On the Waterfront: Port of Tacoma, Washington (Tac 05)

I like Tacoma more and more. There is so much interesting photographic material there. On an overcast day in September (2025), I drove to the Port of Tacoma with my Hasselblad and Kodak Panatomic-X film (yes, the real Panatomic-X). We will start with two photographs from the Foss Waterway and move east into the more industrial part of the port. 

Foss Waterway

Foss Waterway and East 21st Street Bridge and Tacoma Dome (Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar lens)

The Foss Waterway is the channel closest to downtown Tacoma. Because of its proximity to the city, most people only see this waterway, not the ones in the industrial port further east. There is less industrial activity on the Thea Foss now than 20 and 30 years ago, and marinas occupy some of the channel. More photos of the Foss Waterway are in my 2024 article.

Foss Waterway and Murray Morgan Memorial Bridge
(Kodak T400CN film, Leitz 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens, yellow filter) 

Port of Tacoma

Heavy lift cranes, Lower Turning Basin (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Former boat yard launch rails, view looking northwest to Commencement Bay
(80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, yellow filter)

Alexander Avenue E at E 11th Street
(250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

Tank cars, Alexander Avenue E, view northwest
(250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

Cranes from Lincoln Avenue (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Landscape Bark Company, Lincoln Avenue (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Landscape Bark Company, Lincoln Avenue (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

This company crushes and grinds a lot of bark. It was Sunday, so I could set up my tripod on the sidewalk in front of the property.

Standby for more Tacoma waterfront and industrial in the future.

Tech Note

This is my 1960s Carl Zeiss 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar-C lens. It compresses the view, as you see in some of the photographs above. This was one of my most amazing bargains: $87 for a magnificent piece of West German mechanical and optical engineering. This is a 1960s single-coated version with chrome barrel. It uses Bay 50 filters, which are inexpensive now compared to the Bay 60 filters that fit most of the newer Hasselblad lenses. 

Even the shutter on my bargain lens did not need an overhaul. The slowest speeds are probably a bit slow, but it barely affects exposures (i.e., 1 sec. may be 1.5 sec. - so what?). When using this lens, I always mount the camera on a tripod. With Panatomic-X film, the exposures are in the 1/4 or 1/2 sec. range.  

Silos and Farms of Eastern Washington with Panatomic-X film (2024 E. WA Road Trip 08)

I love the grain silos that you see in small towns and railroad junctions in Eastern Washington. They look lonely but still substantial, surviving weather, storms, and the summer sun, year after year. Here are some Kodak Panatomic-X frames from my August 2024 road trip. Please click any picture to see more detail.

Kettle Falls

Silo, Meyers Street, Kettle Falls (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens, dark yellow filter) 

Lonely rails (100 mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Kettle Falls is a small town just east of the Columbia River only 15 miles south of the Canadian border. The original town was at the banks of the river but had to move after the Grand Coulee Dam flooded the original Kettle waterfalls in the 1940s. This is a major railroad junction. I had crossed the Columbia on US 395 at Barney's Junction and stopped in town for lunch, coffee, petrol, and photos. 

Reardan

Reardan is an agricultural town on US 2 about 20 miles west of Spokane. I drove on 2 specifically to avoid using Interstate 90, and enjoyed passing through farm communities and small towns. These silos look up above the surrounding terrain as you drive on US 2 through Reardan. 

Creston

Creston is another agricultural town on US 2. I took this picture just west of Scheibner Road (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Sherman

Sherman Presbyterian Church (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Sherman, established in 1888, lost population and largely closed early in the 20th century. All that remains is the handsome white Sherman Presbyterian Church sitting lonely next to the cemetery. The cemetery has graves of early settlers and even a civil war veteran. 

To reach Sherman, take Sherman Draw Road north from US 2. It is about half way between Creston and Wilbur. Much of the road is gravel and, in August, rather dusty. 

