Saturday’s Shipwreck festival in the seaside town of Anacortes was a hive of activity. I won’t begin to guess how many people there were, but I didn’t have much of a chance to include the architecture of that coastal town in the midst of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd. I understand the population in that area may be over 16,000 and if one of the many store-keeps I met had said, “everyone’s here” I probably would have believed them.
From what I have read, a railroad surveyor named Amos Bowman moved his family to the northern tip of Fidalgo Island in 1877 and promoted the area as a terminus for the Northern Pacific Railway that was being built to the Pacific ocean. The name “Anacortes” is an adaptation his wife’s name, Anne Curtis Bowman.
Jo and I had chosen to spend another day. And as we sat on the beach watching the sun slowly sink into the ocean after the busy festival we decided that an early morning stroll through the town would be fun.
Sunday mornings at 8:30 a.m. in most towns and cities allow photographers ample opportunity to stand almost anywhere to take pictures. Traffic is usually sparse and slow moving so standing in or walking across the street is pretty safe.
The day had clear blue skies and strong shadows that made for some creative architectural photography.
Jo was using a 14-24mm lens and I had my 24-70mm. Both our cameras are full frame so we could capture some very wide photos as we wandered back and forth totally intent on the buildings around us.
I noticed a couple walk out of a street side coffee shop and just before the woman got in the car she stopped to hold her cell phone at arm’s length to take a picture of the big arch over the street that said, “Thanks for visiting Downtown Anacortes”. I thought good for her and stepped into the street and made one of the few wide town photos I took that day. Most of my shots were closer and cropped tightly on the buildings I was photographing.
It’s fun looking at the designs and different types of construction that buildings have. I don’t know the history of how Anacortes grew, but there are all kinds of styles. Some, I have no doubt, are turn of the century.
I like the photographic opportunities that coastal town offers me, the street photography during the festival, the architectural photography, the scenic photography of the wooded areas close to ocean and, yep, the beautiful beaches.
We spent four days having a great time pointing our cameras at anything and everything. I will say that I was a bit worried last year that Jo would get bored when she asked me if she could come with me on my annual Shipwreck Festival pilgrimage, but she didn’t and there was no way under the sun that she was getting left behind this year, so there we were having the best of times on the coast of Washington for a second year. Its now only three weeks past and we are already talking about next year.
What is better than fresh seafood, a giant street market filled with treasures, sitting on the beach watching the sun sink into the ocean and, of course, four days of unrestricted photography? Hmmm…not much that I can think of.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net. Stop by Enman’s Camera at 423 Tranquille Road in Kamloops. I sell an interesting selection of used photographic equipment. Don’t hesitate to call me at 250-371-3069.
