i dont write

Hoopfest weekend in Spokane is incomparable to any other event.

Thousands of ballers, from the dreamers wearing their shiny new Jordans on the pocketed asphalt to the guys who come back to relive the their high school days, teams clog downtown streets in the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world.

For the 20th anniversary of the two day party, the NY Times picked up on the vibe and sent out John Branch who put together a great story on the event.

Check it out here

Here’s a few snaps.

We headed up to Cliff Drive last night and made a few snaps of the storm that rolled through here last night. Not sure where she was headed, but it was quite a show while it lasted.
Then, it was quite the wet hailstorm that left us soaked in our sleeping bag.

Funny… all these years, I can’t remember ever photographing lightning.

It’s been argued that Patrick Kendrick has single handedly changed history.

More specifically, the history of local music in Spokane. He’s a little more modest than that: giving credit where he says it’s due - to the musicians.

We had a great time shooting this multi-layered photo-illustration at Mootsy’s, one of the venues Kendrick books shows for under his company, Platform booking. It was also the locale where I went last March to hear Portland band Nick Jaina (a Kendrick show) and met my girlfriend and viola superstar, Kim Wescott, who was opening for the band.

How’s that for history.

Well, its finally here - saint paddy’s day, which just happens to mark the final edition the Seattle Post-Inteligencer.

I’m watching a lot of great writers, photographers, designers, editors and friends lose their careers.
We’re watching what is at best, the great re-write of journalism; at worst, the beginning of the end.

On the incredibly good chance you’re part of the growing majority who does not read newspapers, perhaps you’ve heard of this story - it starts where the vice-president creates the internet and ends with the downfall of civilization

While we wait for that, raise a glass toward the emerald city.

To 146 years of journalism… cheers.

kurt olson . spokane

A friend of mine has been raptured into photography.

As is normally the case, I’ve  been trying to responsibly feed his habit with old a steady feed of film stock, which is to say, some B&W from my black and white days.

We went out to find some magic on a foggy night in knee deep snow - the kind that’s less enchanting and more brown.

south spokane

They sat around and sipped on a bottle of four dollar champagne, chilled since last new years behind container of soy mayonnaise.

They talked of the the past years and what they had left in their wakes. That seemed to be less and less important as they discussed the year to come, only hours old. It still felt malleable, corruptible… impressionable.

They read a story about a railroad train and a road, and how you cannot have both in this world; eventually, one replaces the other, and it’s usually a sloping street.

The only reason to look back is to be thankful for what we have and to argue of what we’ve lost. And to take a little from both for the road beyond the hill.

spokane . wa

Well its official, I’m no Jesus.

If that wasn’t evident yet, this last week put it to the test.

To be more specific, I’ve been on a ten day fast, also called the Master Cleanse. It’s also been made famous as the Lemonade Diet, which is probably more revealing of what it entails, but not really the reason I decided to do it… though lemonade is quite tasty.

Basically, it means I haven’t eaten solid food for the past week, but I do get to enjoy a light concoction of lemon and lime, maple syrup, distilled water and cayenne pepper whenever I feel like it. As difficult or ridiculous as this may sound, it has really only been a test of mind over…. stomach.

Though this “diet” has recently and suddenly become a fad, it was invented in the 1950s by Stanley Burroughs and made more famous by Peter Glickman and his therawfoodsite.com and then by Beyonce of all people.

Here’s how it goes: I’ve eaten only enough calories and minerals to keep my body and mind functioning while it detoxes itself and removes all the bad things I’ve crammed into it over the past three decades. Some people do these fasts regularly, several times a year, for extended periods upwards of thirty days. I feel good knowing that tomorrow is my last day.

Most of the first week I was constantly thinking of food, smelling it everywhere, constantly noticing how much it is brought up in conversation or how often I’d have a passing thought about stopping and grabbing a burrito. I’m still not immune to food’s powerful draw, but I’m not feeling hungry sitting in a Starbucks with all the cakes and pastries all around. I feel I was able to put food in perspective this week.

So much of the time, I eat out of boredom, stress or just habit. I’m not sure if I’ve changed that, but I feel I have control over my true needs a little more. The mind tells us we need to have our basic needs covered in order to function at a higher level. Since I know I can eat at any time, eating food is actually only a luxury right now.

The irony is not lost on me with the current state of this world. The entire nation is worried about how horrible the economy is and will become, and how hard it is to get by with the price of everything going up. But in these detrimental times; aka: the “worst crisis we’ve seen in the past few generations,” we can choose to not eat.

I’m thankful for that.

obey your thirst . spokane, wa

Back in the good-ole days when there was “the man” to ensure I would slog 30 pounds of cameras from locale to locale shooting a few hundred frames a day, photographs were just begging to be made. I could always find a rain drenched window or ironic composition which was searching for worth.

I figured, regardless of my situation, I’d always be able to find at least one of these photos a day for, well, forever. I never thought I’d turn to the baby and local band photos that plague the cf cards of most digital cameras.

Turns out, its not that easy. Especially when the only locales you visit are the two coffee shops within walking distance.

I hope that justifies the following.

calvin carper . seattle, wa

wayne patrick . spokane, wa

My friends Ray Huffaker and Stephanie Arnold got married a last week ago on a boat in the bay surrounding San Francisco - a completely unoriginal idea by two of the most numbingly dull people I know.

A horrible time was had by all.

What kind of wanna-be online journalist would I be if I didn’t have the iconic imagery of to-be president Obama posted somewhere on my blog by now?
I believe this a left wing liberal media prereq.

seattle.wa