Notwithstanding my recent grousing about the ongoing heatwave in Seattle (and the lack of rain), the fact of the matter is that we are well into summer – and there are only lame excuses for staying cooped up inside. On top of that, our Seattle Mariners are playing excellent baseball and have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs this year. And can it really be that the start of the Seattle Seahawks training camp is just hours away? One more plus about summer is that it means fall – i.e., football season – is right around the corner!
The above image shows a very recent view of the Seattle skyline. I zoomed in and found at least eight construction cranes, however, so more changes are definitely on the horizon. In composing the shot, I had to choose between the Space Needle on the left and the Smith Tower on the right. As much as I admire the Smith Tower, which at one point was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, Seattle’s icon from the 1962 World’s Fair easily won out.
The ferry that I used to help frame the skyline image was the M/V Wenatchee, which is one of the Jumbo Mark II classes used by the Washington State Ferries. (The Wenatchee tribe once lived along what is now called the Wenatchee River, which flows from the Cascades into the Columbia River.) The jumbo ferry is 460 feet long and accommodates up to 202 vehicles and 2,499 passengers. And no, I don’t have any idea why the boat designers couldn’t accommodate one more passenger for an even 2,500.
If you like the look, feel, and drama of panoramas, please check out the images in the Panoramas gallery of my online store A nice assortment of panoramic images, including matted, metal, canvas, and fine acrylic prints, is also available at my gallery on Bainbridge Island.
Ciao for now!
Andrew (“Andy”) Bergh
P.S.: Speaking of the Mariners, I recently tried the fried grasshoppers at Safeco Field. Unless you’re a big fan of chapulines, don’t bother!