Wilbur

This lonely farm is north of US 2 just west of Wilbur. The driveway drops down from the main road and gives a good vantage point to see the house and barns. A color frame of this scene is in my previous post about central Washington. I took the B&W picture above with my 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens. It is sad that the family that once ran this household has moved away. Are they happier in the city or somewhere else? 

Govan

Govan East rail junction (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Govan is another Washington ghost town where little remains. There are some farms in the area and a few modern homes.

Abandoned Govan schoolhouse
(Portra 160 film converted to B&W with DxO Filmpack 5 software)

 

This lonely school building appears in many web pages that show ghost towns of Washington.

This ends our short tour of eastern Washington farm fields and silos. There is plenty more to explore. 

I took most of the pictures above on Kodak Panatomic-X film with my Hasselblad 50iCM camera and various lenses. All were tripod-mounted. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner controlled by Silverfast software. 

Back to the West: Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and Grays Harbor, Washington (2024)

Aberdeen and Hoquiam are interesting old cities near Grays Harbor, Washington. They offer some of the topics that I like to photograph. Here are some more summer 2024 examples.

Aberdeen

No more free WiFi here, West Wishkah Street (Hasselblad 501CM camera, 100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Fixer-upper motel, West Wishkah Street

Rental cottages, Sumner Avenue

Northern Pacific Railroad swing bridge over the Wishkah River 

View of South F Street under the Northern Pacific Railroad swing bridge (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

Hoquiam

Tug, Hoquiam River (50mm Distagon lens, yellow filter)

Lift bridge, Hoquiam River (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens, yellow filter)

Grayland

Pump house at cranberry farm, Cranberry Road, Grayland (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB, 1/8 sec. ƒ/11.5, yellow filter)

Patrol chicken, Evergreen Park Road, Grayland (40mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

This ends this short trip to towns near Grays Harbor. There is more to see - time to return and explore some more.

I took these photographs on Kodak Panatomic-X film (expired 1989) using my Hasselblad 501CM camera and various lenses. All were tripod-mounted. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta ScanMulti film scanner.

On the Waterfront, Raymond, Washington (2024)

Raymond is on an estuary of the Willapa River near South Bend in Pacific County, Washington. Much of the city was built on piles on the tidelands. Like many rural Washington cities, it was originally a lumber mill town with adjacent farming in the river valley. Early in the 20th century, the city was bustling with lumber mills and freshly cut logs trains. Ocean-going ships took lumber to distant ports. Like many Pacific Northwest towns, the Great Depression devastated the local economy. The economy revived during World War II and during the post-war housing construction boom. Logging began to diminish in the 1970s, and the town fell on hard times. Today, it is part of the Evergreen Coast and has partly reformed itself as a tourist and museum town.

Willapa River (Kodak Panatomic-X film, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, dark yellow filter)

Weyerhaeuser Raymond Sawmill (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, yellow-green filter)

Raymond Trestle swing bridge, Willapa River (40mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Detail, railroad swing bridge (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens)

The Raymond trestle is another example of the impressive engineering that railroads achieved early in the 20th century. The control house was wood and has partly collapsed. The bridge is part of the Willapa Hills Trail, but the trail needs to divert through town instead of cross the river here. 

Stan Hatfield South Fork Industrial Park (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Stan Hatfield South Fork Industrial Park

The Port of Willapa Bay runs several industrial parks with buildings rented to tenants. I do not know what this machinery once did.

Commercial Street, Raymond 

I plan to return to Raymond and look around some more. It is revitalizing, but there is old architecture and housing that I want to photograph.

The 2024 photographs are from Kodak Panatomic-X film and my Hasselblad 501CM camera. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film in Xtol.

Trains Through Chehalis, Washington

Chehalis is the County Seat of Lewis County, Washington. It is south of Centralia and is overshadowed economically by the larger city. But Chehalis has a well-preserved downtown with late 1800s and early 20th century buildings. It was primarily a logging and railroad town in the late 1800s.  It also hosts the BNSF rail line, which cuts right through the center of town. 

