Random – Riveted

Happy Holidays!

Laura Domela — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 17:14:48 +0000

Wishing everyone a happy day, and another year of enjoying whatever it is that you love to do.

-Laura & Kevin

Water

Laura Domela — Mon, 04 May 2015 20:35:03 +0000

I was tired of having that canister of bear spray at the top of the blog, so here's a pretty picture of water instead:

This is from late December, after Christmas, when we were cruising the back side of San Juan Island with our friends Jake and Patti, looking for whales.

Bear Spray

Laura Domela — Mon, 04 May 2015 14:29:35 +0000

We purchased a can of bear spray to take with us on our trip up to Alaska recently via amazon.com, and I have to share what is likely the best review of bear spray ever. I may or may not have purchased this bear spray based solely on this review:

152 of 178 people found the following review helpful

Yeah buddy. This stuff is for real.

By PatriotEd on June 22, 2013

No opportunity to try it on a real bear – thankfully. But a friend of mine tried it on his brother-in-law during a camping trip. His brother-in-law was drinking and got obnoxious. He threatened to kick my friend's ass. My friend is an average size guy but his brother-in-law is huge and burly. He is as big as a bear and nearly as strong. This stuff worked on him big time. It put him out of commission so fast, from at least 15 – 20 feet away, that it scared the hell out of everyone. He was in real pain and could hardly breath. He was on the ground instantly and crying in agony from the pain. And that was from just one blast of this stuff. The concern was that it would kill him, but he recovered just fine, but it took a while. When he finally recovered he asked for the bear spray. My friend wisely refused to give it to him so he told my friend that someday he would kill him for doing that. Man did that ever sober him up. Whew!! He was major pissed off about it. He's calmed down some since then but he is still plenty pissed off about it. Now my friend's wife is divorcing him over the incident. I guess she would have preferred that her husband got his ass kicked instead. That is one hell of a way to find out that this stuff really works but hey, you do what you got to do. Anyway, after that I ordered some of this stuff for me and my wife. I have guns but I want this stuff as our first line of self-defense. If we ever run across a bear or other wild critter, hey, we'll be ready for that to. Just don't sneak up on your wife or piss her off when she has this stuff within arms reach. LOL

Filet-O-Fish® and Portrait Photography

Laura Domela — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 03:17:38 +0000

Yesterday on our way to pick up some groceries in Port Townsend, we walked past a McDonald’s. In the window was a large poster advertising the Filet-O-Fish® sandwich, two bucks on Fridays. Admittedly, I’m not the target demographic for McDonald's (at all), but I was mesmerized by this photograph.

I said to Kevin “Could that food look ANY more processed!? The plastic bun, the machine-cut square of fish, the crayon-orange cheese, the marshmallow tartar sauce with perfectly placed pickle bits….”

“You know It took a photographer, a huge team of food stylists and art directors (and likely an enormous budget) to make that Filet-O-Fish® photo happen.”

As an advertisement, this felt like a total fail. I couldn’t imagine a Filet-O-Fish® looking any less appetizing than it did on this poster in the window of its maker. I assumed that the photography/money/art/food styling team would have instead aimed for creating an image depicting…well, something more appealing, organic, delicious, and less processed, plastic, precise.

On the other hand, as an editorial photo (or art!), this photograph of the Filet-O-Fish® sandwich was PERFECT. The factory-fabricated Filet-O-Fish® in this photo looks exactly like what it is. The photographer had somehow managed to even amplify the synthetic reality of the Filet-O-Fish®. You can almost picture the factory workers in white bunny suits extruding perfectly square fish filets from gleaming stainless steel industrial machinery.

It’s like when I take a portrait of a cool character with an interesting vibe and I’m able to show a heap of his personality in my zillionth of a second shutter click and subsequent print. This Filet-O-Fish® photograph oozes its processed personality perfectly.

I decided if I were the photographer, I’d be super proud of getting it “just right.”

As a professional portrait photographer, my philosophy centers on connecting with my subjects by creating a comfortable, casual environment where they feel open and at ease. I want to listen to their stories and study their mannerisms. I’d rather focus in on capturing a person’s unique characteristics than take a “pretty” or “flattering” photo that has no personality.

A few years ago I was hired to create a portrait of the (now defrocked) pastor/leader of the Mars Hill Church for the cover of a magazine. We were invited by his PR guy to attend (and photograph) his hour-long sermon before photographing him in the “green room” of his Bellevue, Washington megachurch. The original plan had been to set up in the green room during his first sermon, and then meet for his portrait quickly between his two sermons (my preference, since I was not so keen on the whole megachurch thing), so this was a bit of a departure.

His sermon began (picture spotlights and giant TV screens and a rock band opening act) and we found him to be a very engaging and charismatic speaker, but he preached values that I find highly offensive (misogyny, bigotry, and intolerance), and hearing him encourage this way of thinking so eloquently and persuasively to a stadium full of mostly young people was very disturbing.

