Blog - Mel Curtis

Keep Moving

The big dark is over for now and spring has arrived. Winter was a bit tough as I coughed my way through bronchitis and fought my through fatigue. I no sooner healed up when we found out little Barney has cancer. Another one of life's tests. it seems they never end and with each hurdle we adapt and keep moving.…

April 16, 2025Musings

Sentimental Snapshot

Update on my Instagram contact that was interested in a print. Turns out they were only interested in a memento and not art. They were locked into getting a 12x12” image to match their current lineup of other 12x12 images. Plus, they wanted to have it printed there with the other images so they would match. So, they want to…

March 24, 2025architecture, Musings, Seattle

Musings

Quietly Ride off into the Sunset

Yes, setting up printers can be a pain, thou I don’t recall having much trouble with mine. But that that was 10 years ago and perhaps I have suppressed the painful memories. Every now and then my computer forgets the paper profiles in my system, and I have dink around and fix that, but otherwise no major printing problems. But…

March 4, 2025Musings

Landscapes Musings Seattle

They Just Present Themselves

I enjoy making my little iPhone pics. They are not grand themes or anything. They are just little moments in my travels, mostly from my walks. What’s interesting is that I can look at them and know almost exactly when and where I took them. I can almost remember the moment too. Because they are all immediate responses to something…

February 19, 2025Landscapes, Musings, Seattle

Uncategorized

Time to be Done

My career is perhaps easier to explain. When I left grad school, my goal was to teach, work with galleries with my personal work and do commercial assignments. It took me awhile to figure out you can’t do all 3 or at least all 3 well. Within 6 weeks of arriving in Seattle, I had a gallery, apart time teaching…

January 29, 2025Uncategorized

architecture Seattle

Weird But True

Handheld photography is very liberating. Being unencumbered with gear is great feeling. Responding to a moment is satisfying too. I had to use a tripod in much of my assignment work over the years and I always found it to be tedious and labor intensive. I am not steady of hand either, so I need to pick a fast shutter…

January 8, 2025architecture, Seattle

France Musings Paris Travels

See Paris One More Time

My year end assessments were pretty boring. An article popped up in the local newspaper asking readers to tell them how you’re feeling. I wanted to respond, thinking I might be an interesting demographic. I pondered it a lot on my walks. But I kept stumbling on their question, what’s on your mind? Your hopes, your plans, your goals, your…

January 8, 2025France, Musings, Paris, Travels

Celebrations Musings Travels

My Own Personal Belle Epoch

My archive does look organized, and to a certain extent it is. The film in the binders is more organized than the prints in the drawers and boxes. Open those up and there is an explosion of a visual cacophony. When I pull out binders to look at old contact sheets, it can be dangerous. What might start out as…

December 17, 2024Celebrations, Musings, Travels

Landscapes Musings Selfies

The Big Dark

It is that time of year when the beauty of the autumn gives way to what we call here the big dark. The time changes and the darkness descends early giving us a stark reminder that winter is on the way. The holidays provide a bit of a distraction but when the festivities end and the decorations all put away,…

December 3, 2024Landscapes, Musings, Selfies

Landscapes Musings

Turbulent skies

Not sure why this image showed up in my Facebook memories from 10 years ago. But I can't help but think it is a metaphor for our country right now. A vast distance from the fence on the right to the fence on the left. And turbulent skies in between. A colorless, barren landscape.

November 8, 2024Landscapes, Musings