“I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.” —Robert Frost
On the last morning of my stay in Seattle, I strolled the city alone with my camera. I took photos of things that caught my eye and allowed myself to be an explorer in a big land. It was the most creative and alive I’ve felt in a long time.
I hope you enjoy these photos and please let me know if you have a favorite.
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All photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
One of the major reasons we visited Seattle was my daughter’s obsession with the video game The Last of Us. The second game takes place largely in Seattle during the year 2039, a city abandoned and overrun with infected (think mushroom zombies). It’s a story of found family, hope, love, and revenge.
Using a list of locations by the blogger Sam, we traveled around the city replaying the game. A lot of places we looked at but didn’t photograph, those include Columbia Center, Seattle Municipal Tower, Pioneer Station, the Convention Center, and Lumen Field. I also took plenty of pictures of the Great Wheel, but I’ve already shared them in previous posts.
Let me know if you are a fan of the game or the HBO series. Be sure to make it down to the hotel photos where I share a bit about our stay in another famously haunted hotel.
Also, in case you’re wondering, I’m a huge fan of the game now too!
This gorgeous hotel was our home while in Seattle.
We didn’t know this until after booking the room, but The Hotel Sorrento is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the city. Supposedly the ghost of writer Alice B. Toklas haunts room 408 and many people stay there hoping to get a glimpse of her.
The elevator was broken at the time of our visit so nobody was allowed to stay past the third floor. We stayed in room 308, a spacious two-room suite with a gorgeous marble bathroom down a short private hallway. There was a nice little window nook I sat in each morning to drink my coffee.
On the second night of our stay, I woke up at 1 a.m. to someone walking very loudly in the room above ours. It seemed they were having a party. The walking and dancing went on for over an hour, waking up my mom and daughter as well. I finally said loudly, “I really need some sleep” and the sound stopped. I chalked it up to coincidence and went back to sleep.
The next morning when we were checking out I mentioned that our upstairs neighbors were quite rowdy and the lady gave me a startled look. “Nobody was in the room,” she said. It turned out we were staying directly below the famed haunted room of 408. Did Alice B. Toklas have a party? I’d like to think so.
My daughter was so excited because the details of the hotel matched the game perfectly, including this entryway rug.
“What is the downside to eating a clock? It’s time-consuming.”—Joel
This was our favorite location to visit because so many pivotal scenes in the game take place here. My daughter even bought a stuffed shark exactly like the one Abby gave Lev.
My momma ❤️
Thank you so much for taking this adventure with us! And here’s a bonus for those who love Grey’s Anatomy, the building Seattle Grace Hospital was modeled after. Not the best shot, but it was fun to see!
All photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
I’ve always been someone who is in awe of the world, but being able to capture some of that feeling with my camera is incredibly satisfying.
This third installment of photos from my Washington trip are shots taken around the city of Seattle. I sure hope this isn’t like making someone sit through vacation slides! Let me know if you have a favorite and thanks for supporting me. It really means so much.
“Sometimes I come up here at night…just to look at the city. I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.” —Brian Selznick
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These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
On the second night of our trip, we traveled to the historic town of Seaview and stayed at the Shelburne Hotel. You may remember I wrote about our ghost experience in this same hotel last year, and so we were eager to return. Although I’m certain I felt someone gently pressing me down in the clawfoot bathtub, this time our experience was mostly restful.
For me, the beauty of staying at the longest continuously operating hotel in Washington State is the interesting light fixtures and the way the hotel makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. I hope you’ll consider staying here if you ever find yourself in the area. Let me know if you have a favorite photo or if something stands out for you. Thanks!
“All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” —Leo Tolstoy
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These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
Last week I took a much-anticipated trip to visit my mother, connect with a dear poetry friend, and show the city of Seattle to my daughter. It was a feast for the photographic eye. Please join me for a series of posts (6 total) exploring the Pacific Northwest and let me know if you have a favorite photo.
“Believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
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These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
As I carefully walk toward the rippling water my shoes sink in the soft mud. You tell me to listen to what the frogs are saying. I try, but I don’t know how to be still enough. A small patch of yellow flowers grows near the shore and I struggle to get closer to them. What are they saying? The Worm Moon bursts out from behind the clouds shining a spotlight across the water. Everything seems to be calling out. I swallow my words and listen harder.
“The gold tree is blue, The singer has pulled his cloak over his head. The moon is in the folds of the cloak.” —Wallace Stevens
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For my third attempt at full moon photography, I visited Folsom Lake at sunset. It felt magical and different. My daughter drew a moth in the sand. Spring is here.
Let me know if you like these and if you have a favorite. These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
you are almost obscene without petals alien green bulbous body too many waving yellow arms yet you appear honest dare I say brave
once, scared nobody could love me I did this to a flower it could have been a relative of yours a great great great grandflower I didn’t think about what it wanted what my actions would change only if I could be loved if I could be chosen
I tore each delicate petal off love me love me not until a pink pile lay at my feet wasted beauty for something like answers
seeing you now I wonder what answers you hold first full and now bare and why naked truth still scares me
“If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
I’ve been sick for two weeks with a terrible virus. It started with a fever and ended with a horrible nonstop cough. I stayed in bed, minus a trip to the doctor, but barely got any rest. It was one miserable day after the next. It made me appreciate my health and fully understand the word surrender.
To celebrate returning to the land of the living (maybe a bit dramatic), I dusted off my camera and visited the local plant nursery this morning. The bees, the colors, and the sunshine all did wonders for my mood. I hope you enjoy these photos and please let me know if you have a favorite.
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These photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
You aren’t here with me in these blue woods. I’m alone. Hands hanging loosely at my sides, I track the full moon until it peeks through the dark silhouetted branches. The sky morphs from cold white to warm gold and back again. A breeze blows gently and my skirt dances around my knees. It feels like butterflies and Spring, but it’s still February. Still winter. Snow falls softly in the nearby mountains.
My mind forgets and remembers things as I walk, a circle of thought looping and playing. Soon a song cuts through and clears out everything else. “All this joy, all this sorrow.” Maybe I hummed it then, alone in the woods on the night of the Hunger Moon. The night I was missing you. Maybe you did too.
“We’re both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We’re connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me.”—Haruki Murakami
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This was my second attempt at photographing the full moon this year and it was nearly as frustrating. There were a lot of clouds and I found myself more interested in the trees than the moon. I wonder if I’ll tire of this project or stretch my photography skills further. Time will tell.
Let me know if you like these and if you have a favorite. As is usual, these photos were taken with an Olympus OM-D and edited with ON1 Photo RAW.
Bridgette Tales 