The Last Supper

1970's-ish, techno/laser light show inspired, modern stained glass looking, Jesus. I guess that's how I would describe this if I were in given the task of having to describe it. This mural has been downtown a while. I've always wanted a picture of it, but there are always vehicles parked in front of it. As chance would have it, I was downtown doing some wedding photog with Josh Durias and happened upon said mural. As it turned out, no cars. Perfectly wide open shot. Made my day. It's an interesting mural, painted on the wall near a baptist church. The colors are awesome, it's very unique and it really pops, especially on a dark, dreary day like it was when I took these. Also, it's Bellingham. Most of the art around this town are weird sculptures that were inspired by the random scribbles of 1st graders...that or the peace pipe. So I guess it's nice to see a piece of art that makes some form of sense. Whoever created this piece of art was just one of a bunch of people who have recreated the scene of the last supper. ABC and the television show "Lost" created a promo where the characters from "Lost" were seated at a long table just like in the famous biblical last supper scene. Check it out here, if you want. (http://www.thinkhero.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lost-last-supper-image.jpg). Likewise, someone used the same image yet replaced the biblical characters with the players from the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Championship team. http://jimintonic.com/archives/Damon's%20Last%20Supper.jpg) At the time the Red Sox re-creation made perfect sense. It was humorous and Johnny Damon and those resilient Sox really were the saviors of the perennially unlucky Red Sox organization. However, a few years later Damon bolted the team he saved for the hated rivals from the Bronx. I guess the similarities end there. Jesus never left Heaven for more money in Hell. At least the Lost promo still kind of works.

Gettin his Dues

Josh Durias is a photographer. A great photographer. He has a feature on his blog (http://www.duriasblog.com/) where he highlights accomplishments and happenings of local people each month. He should highlight himself, but I know he won't. That might not look too good. So I will. Within the last two years he has gone from a guy who just wanted to take pictures of his little kid to successfully taking amazing photos of people he had no role in bringing to this earth. He takes pictures of people when they get engaged, when they get married, when they desire to graduate high school and want to show their family and friends how good they look, when they want to pose in odd ways by modeling, and for a myriad of other reasons. In short, he takes photos of people for whatever reason someone may want him to. And he takes them really well. I've shot with him a couple times. Once at a wedding. What I learned is that he loves it. He loves taking pictures, he loves creating beautiful images, he loves engaging with his subjects in both a fun and meaningful way. Most of all, he loves telling a story through his photography. And it shows. Check out his stuff, it's good.

Here he is in action. He just looks the part of a quality photographer, doesn't he.

Natures Peaceful Protector

If you know Camp Firwood director Rob Lee, you know this...He loves animals and he loves nature. God's little creatures and their happy little habitats have a special place in Rob's oversized and always accepting heart. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that Rob fought long and hard to make sure Firwood was a safe sanctuary for all the little critters and vegetation that call the Firwood property home. Even before conceiving of the vision and plans for the long awaited Centerhouse, Rob had an even bigger dream of one day seeing Firwood become the leading Native Growth Protection Habitat for all American Camp Association certified camps in the greater Pacific Northwest area. Well, consider this one dream that came true. This past week Rob Lee and the Firs, in association with Whatcom County Planning and Development Services, officially commissioned the first Native Growth Protection Habitat on Firwood grounds. Located right behind Cabins 1 and 2 on the boys side, across the road from the boys bathroom, sits what has now been unofficially termed the "Rob Lee Memorial Love of the Environment and all the Critters of the World Sanctuary for Happiness and Natures Peace". A sprawling and beautiful natural hill that soaks up the sunshine and splashes down into a babbling fresh water creek, this newly minted Natural Habitat is home to many living wonders including ferns, weeds, worms and probably some other stuff that we can't see. The hope, as Rob puts it, is "to make sure that not only campers and staff find Firwood to be a hospitable and safe place, but that the earths first inhabitants, the plants and animals, can say they feel loved and cared for here as well." Two years ago it was believed that Firwood would never be given the opportunity to create a Natural Habitat. The world was telling Rob that it couldn't be done, the city of Bellingham wouldn't allow it. "Bellingham doesn't care about the environment!" they would tell Rob. "Large buildings are fine, but we're in a watershed, nature takes a back seat and you know it!" others told him. The doubters pleaded with him to seek after a goal that was achievable, like a new dining hall or a new inflatable play toy. Yet through perseverance, hard work, and an unmatched zeal for accomplishment, Rob Lee was able to overcome his doubters and convince the powers that be that the world around us, Mother Nature and all her beauty, isn't something we can squander and kill. And because of that hard work and that little dream planted in Robs head years ago, Firwood now has a dedicated place that Mother Nature can call home.

Killing the Beauty

Since I live here, I would say over 50% of the pictures I have taken these past 6 months have been at Firwood. Not a bad place to have to take a lot of pictures. However, unfortunately the view doesn't change too often. Somedays its cloudy, somedays it's clear, some days it's really foggy and we can't see much of anything. But no matter what, when I look outside I always see the lake and those hills across the way. It always looks generally the same. I know, I'm feeling bad for myself because I live on the lake and it's really beautiful everyday. Poor Kile. But since it's always the same view everyday, I end up having a lot of the same pictures stored on my computer. I have way too many shots of sailboats, docks, the lake and the hills. Some days there are clouds off beyond the hills, some days it's brighter than others, in the fall there were more colors than right now, but generally, its always what you see in the picture above. I try different angles, different times of day, different seasons, different spots on the waterfront, yet in the end, they all look fairly similar. In the photographer in me sense, I am getting a little sick of it. It's a lot like when I first started shooting 5 years ago, I only really took pictures of sunsets. Why? because they are really easy to take pictures of and get quality images. Whether someone is a pro, an amateur or the iphone guy, taking a quality sunset shot is pretty simple. Just point at the pretty colors. Since the only good photos I had were of sunsets, I found myself always going to Boulevard and Zuanich parks every night on the waterfront trying to recapture the beauty. After a year or so of this, I realized all my pictures were basically the same. Images of some park set with a background of an amazing Bellingham sunset. I ended up diluting the beauty by overshooting it. Wouldn't you know it, same thing here at camp. Everyday I walk to my car, see the view and think today's picture might just look a little different. So I take out the camera, point it in the same direction I always do and hope that for some inexplainable reason, the picture will show itself to be completely different than the one from yesterday. Nope. Living in a beautiful place has resulted in me having a lot of identical pictures of the same beautiful thing. I guess that's all I am trying to say. You should start to feel bad for me now.