After the sermon we set up in his green room and I felt pretty nervous as we waited for him to arrive. I find it so important to connect with the subjects I photograph, but I felt less than enthusiastic about trying to connect with this one. Turns out he was not a “connect with you” kind of guy anyway, at least not for the 15 minutes I spent with him. He was detached, dismissive, and not engaged at all (perhaps because I was a woman). There were about 20 people in the smallish room (including his whole family) and it was far too crowded and lively for me to do much but try to get the best “surface” shot of him as fast as I could (and by "surface" I mean "good photograph of this guy, but without having the normal photographer/subject rapport that I usually can cultivate during a shoot").

Back in the studio as I was editing down the work, there was one photo that stood out to me. It might not have been the most flattering portrait of him, but it felt by far the most honest. It accurately represented how he “felt” to me in person. He had a bit of a smirk. He was making was eye contact, but there didn’t seem to be any real connection with the viewer. His expression felt kinda like a shrug. This shot was definitely my favorite and felt the most genuine to me, so I submitted it to the magazine’s art director along with the other shots I thought were probably more flattering.

Guess which photo the magazine put on the cover? The Filet-O-Fish®!

San Antonio to Portland, and the Woman’s Club of San Antonio

Laura Domela — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 22:44:52 +0000

Kevin's mom is a member of the Woman's Club of San Antonio, and before we left she wanted to take us by to show us this interior of beautiful building. The Woman's Club has been here in the Woodward House since 1926.

This 2 1/2-story Neo-Classical revival home was designed in 1904–1905 by architect Atlee Ayers for San Antonio business man David J. Woodward (1864–1925) and his wife May Bock Woodward (1866–1942). The Woodward couple flipped twenty-three homes during their married life. David built the houses, and May decorated them. Each property would eventually be sold for profit when the couple moved upward to a more expensive residence. After David Woodward died, his wife sold the house at 1717 San Pedro in 1926 to the Woman's Club for $47,000. The first floor of the house has the interior parlor, library with fireplace, butler's pantry, office, kitchen, powder room and dining room. When Ayres designed the house, the second floor served as living quarters with five bedrooms, bath and sitting room. The Woodwards intended the top floor to be a ballroom and had it designed with window box seats. [Wikipedia]

The inside is filled with period-appropriate furniture and what looked like some of the original light fixtures.

Most of the ceilings that aren't wood are decorated with painted murals:

Gorgeous light fixtures throughout:

Portraits of past presidents:

Wooden columns:

Cool mirror on brick by the back door:

Pretty pink walls, drapes, and chaise:

After visiting this historic home, we made one more stop by Guajillo's for some more tacos (just as fabulous the second time) and then headed home to Portland (with a stop and quick plane change in Phoenix). As we taxied up to the gate in Portland just before 11pm, we were informed that the emergency slide at the front door had partially deployed and was now stuck and that we were going to need to wait for them to unstick it. (Sliiiiiiiide!)

After about 20 or 30 minutes, they brought a rolling stairway to the back door and we exited through the back door, walked over to another staircase back up to the jetway, past the front door and into the terminal. We got to see the partially deployed slide and it was not nearly as exciting as we'd imagined it would be:

Oops.

Now we're home getting the house ready for holiday guests (guests we hope to take up for some San Juan Island boating between Christmas and New Year's!)

Google Maps is Smarter Than Us

Laura Domela — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:25:14 +0000

Yesterday we drove from Seattle to Anacortes. We knew the way, but I'd mapped us to our location using my iPhone and Google Maps just to see how long it would take us to get there.

We were whizzing along just fine on I-5 at 70mph when my iPhone told me we should be taking an exit several miles ahead. Huh? We still had about 45 miles to go on I-5.

"She" wanted us to get off the freeway, take some side streets, and then get back on the SAME freeway. Whatever, little computer brain. Hush. We'd decided to ignore "her" and keep on our merry way when up ahead we saw breaklights and significant traffic backup. Okay, let's do what "she" says, we decided.

We got off I-5 and took "her" recommended route, part of it parallelling the freeway where we could see mostly stopped traffic on the northbound side. Whoa! How'd "she" know? I mean, I know Google Maps can show traffic and whether it's slow or medium or fast, but rerouting us based on it? Really?

As we re-approached I-5 following "her" instructions, after taking about 4 miles of side streets, the purpose of this reroute became clear. Immediately south of the onramp there were a handful of vehicles with flashing lights tending to an accident — IMMEDIATELY SOUTH of where we were being told it was okay to get back on I-5.

Are you kidding me???

Here's the onramp, joining up with a traffic-free freeway:

We will never doubt again.

