Spring Break at the UW

Normally this quad at the University of Washington is teeming with students between classes. Today it was pretty deserted. Of course, it's saturday and it WAS raining,...:-) but I wanted to try the wide angle on my new camera in this spot. I'll go back on a sunny day which will hopefully happen before all those cherry blossoms are gone. Love walking through here to an occasional class....!

One reason we were here today was to see the photography exhibit at the nearby Henry Art Gallery: " Shadows of a Fleeting World: Pictorial Photography and the Seattle Camera Club." Founded in 1924 by Japanese immigrants, this club, similar to those in San Francisco and Los Angeles, sought to pursue the influence of Japanese artistic traditions on a western invention. They also recruited non Japanese members, including a few women. They were exhibited in International exhibits between the world wars but this became harder in the 30s with the depression and all activity ended in the 40s with the internment of the Japanese. Many of these wonderful fragile works (gelatin silver prints) with such a different feel to them than the digital images we are now used to were forgotten or lost. Some that survived were given to the UW Special collections in the 70s so we are really fortunate to get this glimpse of the artistic milieu in Seattle from the early part of the last century. It was inspiring. (got an idea for a photo I'll try sometime......)