Pottery Northwest Wood Fire

Ahh, the wood fire. It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. My
thanks go out to Al Tenant for letting our class use his train kiln.

As you can tell from my last post, I was the one who got to start the wood fire with my old business cards. Al was so impressed with my means of purging out my old job he even took one of my old cards to pin up in his studio.

Our class had split the 50-hour firing into 5-hour sessions with 2 to 3 people at each shift. The firing started at about 6:20 pm on Friday December 5, 2008. My next shift was to start at 5:00 am Saturday. I had been getting up early for weeks in advance to prepare myself for this.

That Saturday was a great morning shift. We were still using the outside fire hole to keep the fire going but had taken down one section of it. The goal was to keep the fire burning with the temperature only going up 80 to 100 degrees per hour, then to remove the last section of the fire hole and start to have the fire stoked in the train kiln. We were able to get the fire hole totally removed after my shift during the beginning of the next shift.

During this shift we had the most amazing sunrise. I could see it happening and took a little break to walk down to the beach and take some photos. There were clouds above but none on the horizon. Which let the sunlight through to bounce off of the clouds above and create this amazing orange red light. I got some photos of an egret, seagulls, and sand pipers. I was also able to grab a couple of pictures of Al walking his dog on the beach.

Of course it was very cold out there by the beach in Coupeville, Whidbey Island. Especially on that first night/day when the kiln had not heated up enough to keep us warm.

My next shift was for Sunday morning at 5:00. By that time the temperature was up to 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. We were loading the big logs into the firebox at that time, and man was it hot. You had to get suited up to load the logs. All natural long sleeved clothing, scarf around the face, welding glasses, welding gloves and a hat. Even then my sweaters sleeves were smoldering after loading a couple of times. At the same time your had to load small kindling through the stoke hole. This gives you additional ash near the back of the kiln.

You want to have ash throughout the kiln because the ash is actually acting as your glaze. Depending on the wood you use you can get different colors. This is why our class was using a Helmers B-mix clay body for a majority of our pieces with the exterior sides unglazed. This clay flashes well in a wood fire. We were firing with Alder wood, which can give you a blue tinge to yellow orange.

I stuck around for a while after my shift was over and took some more photos of people and the inside of the kiln, fire is so hypnotic. I wanted to stick around till the end, but that wasn’t going to be until late Sunday night.

The wood firing for me was a great experience and now I am hooked. I can’t wait to be able to do another one.

Jobless in Seattle

Well it had to happen sometime, especially with all of the signs we had at Place Architects, I and 5 others got laid off. That is 60% of the people working at Place. And it is all because of the bosses lack luster performance/clock out. We could all still be working there if she wouldn't of blown 4 potential jobs, two of which could of kept the firm going for a year minimum.

Now I am jobless in Seattle, during the slowest month for architecture in a recession. Gee, thanks.

You would not believe all of the shinanigans that led up to the day for all of us to get laid off. First there is a dismissal of all the employees so the Seattle supervisor could talk with the boss in Vancouver, BC about there basically being no money to pay the staff come December 15 payroll. Where upon we are told be as billable as you can, right before Thanksgiving weekend, with the implied notion of working on Thanksgiving day, I don't think so and screw you too Heather. Ok, well I come back from lunch that same day to only find out that all of us in the office are going to be interviewed for a job, from some other architect who might hire us all and even take over the office. WTF! But before the interviews the boss calls and says how she is all great for setting this up for us and that she will still be involved, WTF! again.

So we all go through interviews, without really knowing what this architects project is all about or even if he has the job that we would all be hired for. Crazy, just crazy. Of course we will not know anything for a couple of weeks if this other architect has the job (and of course we still don't know, but I am not counting on that job at all).

Of course we are all wondering what is going to happen now, and won't find out until after Thanksgiving, which is a week away. Well, after having a pins and needles Thanksgiving break the week rolls on by and the next monday comes, Heather is there in person to tell us that she is trying to work things out but she will probably have to lay some people off but won't know until Friday. Again, I come back from lunch to find out we are all having individual conferences with Heather down at the coffee shop, were of course she lays off 6 of us. She wanted to lay off 7 people but 2 employees got here to keep one other to help finish up jobs in the office. Our last day is that Friday, but I have had that day taken off for my ceramics fire, which means my last day will be that Thursday, December 4, 2008.

