closer with several steps further to go I guess getting inside this day may have been like eating all  the candy in the candy shop vomiting and then re eating it this way i want more.
obsessed , infatuated and enamored.
I may have said this before but i grew up in Buffalo where  i lived a few blocks from the Beautiful Kirkebride buildings (see also fantastic images and information on kirkbrides here )of the Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital - the Richardson Complex.
There were stories of visits to an aunt who was in there (i think she was epileptic) and there was just the majesty of the buildings and complex itself- that drove me to photograph the outside as a teenager.
 I haven't seen it or photographed it since I was 16.
It seems the intentions were good when these developments were being made. Check out "Asylum" by Chris Payne.
I heard someone say - not sure what backing they had in saying it but they did say "1/3 of the women in northern state were menopausal"  so menopause alone brought them here- 
i am sure my pms  would have had me here if i had been around a century ago.

Northern State Hospital Grounds on Photographic Tour

chapel window

the tour happened and it was a sunny day. busy but excellent glimpse of a place i have been wanting to see for three years.
the closed campus does not allow for this- so this was a once in at least a year chance.
do not try to sneak in here or just turn up - it won't work. you must wait for another opportunity, i will happily post what i hear on this blog.
12 o'clock for the photographic tour with more time allotted for  obsessive capturing of something so rarely seen to the outside. Tour began outside the Chapel.
I passed out some postcards and sold a few books of images of the place- thank you all for your support!
very nice to meet you those who stopped by to pick up a postcard, and have a chat!
 i was frenetic with the days events and find my photographic stride hard to find.giddy.
We met Noel of the Skagit River Journal (which has fantastic information on the locality!) who hired Talula for her first photographic gig!
Nice job - i certainly wasn't hired for anything at age 7.

This is where the tour began across from the Chapel (denny hall i believe) , on the covered walkway. we were quite a heard of photographers and needed managing by several handlers.
We couldn't move past certain points or photograph in certain other directions due to other happenings on this closed campus. so photographers hoarded round the best holes looking inwards each waiting to peep inside with their lenses.

i found the map at the bottom on another website

i liked this guy in the photo- sorry buddy you had to stay.

curtains for you.

Northern State Hospital Grounds

so happy birthday northern state !
 a big thanks for the tours and entire event saturday the 15th.
heres the first few bits and pieces from our canon power shot.
 the SLR images yet to come.
great to see lots of photographers turn out for Saturdays event, very nice getting to meet some of them.
these images are HDR from three jpgs shot consecutively.  A majestic set of buildings that need someone to rent them and love them back to a state of health, includes weeding solarium inside and out and more...
it would be fantastic so see them rejuvenated- they are government owned and almost got sold last year.
someone please help?