Seattle
January 14, 2025
Tags: Travel, Photography

Earlier this month, my wife and I drove to Seattle for a bit of a getaway. It had been almost a year since our last visit there, and we were due for a return visit.
In particular, I was keen to do some street photography around town. Although I packed my Nikon FM10 and some rolls of Kentmere Pan 400 in case I wanted to shoot part of the trip on film, I ended up sticking with my Canon EOS R8 the entire time. As much as I enjoy shooting film, the fact that I took over a thousand photographs and ended up keeping about 40% of them is proof that digital photography has its place, too.
Not long after arriving in Seattle, I got right to it. On a misty and foggy night, I went out on my own for a nighttime photo walk in the South Lake Union neighborhood.




On my last visit to Seattle, I shot the trip in black and white on Ilford FP4 Plus film. For the most part, it suited the city in late winter. The one place I found myself wanting color on that trip, though, was at the Pike Place Market.
I was glad to have my Canon EOS R8 in hand this time around. Shooting with a digital camera, I could easily switch back and forth from black and white to color.




In spite of all the occasions when I’ve strolled through the Pike Place Market, one thing I had never really gotten a close look at was the famous Gum Wall. It was both fascinating and revolting. I understand that it’s actually been cleaned up several times since it became a thing in the 1990s. The most recent round was actually just a few months ago. Based on what I saw, however, I would never have known it.

In Belltown, I often found myself looking up at the tall buildings. Using the shortest focal length on my zoom lens for maximum wide-angle effect, I think I succeeded with capturing a bit of what the experience was like.



One day late in the afternoon, I took a walk through downtown towards Pioneer Square. My journey lasted into the early evening hours, giving me another opportunity for some nighttime street photography.


Night has become one of my favorite times to do street photography.
On prior trips to Seattle, I had never really bothered to investigate and explore the city beyond the downtown area. I made sure to remedy that mistake on this visit. Using a combination of this very helpful article and Google Street View to do my research before our trip, I got a sense of what was out there. I only had so much time in Seattle, and I wanted to narrow down my list to neighborhoods that seemed worth checking out. Capitol Hill, Wallingford, Columbia City, West Seattle, and the University District made the list.





Sometime in the future, I hope to see other parts of the city I didn’t have time to explore this time around.
No visit to Seattle would be complete without a stop at Kerry Park. If I am to be perfectly honest and consistent, then I ought to confess that my prior visits were indeed incomplete because this was the first time I visited the park. I plead ignorance. I only learned about it after a photographer friend of mine mentioned it not too long ago. With this suggestion in mind, it took only a quick internet search to identify its location.


At Kerry Park and elsewhere, I was reminded of my past realization that taking candid photos of people is much easier in a bigger city. It helps that my 24-105mm zoom lens has a fairly long reach for its size and enables me to get close without getting in people’s face. But I also find that people tend to be in their own little worlds more in bigger towns than smaller ones. I can often snap away without being noticed at all.

Who knows? While I had my camera to my eye, maybe other people were taking candid pictures of me and posting them on their websites.