Well at the end of the day we have another staff meeting, were Heather tries to be friends with all of us, even though she is the one who has screwed us all over and wants to take us out for drinks on Friday. Well I am not going to be there, and other people have previous engagements, of course. So she wants to take us out to lunch instead, and gets all bent out of shape when I say I can't make it and wants me to take a lunch break, well sorry I am out on Whidbey Island doing a wood fire for ceramics, which I have planned for months.

I am so glad I had this lined up, because it gave me a great way to purge out Place, I got to start the wood fire with my left over business cards. Being out on Whidbey Island away from Seattle and Place Architects I could just feel all of my bad experiences just burn away.

Unbelievable Sunrise this morning

Just before getting on the bus this morning I was noticing the clouds starting to get a tinge of color from the sunrise. After getting on the bus and heading over the Fremont bridge in Seattle, the bus drive told us to check out the sunrise. It was just getting warmed up at that time. But, I wish I would of hung out on the bridge for a while, because by the time I got of the bus by the Sculpture Park, the sunrise was gorgeous. Luckily I had my camera in the bag this time and I had to stop to take some snap shots.

For the rest of the day I am going to be kicking myself in the butt for not staying on the Fremont Bridge to get a few photos of this sunrise. As I keep taking more and more photos I am learning to take advantage of these events that come only once in a blue moon. And when I don't stop and take photos, there is a voice in the back of my mind berating myself for not doing that. Oh well, next time I will stop. At least I was able to get these photos.

Barack Obama Campaign Photos

Reading the Online Photographer this morning I read his post on the Boston.com's pick of the best 35 photos of President Elect Barack Obama's campaign. After going to the link and was overcome with emotion again as a scrolled through the photos. I felt this lifting of oppression that has been weighing me down for the past eight years. It is amazing what a little hope in a bright future can make your life feel that much better. Once January 20, 2009 comes around we can finally pull that weed called Bush from our politics roots and all.

I think this relief has permeated through Seattle. Some facts to help prove that statement, at my wife's hair salon, before the election they were booked solid for massages. Since the day after the election on November 4, they haven't had anyone walk in or book a massage. Ahhh the relief of tension melting away.

The photos are definetly worth a look. So go check them out.

Another good site to check out on photos of Obama's campaign is Scout Tufankjian. I really like the Secret Service series. Well worth checking out also. I hear Scout will be coming out with a photo book on the campaign. Here is the Amazon link to the book.

The Red One

No photos from me in this post, but a link to where I see the future of photography going. And that is the merging of both still photography and videography. This is already happening with the Red One , the new Nikon D90 and the Canon eos 5d MarkII, with the red one being a digital video camera first but still able to have stills taken from the video and the later two digital SLR cameras that have the ability to shoot video also.

But, Red digital cinema dropped a bomb yesterday with their announcement of the new modular system that will be coming out in the next few years. You can go here to see the announcement and then here for some more information on this modular system.

Basically what founder Jim Jannard, yep founder of Oakley glasses, has done is come up with a system that is upgradable, downgradable and with the ability to switch parts between all the other parts. Basically a highly customizable system that let's you invent what you need. Think legos but for photography and video. Damn Cool!

Now I have a year to save up my pennies and think of a good lie/excuse for the signifigant other to get one of these Reds. Any suggestions on the lies?

2008 Pottery Northwest Student Show

For this years Pottery Northwest student show I actually had some pieces to submit (last year I was taking my first ceramics class and did not have any pieces yet). There are some wonderful ceramics in this years show. I am amazed at what some people are creating. If you have time and are in the neighborhood today or tomorrow you might still be able to see some of the ceramics on display because the show will be coming down tomorrow to get ready for a residents, Matt Allison, exit show. Matt's show opens this friday November 14, 2008.

Anyways back to the student show. I was able to get a few pieces in, three different mugs, two from my Soda Fire class and one from the Get a Handle On It class. I also had a pitcher and a saki set in the show. These two pieces are done in a damascus style, or what some people might call a marbling effect. Basically I take two different clays mix them together and then throw them on the wheel. After throwing the clay I need to trim the surface a little to expose the pattern made with the two different clays. The pattern is more pronounced in the Saki set. Both the saki set and the pitcher are from the soda class.

