Category: Portfolios
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No Town | Near Rock Island, WA | 2011 More than 100 years ago planners laid down streets, alleys and key building sites for what would become the town of Columbia — at least on paper. Now this road to nowhere, veiled in spring rain or shimmery in summer heat, transports little more than grazing…
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Truck Dog | East Wenatchee, WA | 2011 Some dogs cower in the bed of a pickup. Some yip frantically at passing vehicles. But this guy owned that shortbed. Calm, observant, even a bit regal, he patiently sat and waited while the traffic lights went through their interminable cycle. When the light at last turned…
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Drifter | Baker Flats, WA | 2011 The cohesion of vapor into airy sculptures must puzzle even the smartest skywatchers. Barometric pressure, wind currents, surface tension, molecular bonds, a shade of gravity — all combine to shape cloud into everything from cotton puffs to stampeding giraffes. Sometimes, too, they blow across the sky with great…
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Two Street Lights | Wenatchee, WA | 2011 Filling the truck’s tank at 7-Eleven, I stood watching an undulating sphere of pigeons circle overhead. How on earth — above earth — do they do that? Glide inches apart, turn on a dime in sync, and then scatter, power-flapping, at the hint of a hawk? At…
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Land Folds | Wenatchee, WA | 2010 Walking the grooves of Burch Mountain hides its geologic ruts and ripples. Its true complexity — and the beauty of its sensual contours — appears only at a distance. I’ve noticed that happens, too, when I spy my spouse from across a bustling room. Most of the time,…
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Ravens | Stratford, WA | 2010 The crackle of my lunch bag, the glint off foil wrapping, the scent of meat and cheese — something about my sandwich lured this crafty pair of scavengers to my picnic spot in the middle of nowhere. They were surprisingly good conversationalists: squawking, clicking and cooing with my every…
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Skier | Twisp, WA | 2011 Don’t we mostly follow in someone else’s tracks? Trails, sidewalks, stairways, aisles, hallways, highways, even sky routes at 30,000 feet? The local college pours concrete paths on the diagonals students use as shortcuts to classes. Last week, I felt a tingle of excitement as I stepped off one path…
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Peninsula | Chelan Falls, WA | 2010 Peninsulas can have the isolated feel of islands, but with no boat required. This one-tree jut, really a small jetty, slows the Columbia River current at Beebe Park. In fog, you can lean back against that tree and imagine the world has retreated, finally leaving you alone to…
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Ribbon Road | Farmer , WA | 2010 Dark clouds race overhead on a whooshing wind, but few cars go by. From the west, a ragged line of tumbleweeds buzzsaw past, but nary a vehicle plies the road. Dust devils turn black with topsoil as they spiral over plowed fields, but Highway 2 stays mostly…
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Man on Street | Seattle , WA | 2010 Something catches his attention. The swivel of his head towards the unseen (for me, at least) catches my attention. The shutter clicks, and I’m aware I’ve caught a security guard’s attention. Then the strolling man pauses to glance around, as if he can feel this concentrated…
IrwinFoto 