Jun 30, 2010

New dance, OLD SCHOOL style


Here's a little vacation dispatch. Shot this the day before getting out of town for the week at the old Oysterville schoolhouse where there is a dance class for kids this summer.
Small town? Check
Old building? Check
People doing something artsy? Check
yep, sounds like something I'd wanna shoot



-DKM

Jun 27, 2010

Folly for you, bully for me

Yep, lil Bowie on the title there
Last night I was up in the Grays River Valley to shoot the Smokey Water Follies at the old Skamokawa Grange Hall. Pretty much a homestyle throw back to the old vaudeville days, pretty cool. I especially liked the blue tissue paper over the windows, which gave a wonderful light.
Caught this actor about two steps into the front door. The old mirror just couldn't be passed up.
I heart spot lights...
And what would an old-timey variety show be without a quartet? I love the valley.

-DKM

Jun 25, 2010

A farewell to a brave boy


Young Conner Jones passed away yesterday. I don't know what to say really. He will be greatly missed by many in the community for who he was and how brave he was in his fight.
Here is a previous post I wrote about him if you're interested. Such a loss

-DKM

Jun 24, 2010

Sacred Salmon

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about how I do stupid stuff sometimes in order to take pictures. This would be yet another example as I sat on a large tool chest in the back of a pickup truck in order to get this pic of tribal leaders being driven down the highway to the Chinook harbor to launch the Chinookan canoe Itswoot last Friday as part of the annual first salmon ceremony. Totally worth it though.
This was the first time on the river since it was gifted to Chinook tribal chairman Ray Gardner last winter. As is the custom they paused to bless the boat and the journey before launching.

Two years ago I spent pretty much the whole day at this event. This time around it was only about 4 hours or so and in many ways I like the set of pix I got this time a bit better. You can see the audio slideshow I did two years ago HERE if you like.
This is kind of an interesting one, as once the salmon is brought ashore there are several things they do to the fish before cooking it including having children fill it's mouth with salmonberries.
You can see a full gallery from this HERE if you like, or on the front page of this weeks edition. I guess people have liked the coverage as I've already been contacted by a Native American magazine and the state parks service about reprinting them.

-DKM

Beagle Bailey & the future track stars


Meet Bailey. I was quite enamored by her when I was at the pound a couple weekends ago to shoot photos of a vet adopting a dog and she ended up being my belated daddy's day gift. She's a pretty sweet girl. When she was brought to the shelter with two other beagles found in the Naselle hills they named her Reba, but I just couldn't go for that, mostly due TO THIS, so I went with a little comic strip reference instead.
That afternoon me and Bailey took the kids to an all-comers track meet at the high school. This young sprinter was too good to pass up.
The kids did really well, bringing home several ribbons (Kenz was pretty excited about placing first in the 50M race).


-DKM

Jun 21, 2010

Washaway Beach - After the fall

One of the things I love best about my job is the fact that on a fairly regular basis I get to go "adventuring," in this case, climbing around on rocks and down sandy cliffs.
Over the years I've visited Washaway Beach on several occasions as it is a fascinating place where essentially the ocean has eaten this small town over the last 50 or so years. I was up there again a few weeks back after not visiting really the last couple years and came back with this group of pix that was the basis of the photo essay we're running on the Life page this week. You could put it into the category of my ever expanding series of places without people pix. Here's what I wrote to go with the pix:

WASHAWAY BEACH — Teetering ever so close to the edge of the land is yet another home, ready to be eaten by the ocean, not unlike the soil that it rests on. Soon it too will be a pile of rubble some 15 feet below, its possesions waiting to be washed away.
So is the cycle at Washaway Beach, the section of land situated between North Cove and Tokeland in north Pacific County. For more than 50 years people have watched as the shoreline has cut unyieldingly further and further inland, taking home after home and mile after mile into the sea.
But after the people move on and the houses, cabins, shacks and trailers fall, what is left behind, if ever so briefly, to tell their tale? An old easy chair here, some clothes or a cup there. Broken window frames and picture frames. Temporary, transient reminders.
Some return to find a piece of furniture from home and set up a make-shift place to watch the waves roll on, like they did from their living room once. A bright colored child’s toy stands out solemnly amongst a swath of sun-faded driftwood. Bent and broken pipes that once provided utility services now bend easily into the surf as silent sentinels to the land.
And while in some cases the remnants are used for future good — like old stumps that help support the fortification of old Hwy. 105 — in other areas people see the debris as license to further the mess by dumping garbage on the already polluted shore. While some see it as an oddity, others see it as their home. Perhaps the song “Anatevka” from “Fiddler on the Roof” describes it best:
“So, what’s a stove? Or a house? People who pass through Anatevka don’t even know they’ve been here. A stick of wood. A piece of cloth.
“What do we leave? Nothing much. Only Anatevka.”
So what is left behind after the fall? Only Washaway Beach.









-DKM

Jun 15, 2010

Commencement, pt.2

Hoo-ray hugs! While I went into the NHS graduation last Saturday trying to find something non-hug related but since the students were seemingly in a permanent state of embrace I didn't have much choice — not that I mind so much.


Afterward I headed down the road to Austin Burkhalter's graduation party, which was a real treat to be invited to. The food was amazing — I think I still have a sugar buzz from the cake!

-DKM

Jun 7, 2010

Commencement, pt.1

Hugs, hugs and more hugs — such is the case when you get close to high school graduations, always a fun assignment for me. It's that time of year again and this week it was Ilwaco, class of 2010.








Here's a link to a little gallery if you wanna see more. Next week, NHS

-DKM

Jun 3, 2010

Osprey - and thanks for all the fish

This afternoon we got a call that an osprey was camped out in a tree above the Boardwalk Cottages, so I headed over there to check it out. Bill and Pat were nice enough to let me hang out in their telescope tower above their home, where I was about 10 feet away from the raptor as he munched away on what looked like a small salmon.

Perhaps best of all was this group of crows that kept divebombing him, probably hoping he would drop his fish so they could have a snack too. Wasn't happenin'

I don't have much background in wildlife pix, and this would most certainly not make it in the Geographic, but all in all, a cool way to spend a half hour.

-DKM