Barack Obama President Elect

Barack Obama is our President Elect and the sun came out this morning in Seattle.

Nuff Said!

Honorable Mention in Idaho Statesman photo contest

Every year the Idaho Statesman has an Idaho Outdoors photo contest. This year I got honorable mention on two photographs of mine. You can go here to see the winners in the contest. The two photos I got in the contest are of a fox, number 8, and some mushrooms growing on a stump near the Big Wood River in Ketchum, ID, number 14. Both my dad, Jerry Britton, and my Uncle, Walter Kaiser, also had photos selected. One of my Uncle's photos won third place, with his picture of Chilean sheep herders.

I have entered in this contest for four or five years now and have had at least one photo picked for honorable mention. My dad has won grand prize twice before. Now I just need to get above the honorable mention level, maybe next year.

Summer Blueberry picking

I remember as a kid traveling to various farms around Antioch, CA and picking cherries, apricots, strawberries and other fruit. It was always great fun, picking some for later and picking some to eat right then. But as I grew up all those farms became housing developments and I wasn't able to do that anymore. That changed once we moved to Seattle, WA. There are many U-pick farms in the a one-hour driving radius of Seattle. You can go here and see many of them.

Unfortunately my wife and I were not able to go to any of the U-pick farms this year. But, last year we did, and it was a blast. We went to the Bybee-Nims farm and picked blueberries. The farm in itself is just gorgeous and the blueberries are delicious. I am bummed that I was not able to make it out this year.

If you have the chance I highly recommend going to one of the U-pick farms in the area. It is great fun, you get to eat what you pick and it is a lot cheaper then at the store.

Just outside the office

Yesterday morning as I was walking up to the office door, I was greeted by this site. Two large ships out on the Puget Sound before the sun had risen, with their lights on and reflecting in the water. Well I couldn't pass that up, and since I had my camera with me a took a couple of photos. The first few were taken at 1600 ISO, but then the later ones I was able to drop the iso down to 200, because the sun had started rise.

I have taken a couple of other photos from outside the office entrance, but usually I will have a tripod and my zoom lens. This time I only had my 28-108mm lens. You use what you got at the time, and sometimes this causes me to have to think about my composition more and I seem to get some different but interesting photos.

I will have to find and process some of the older photos I have taken from here, especially the ones during sunset from summer.

Ceramic Demonstration

I am enrolled in a ceramics wood fire class at Pottery Northwest this fall. This will be my fifth pottery / ceramic class I have taken, and I am enjoying them immensely. Usually we will have more then one kiln firing during a class, but because the wood kiln we will be using takes 50+ hours to fire, we will only be doing one firing.

Pottery Northwest has electric kilns, reduction gas kilns and a couple of soda kilns. No wood fire kilns, so this means we will be using Al Tennant's kiln. Al lives out on Whidbey Island and has been been a ceramic artist and teacher for a long time now.

In our class last night, Al, gave us a slide show and did a couple of demonstrations. Both of which were great to see. Luckily enough I had my camera with me last night and I was able to take a few photos of Al throwing some vessels and tea bowls. Al throws in a loose manner that has meaning and direction backed up by many years of throwing experience. Very fun and inspirational to watch.

Marymoor Park Velodrome Bike Storage Building

To continue my architectural photography series here is the Marymoor Park Velodrome Bike Storage Building located in Redmond, WA.

When I first started working for Place Architects, I was given this project to finish up. What that meant was, complete the structural documentation for the building and do the construction administration for this project.

The photos shown here were done during one of the races at the Velodrome. This made for some dynamic pictures of the building. Most of these photos are a combination of differently exposed shots taken from a tripod. I wanted some longer exposed photos to get the bike racers to blur a little, but this blew out the sky. So I then took some more photos at a faster shutter speed to get the right exposure on for the sunset. I think they turned out quiet nice.

Architectural photography

Working here in Seattle, WA at Place Architects, I have been doing a lot of architectural photo shoots. It has been very exciting and fun to do.

The next few blog posts will be from some of the projects I have worked on and have taken photos of.

This first project, in Bellevue, WA, is a residential remodel, mainly exterior only. The remodel gave this house a complete face lift while at the same time fixing water damaged areas and faulty construction from a previous remodel.