Thundering through, get out of the way! (West Main Street, March 23, 2024, Panatomic-X film, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, yellow filter)

These enormous freight trains come thundering through town. The lights flash at the West Main Street crossing, the barrier arms swing down, and you wait. The ground starts to vibrate, and these trains roar through at 40? 50? 60 miles per hour?

Track debris

Milky Way dairy transportation company

Milky Way is the largest milk hauling company in the Pacific Northwest. One of their terminals is right next to the rail line off West Main Street.

DrinkAMugAMilkAMeal (Samsung mobile phone photo converted to black and white)

Line off Prindle Street (250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens, dark yellow filter)

Chehalis is a nice little town. The Willapa Hills bicycle trail starts here and continues west to Pe Ell. Eventually, it will be graded and paved all the way to Raymond. I need to explore Chehalis in more detail.

I took most of the photographs with a Hasselblad 501CM camera using Kodak Panatomic-X film, all frames tripod-mounted. 

Exploring Centralia, Washington

Centralia is a city in western Washington in Lewis County, about 25 miles south of Olympia. It was founded in 1850 by J. G. and Anna Cochran, who came via the Oregon Trail with their adopted son, George Washington, a free African-American. The town boomed in the early 1880s with the Northern Pacific Railroad building a rail line through the valley. From Wikipedia,

Founded as a railroad town, Centralia's economy was originally dependent on such industries as railroads and timber as well as coal and agriculture. At one time, five railroad lines crossed in Centralia, including the Union Pacific Railroad, Northern Pacific Railway, Milwaukee Road, Great Northern Railroad and a short line.

BNSF Rail Yard

Today, the BNSF's mainline tracks run just east of downtown Centralia. The switching yard was not too active on a sunny day in June (2024), but I stopped for a few photographs.

Better not stand here. Centralia BNSF rail yard (100mm ƒ/3.5 Planar lens) 

Centralia BNSF rail yard view south (100mm Planar lens)

Warehouse, East Hansen Street, Centralia

Alley off East Hansen Street

A Few Around Town

Time for lunch at Aceituno's, Harrison Avenue

Track off West First Street

Bowling parlor, now apartments, North Tower Avenue

Christmas was fun, North Pearl Street

Centralia is interesting, and there is plenty worthy of more exploring. I recall visiting my roommate's family somewhere in town in 1974 or 1975, but have no idea where they lived. Centralia was a worker/logging/mining town then (it looked rather rough), but I was young and not inspired by urban decay. 

The black and white photographs above are Kodak Panatomic-X film via my Hasselblad 501CM camera. The color frames are expired Kodak Gold 100 film, exposed at EI=64 in my Leica M2. The Gold was much grainier and less vibrant than when fresh. But the 35-year-old Panatomic-X film is perfect. Amazing!

Into the Woods Again: Squaxin Park in the Snow (Oly 13)

Near the Squaxin Park trailhead (off Flora Vista Dr NE) 

It is summer in Olympia. The days can be hot (90º deg. F), but the nights are cool. Compared to previous homes in Vicksburg, Houston, Athens, Karachi, and Rangoon, summer here is a delight. Still, let's cool off with some memories of the February 25 snowfall. This was the second snow of the 2023-2024 winter, and it was too good to resist. I drove to Squaxin (formerly Priest Point) Park with my tripod and Hasselblad and broke out a roll of Kodak's famous Panatomic-X. It is a slow film (EI = 25) and may not be the best choice for a gloomy afternoon under dense trees, but with a tripod, you can use as slow as shutter speed as needed. Most of these snow scenes were ½ or 1 second exposures. (Warning: no urban decay here, just "pretty" pictures.)

Looks like a furry chapeau on a stump

Heading home, time for a coffee

The Hasselblad works reasonably well in cold weather. I can use the controls with thin gloves. Loading a film back in the snow would be frustrating, so if in doubt, load a spare one in advance. For the pictures above, I used 50mm, 80mm, and 100mm Zeiss lenses, all with no filters. Praus Productions in Rochester, New York, developed the film.

I hope you all enjoyed this quick visit to winter.