Seattle skyline from Kerry Park
Last week I was in Seattle, hanging out and photographing at Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill. Kerry Park is famous for its iconic view of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle, Mt. Rainier looming in the background. Kind of cliche, but I have always wanted to photograph here, and it was a gorgeous day, so what the heck.
I was taking a break, sitting on a bench taking in the view and doing some people watching when up rolls this camera crew and begins setting up right next to me. The talent strolls over to the telescope by the railing and begins rehearsing his lines and it suddenly dawns on me who it is. It’s Ken Jennings, who had the longest run ever on Jeopardy and won over $2 million. Yeah, that’s right, over $2 million. Now I am probably one of the hugest fans of Jeopardy ever, I have it set to record on the DVR so I never miss an episode. This is like mana from heaven. So I get up and start taking photos of the whole thing and even shot a little video of one of the takes.
Ken filming in Kerry Park
When they are done with the filming, Ken walks over and stands right next to me. Being the introvert that I am, I decide to strike up a conversation with him and begin by telling him the story about how we always try to guess the Final Jeopardy answer as soon as they reveal the category and have actually answered correctly on a number of occasions. He replies by saying that he used to do that as a kid, too, but it’s probably not a good idea to do it on live TV in front of millions of viewers. However, if someone were to do it (and get it right), he believes Jeopardy should pay double. Take heed, Alex Trebek!
Having my portrait made with Ken Jennings
He was a very personable and friendly guy and agreed to have his portrait taken with me. I was totally star-struck!
Seattle Skyline at night
I stuck around way late that night and got some more shots, my favorites as it turned out.
Space Needle framed by sculpture at night
Long exposure with zoom
I find this a very interesting idea. The challenge is to try to understand where our creativity comes from. Is it some mystical source touching us from the outside? Or an inner force, reaching out to touch those around us? I tend to lean toward the later, but it’s up to each of us to decide for ourselves. I encourage you to leave comments below on how you feel about this.
As some of you know, I am a huge fan of the Ted Talks. The annual conference was held this week in Long Beach, CA and has just concluded. They all get posted eventually on the Ted website, but it is a lot to digest at once, so I have decided to post one per week on this site and will sometimes post ones from past conferences that I find particularly interesting.
Here is one from this year’s conference, Bill Gates talking about eliminating Malaria from the world, and some interesting observations about the state of education in this country. Enjoy!
Attending the Ted Conference is on my bucket list. You need to apply to be invited and then pay the ~$6000 fee to attend. Guess I better start saving my nickles and dimes. Until then, I will have to be satisfied with watching the videos.
I was just up in my den, trying to sort through some of the clutter, when it occurred to me that I’ve surrounded myself with all kinds of objects that pin point significant, but somehow lost, moments in time and maybe it would be fun to photograph some of them and then write about their significance. So here goes.
Rusty spurs
These are a pair of spurs given to me by my Uncle Bill, a real life cowboy who came of age during the Great Depression, followed the rodeo in his youth, fought in Burma in WWII (he doesn’t much like to talk about that), married the local school marm, and ran a large cattle ranch in Nebraska for most of his adult life.
I remember going to visit there as a kid and having lots of fun with my cousins. Going horseback riding, sliding down the haystacks, pretending the calves were rodeo bulls and riding them, sneaking up and shooting the chickens in the rear with BB guns just to watch them jump. My brother and I were the city kids (although we didn’t live in a real city). But we were definitely cosmopolitan compared to my cousins who lived in relative isolation at the end of a very long dirt road with no neighbors for miles around.
We were pretty trusting and fearless and needless to say, we paid the price for that. The first time my cousins took us horse back riding they found it quite amusing to leave the saddle cinches relatively loose and when we broke into a gallop, the saddles slipped sideways, spilling us to the ground. They thought that was hilarious. Scared the crap out of me, but you can be sure I didn’t show it. Nor did I ever let that happen again. Lesson learned. I made my cousins show me how and from that point on I always saddled my own horse. I believe that this particular incident defined my sense of independent self reliance to this very day.
My uncle got wind of the prank and on the day of our departure gave me those spurs, along with a wry grin. I’ve treasured them ever since. That was 45 years ago. My Uncle Bill is in his 80’s now and has been retired for some time. He has a place in Valentine, Nebraska on the river and usually spends the winters in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. I can’t think of two more fitting names of places for him to live.
He was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago and is undergoing treatment. He will battle bravely and without complaining. That’s what real cowboys do.
Time for some feel good video. This has been around for a while, but every time I see it it brings tears to my eyes. Yeah, as James Taylor sings – “Reckon I must be just an old softie, but I still believe in love. I think the best is yet to come, cause where I’m from is also where I’m going.” Enjoy
