IrwinFoto

A gallery of photos by Mike Irwin

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  • Derelict School

    Derelict School | Soap Lake, WA | January 2020

    City, county and school officials have argued for years that something needs to be done about this abandoned building. Asbestos, rodents, drug needles, homeless encampments — the place has its problems, that’s for sure. But the old Delancey-Houghton Elementary School is also one of the town’s most interesting structures. No roof, bare walls, ripped-up floors, empty windows and doorways give it a post-apocalyptic look that draws the curious. Seems like there’d be a way to clean it up, then open it up as an oddball attraction. After all, quirky Soap Lake already has must-see sights such as the (more…)

  • Eyes

    Eyes | East Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    “Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that (more…)

  • Garlic Stalk

    Garlic Stalk | East Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    Aftermath is often an unappreciated condition. It can be as alluring or heartrending as the original object or event. I’m thinking of a field of untouched snow etched an hour later by hundreds of ski tracks. Or the stark, horrible beauty of a burned forest. Or the naked emptiness of a used-up garlic bulb (in photo). We’re drawn to this evidence of transformation — the process that shucked the familiar and left something new and (more…)

  • Light Snow

    Light Snow | East Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    Inclement weather can help us notice what goes mostly unnoticed. A dusting of snow accentuates shapes and textures, like an expert application of facial cosmetics. (Were those lips and eyelashes there all along?) On trees, snow will highlight bark toughened against northern winds, roots thickened in the search for food and trunks curved by their reach for sunlight. If I stand here long enough, what will the gathering snow reveal about me? Definitely (more…)

  • Mo(u)rning Dove

    Mo(u)rning Dove | East Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    Sun on clouds, dove on wire, poop on car — a chain of events that slid quickly from grand to groan. That’s because one vestige of birds’ dinosaur lineage is that they don’t pee. Instead, they squirt a nitrogenous paste that sticks like glue to windshields and auto paint. Some ornithologists also believe that our feathered friends prefer pooping on red cars more than any other color. When parked, our maroon Honda is like a (more…)

  • Windowsill

    Windowsill | Wenatchee, WA | December 2019

    The alleyways that lace downtown are portals to another time. Century-old buildings, ad murals from the 1930’s, loading docks unused for decades, windows draped since World War II. These old-time elements lubricate the imagination so we can easily envision the commercial bustle of a pre-electronic age. You know: Back when buying boots or Tinkertoys involved eye contact with someone you’d known for years. Today’s shadows on pocked brick walls are the same as those cast 100 years ago. I would tell you they blur in my (more…)

  • Lamp

    Lamp | Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    One of life’s true luxuries — along with an unplanned day and, oh yeah, a good ice scraper — is a comfortable place to read. It’s the first thing I look for in expensive showplace homes. Not hardwood floors, not granite countertops, not jetted soaking tubs, but an out-of-the-way spot, soft and sunny, where a reader can (more…)

  • Wet Road

    Wet Road | Royal City, WA | January 2020

    When you first hear the road calling, it’s best to wash the dishes, make the bed and take out the garbage. A day or so later when it beckons again, fill a water bottle, grab an apple, find your hat and gloves, and put them all in a canvas tote. Check the car for gas. The third time it calls, sit at the picnic table, close your eyes, turn your face to the sun and mentally search backroads for (more…)

  • Circle Rut

    Circle Rut | Beverly, WA | January 2020

    Every now and then I snap out of life’s trance to realize I’ve been trapped in a circle rut. Making noise, burning gas, spinning round and round but going nowhere. Last week, I stumbled across my first motorcycle circle rut as I wandered the Beverly Dunes, a 300-acre playground for off-road vehicles. The circle looked like a UFO landing pad; online videos later explained it was a type of racetrack. Most unsettling: The circle rut is a perfect expression of what ails many of us — mindless, repetitive routine enabled by technology. It’s particularly troubling when you realize that (more…)

  • Pistachios

    Pistachios | East Wenatchee, WA | January 2020

    Snacking on pistachios offers rewards not found in most other naturally-encased foods. It takes just two seconds to pry open a pistachio shell with your fingers and pop the nut in your mouth. Compare that to the dynamite needed to dent a walnut. Or the jackhammer required to crack a crab claw. I consider the pistachio as the banana of the nut world — easy to peel, instantly gratifying. Plus, what other food smiles back at you? In China, pistachios are called Happy Nuts because each one sports a grin before you gulp it.