Quicksand and Tidal Waves

Laura Domela — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 17:11:33 +0000

At some point in my childhood, I became aware that I had two catastrophe fears — quicksand and tidal waves — and that I had no clue where those fears originated.

Could it have been that time the neighborhood kids all helped fill sandbags near our apartment in Seal Beach, California as a storm was threatening to flood the old town area? Is that what caused me to imagine the many scenarios where a giant wave had crashed over the town and I was floating down Main Street on my bunk bed boat?

Certainly the silly, unrealistic scenes on Gilligan's Island where someone was sinking into a quicksand puddle weren't scary enough to cause my worry and fear of quicksand, were they?

I was born in Alaska and we lived in Anchorange until I was 5 years old. Once, a few years back while I was working on this portrait project with my brother in Girdwood, Alaska, as we were driving the stretch of road along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet between Anchorage and Girdwood, someone in the car told a crazy story about a woman who had gone out onto the mudflats at low tide and gotten stuck, and as she was being rescued by helicopter, it pulled her too hard from the quicksand (or she was just fatally stuck) and her body was actually torn in half! This story sounded strangely familiar to me (but also as horrifying as if I'd just heard it for the first time).

**I looked it up just now to see if it really happened and found this interesting article about the dangers of the bore tide, that included this bit:

Many have heard the story of the duck hunter who was stuck in the mud on either Knik or Turnagain arm, in the 1960s or 1970s, depending on who tells it, and was pulled in half by a helicopter, leaving the lower half of his body in the mud. Some locals remember the incident vividly. There is no evidence it ever happened, but the story has become an Alaska legend.

I'm sure as a kid I'd heard these stories told many times by the adults around me…the stories about real people who got stuck in the mud and glacial silt in the Turnagain Arm at low tide, and then were either rescued successfully, or who remained stuck and hypothermic and drowned as the tide came in over them. I realized at that point when and where my fear of quicksand had been programmed. It was in Alaska, before I was 5.

I'd also probably overheard many stories about the Great Alaskan Earthquake. This 9.2 earthquake — you know, the most powerful recorded earthquake in North American history…the one that caused TSUNAMIS and SOIL LIQUIFICATION??!! – happened only three years before I was born. I soon also knew when and where my childhood fear of tidal waves had been instilled — in Alaska, before I was 5.

This is a photo taken downtown Anchorage after the 1964 earthquake:

Now check out this map of Anchorage:

The star in the lower left is where our house was, and the star in the upper right is where that photo was taken. The stars are 3 miles apart. Also, notice how close our house is to what is now Earthquake Park:

Anchorage was not hit by tsunamis, but downtown Anchorage was heavily damaged, and parts of the city built on sandy bluffs overlying "Bootlegger Cove clay" near Cook Inlet, most notably the Turnagain neighborhood, suffered landslide damage. The neighborhood lost 75 houses in the landslide, and the destroyed area has since been turned into Earthquake Park. (Wikipedia)

It's interesting to me how much the topics of quicksand and tidal waves were part of my thoughts and imagination as a kid in California from age 5 on, when the experiences that programmed those thoughts predated most of my conscious memory.

All of this back story gets me to why I started this post in the first place. (At least after telling you this whole lengthy back story, I still remember the front story, which is often not the case when I'm telling stories in person.)

This morning I came across a photo portfolio by Getty Images photographer Streeter Lecka who recently spent six days out on Turnagain Arm photographing the folks who venture out onto the mudflats to ride the waves of the tidal bore. The waves can be as high as 10 feet tall (though only around a full moon, normally they're small).

Yep, people SURF (and kayak) the tidal bore. Here's a video:

And now, about this photo portfolio. It's called Surfing Alaska's Bore Tide:

This is a beautiful series and I think you should check it out. Click here for the full photo essay.

I hope none of them get stuck and drown.

Instagram

Laura Domela — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 21:47:41 +0000

I'm trying to get myself to use Instagram more, and one of the things I just did while using it more was that I changed my handle from @rivetedblog to @rivetedlaura. This means that if you followed @rivetedblog in the past, I think you'll need to refollow me/us (mostly it's me, I'll be honest, but maybe Kevin'll join as @rivetedkevin now!!)

So here you go if you want to follow along:

http://instagram.com/rivetedlaura

Surface Vibrations: Coffee

Laura Domela — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 23:48:43 +0000

This is pretty nerdy, but whatever…I love these. This is Kevin's coffee during our flight to Venice a few weeks ago. I think I took five of these videos. Here are my two favorites:

New Riveted Cards

Laura Domela — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 13:01:56 +0000

I designed some new cards for us that match the look of our website better than our old mini-cards did (plus, bigger type, easier to read). What do you guys think?

We meet so many interesting people when we're traveling and it's great to have cards like this with us so we can easily exchange contact information.

We used moo.com and we're very happy with the quality!