For some reason, I found this display very sad, almost desperate for attention. I settled for simply documenting it and moving on. Shot at C & P Coffee in West Seattle.

2008 is over and like all narcissists, I took the opportunity to look back at my work throughout the year. That’s when I stumbled across this shot, hidden away in my archives, all but forgotten. But I think it deserves better than that. So, happy 2009 with a pink flamingo.

I never thought about picking a personal “best of 2008″ picture, before I saw the Photo Friday challenge with that same description. My choice is the photo of Karl, originally uploaded to Flickr, in color and with a fun little description about Karl’s crazy stories.

Unfortunately, those stories ended up taking over Karl’s mind over the summer, and I’ve pretty much lost contact with him. When I do meet him (he no longer goes to the West Seattle Caffe Ladro, where we met and this shot was taken), I sometimes say hello. But other times, he is too wrapped up in his own world to even notice me. He’s not too sick to take care of himself, still, and many of us who used to chat with Karl on a regular basis, continue to share news and keep an eye out, just in case.

I reprocessed the photo to match how my relationship with this once gifted artist has changed over the year.

I don’t know why, but I keep finding ties around a specific block in West Seattle. They’re spread out, months apart, but they’re there. In an area, where there is nothing but a few condos and houses. The nearest store is a Blockbuster, two blocks down.

Shot at the offices of Blue Flavor.

My friend Lee has this awesome Arax medium format camera. It makes a deep, satisfying sound, when its curtain shutter flips open, and you get that feeling that this is a little piece of mechanical wonder, that’ll last your whole life, if you only take care of it. And it takes amazing pictures too.

One of the many little details, I notice every day in my hood, West Seattle. I’ve walked by this spot countless times, yet it was only today, I noticed there was a car under there. Spotting things like that can make my day.

There is something magical about San Francisco. Last time I was there, I shot this picture on a whim. But it’s one of my favorites, because it starts on the sidewalk and goes all the way to the top of the city. This was shot with my Canon 20D.

This crow reminded me of the old norse gods, perhaps also because of the structures and the brooding sky. The shot was taken near Seattle Center and toned in post processing. Hugin is one of Odin’s two ravens.