IrwinFoto

A gallery of photos by Mike Irwin

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  • Luminescence

    Luminescence | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020

    This fetch ball glows in the dark, but our dog doesn’t give a damn. He can spot a tossed no-glow ball in a yard lit only by starlight. We humans, however, find such radiance absolutely amazing. The ball’s luminescent material somehow traps photons and slowly releases them. Thus an object that displays an illogical glow, producing its own energy, appears to be magic. The same can be said of bioluminescence — fireflies, deep-sea eels, Katy Perry’s eyes in music videos. Online explanations of luminescence skirt the edge of (more…)

  • Light and Shadow

    Light and Shadow | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020

    “Within everyone there is light and shadow, good and evil, love and hate. In order to be truthful, you must embrace your total being. A person who exhibits both (more…)

  • Place to Ponder

    Place to Ponder | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020

    Ducks always seem a bit self-absorbed. They curb their emotions: No high fives, victory dances or other exuberant displays. Sometimes in a flock they’ll quack displeasure — “Webbed feet! Is anything more disgusting?” — but otherwise they’re unflappable. This particular duck, deep in thought, stood for long minutes at river’s edge. “What value lies in (more…)

  • Thistle

    Thistle | Entiat, WA | May 2020

    Comfort lies in the natural order. This whirl of uncertainty and helplessness quiets in Mother’s hand. Despite our fears, her ancient patterns persist — sunrise, jet stream, snowmelt, apple blossoms, ants marching with (more…)

  • View

    View | Wenatchee, WA | May 2020

    Who needs the Grand Canyon when you’ve got South Wenatchee? Nowadays tidy houses on tree-lined streets are spectacular enough. In fact, their mundaneness is their magnificence. Their normalcy, their grounding, has emerged as our best (more…)

  • Backyard

    Backyard | Wenatchee, WA | April 2020

    It’s clear, but really not so clear, that in this time of distancing we don’t perceive the whole picture. Signals we use to decipher moods and personalities are veiled behind masks or too distant to detect. Digital gatherings (think Zoom and FaceTime) filter voices and emotions crucial to interpreting the moment. We accept this, of course, because the alternative isn’t acceptable. We don’t want to get sick or, even worse, sicken someone else. So we’re all learning to read the new (more…)

  • Empty Road

    Empty Road | East Wenatchee, WA | May 2020

    Whoever thought we might miss traffic? In recent weeks I’ve heard people speak wistfully of the stop-and-go and bumper-to-bumper as measures of human vitality. I sympathize, sure, but am headed in a different direction. For me, the near-disappearance of traffic has been a cause for happy horn honking, one positive side effect of society’s tragic pause. Among us highway habitués, those who find themselves by losing themselves on (more…)

  • Sunrise Doves

    Sunrise Doves | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020

    The cloud over public mingling — talking, touching, partaking — has partially eclipsed our brilliance. Masks hide smiles and mute voices. Distance weakens the gravitational pull of shared experience. We still get goofy, excited, worried and sad, but many of us do it now in separate orbits. I’m flying here; you’re spinning there. Thankfully, it’s that very same distance that provides perspective. From afar, it’s clear we’re all  (more…)

  • Spring

    Spring | Wenatchee, WA | April 2020

    “At last came the golden month of the wild folk — honey-sweet May — when the birds come back, and the flowers and leaves come out, and the air is full of (more…)

  • Unmade Bed

    Unmade Bed | East Wenatchee, WA | April 2020

    Things Around the House | Some people put great pride in making their bed each morning. But doesn’t an unmade bed speak of mystery? Those twisted blankets helped transport you to another reality, Dreamtime, where parallel lives unfolded in incredible detail. I try to read wrinkled sheets like tea leaves — where’d you go? what occurred? who was loved? — and always pause before (more…)