zachary pfriem

Oktoberfest ended up being quite a wet one this year. After quickly finishing my 8 tokens on not-to-impressive beers, we decided it was a good idea to retreat. Meeting some friends at the Triangle we ended up having a pretty good night just hanging out, eventually heading to the George and Dragon to finish the night.

This was the first Oktoberfest that did not have the sun shining on me, and definitely the first that the sun was replaced with rain. Autumn, however, it is my favorite season. I welcome the constant changes throughout the two to three month stretch of time. The leaves, the smells, the fresh mountain like air, clean streets, open spaces on the bike rack of the bus, cozy afternoons with coffee in hand and loved ones engaged in quiet household dialog, concerts, harvest moons, halloween, thanksgiving, and the seasonal beers.

More photos at flickr, HERE

Went fishing and crabbing with Dad recently and decided to bring along my Holga, my most neglected camera in the bunch, I am fairly happy with the results:

Lumix DMC-LX2 iso400 my apartment seattle wa

maybe I should try being less of an ass around this time of year. I know red wine helps with this, as does candle light and good music. cheers.

I finally managed to scan in my negatives from my summer trip to Thailand and Cambodia. Out of four rolls (36 exp. each) I came out with ten frames that impressed me. The photo shop that I have been using ever since I started taking up photography as a hobby has finally switched from chemical printing to digital, what does this mean? It means that they have destroyed the only reason to continue shooting with Black and White film (versus digital). The reason in continuing to shoot film for my black and white compositions is that the only way you can get true greyscale to print is through the chemical process, when you print digitally it uses the CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) 4 band process, when the printer sees grey it combines the right amount of the four colors to acheive the grey tone. The end result ends up being either “cool” or “warm,” cool having a bluish tint/fringing and warm having a pinkish tint/fringing.

With this I have decided that I will begin developing my own film, and scanning my negatives. When I find a photo I think is print worthy, I will take it to one of the few B&W labs in Seattle and have it hand printed. At least until I have the space to set up my own darkroom.

With that, I bring you my 10 photos from my trip that I hold in high regard, with comments and location:

PHOTO #1

Giant demon statue in the courtyard of the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. I found this giant statue intriguing, in order to capture its grandure I used my 135mm lens from below the statue looking up.

PHOTO #2

Demon statue in the courtyard of the temple Wat U Mong (Thera Jan) on the outskirts of Chiangmai, Thailand. I was very happy to find this photo came out as well as it did, the light was very low, my shutter must have been at 1/15 of a second, still hands indeed. This photos detail makes it a good composition, in my opinion, notice the spider webs connecting the chin to the shoulder. I love the greyscale.

PHOTO #3

Corner of a prison cell at the Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This French colonial school was turned into a processing prison for all prisoners of the Khmer Rouge. Thousands of people were brutally slaughtered here. The blood stains on the floor are a constant reminder of this. I couldn’t find words while visiting this place.

PHOTO #4

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Eerie, the only source of light in the stairwell.

PHOTO #5

Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Wider shot of the jail cell/torture room.

PHOTO #6

Looking across the moat to the Bayon Temple outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia, my favorite temple of them all, if I had to choose one.

PHOTO #7

Temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. The Khmer people had no system of measurement when they built these temples, only line of sight.

PHOTO #8

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Apsaras carved into a pillar.

PHOTO #9

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Small girl in the courtyard of Ta Prohm. She, like so many other children, was selling goods to help her family. People in Cambodia are so kind, it is completely unfair that they have to suffer so much hardship.

PHOTO #10

More temple trekking outside of Siem Riep, Cambodia. Ta Prohm, the jungle temple. All of the temples used to look as this one until restoration started. The trees are destroying these ancient structures. This is the temple that was used in Tomb Raider, the film.

With my changing of jobs I wanted to get out of civilization and reflect my recent decisions and life changes. I figured that the hiking season is quickly coming to a close, and therefore found a hike that would challenging as well as rewarding. Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm starts at 3600 feet above sea level, to get here you must drive for approximately 2.5 hours. Julie and I awoke at 5:30am to leave the house at 6:30am. We arrived at the parking lot of the hike a little before 10:00am, getting onto the trail a bit later. The trail begins with 35 switchbacks, gaining 1800 feet in about 3.7 miles. This portion of the hike was a easy walk through the woods. I was able to try out some new boots and a new day pack, both of which I am now very happy I purchased. Juile and I were able to talk with no interuptions for this length of the hike as we only came across one other couple near the 3.5 mile mark, they were heading back down, so it was a simple “Hello” greet, and then alone once again at 5400 feet, surrounded by what are nicknamed the Pacific Alps, rightfully so. To see these gods of the sky is amazing, and really makes you consider your insignifigance in the world, esspecially how temporary and fragile you are.

Looking out to Cascade Pass at 3.7 miles in and 5400 feet above sea level.

Julie and I were definitely not ready to turn around at this point and decided to climb the treacherous 700 foot gain in 0.75 mile to the begining of Sahale Arm. This was definitely a bit of a challenge, it was nearly a vertical ascent. At the top, with sore feet, Julie and I gazed upon Doubtful Lake, 800 feet below, like a hidden gem in heaven. We had our lunch here. Bagel sandwiches and apple slices. At this point Julie’s feet were really starting to kill her. With her bunion, and the beginning of blisters, she wasn’t too happy.

Looking out to the East towards Doubtful Lake at 5 miles in and 7400 feet above sea level.

We went about a mile further up the arm when Julie was ready to head back, we took a short break for some more photos of Doubtfull Lake and the Glacier we were going to visit, and turned back. The traverse back was definitely atest on my bad knees, as it was all downhill, but I was happy to feel a bit of pain, made me feel a bit more human.

Julie and I happy in the heavens.

We saw a family of ptarmigans, who were very well hidden, enough so that none of my photos came out. There were alot more people on the trail on our way back, even when we arrived at the parking lot, there were people leaving just then! This was at 4:00pm, our trip took 6 hours round trip. Those people must have had an interesting hike back in the dark.

View all the photos here.

I have finally developed and selected my best photos from Bumbershoot. Here are a few that I think have some exceptional quality about them.

Dengue Fever

One of the hightlights of the day. Dengue fever was awesome! They actually invited a large group of Khmer girls on stage to sing with them.

Common Market

Put on a great show, lots of energy, huge crowd, and Kid Sensation came out on stage, that was kind of wierd.

Zero 7

One of the best shows I have ever seen. It was amazing to watch them reproduce such a complex electronic act live! If you ever get a chance to see these guys, make sure you do.