Autumn in Olympia (Oly 27)

 

It is spring of 2026 in Olympia, and an amazing profusion of flowers and leaves are bursting forth. What a spectacular display of nature. But wait, how did winter zip by so quickly? And what about autumn? I did wander around in November and December of 2025. Therefore, Dear Readers, this time I will impose on you some "pretty" pictures. Enjoy the colors and patterns. 

 

Olympia

  

Percival Landing, Nov. 11, 2025

Rail line under Interstate 5, off Henderson Park Lane, Nov. 15, 2025 

(Zeiss Ikon ZM, 21mm ƒ/4,5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

View SW towards tunnel under Capitol Blvd. SE (90 mm ƒ/4 Elmar-M lens)

Along the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

Sunset from my balcony, East Bay Drive NE (50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Former Reliable Steel shed, West Bay Drive (21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

 

Tumwater

 

Capitol Blvd. SE (historic Route 99), view north (50mm Summicron lens) 

Former Olympia Beer brewery (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens at ƒ/8)

 

The buildings that formerly housed the Olympia Beer ("It's the Water") brewery remain unused, an eyesore. The grounds are patrolled by a security guard. He and I wave to each other when I set up my tripod on the Capitol Blvd. bridge.

 

Seattle

 

Shed next to Connections Museum, Corson Avenue, Seattle

East Marginal Way South, view south (50mm Summicron lens)

In autumn, even East Marginal Way does not look too bad. Cancel that; it still looks very industrial and grungy.

I took these pictures with Kodak Ektar 100 film exposed at EI=80 using my Zeiss Ikon ZM camera with various lenses. The view of the Olympia brewery was with my 1962 50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens from the Soviet Union. This is a Sonnar type of optic that is usually acclaimed as a portrait lens because of its pleasing signature. But stopped down to ƒ/5.6 or ƒ/8, my copy does exceptionally well with distant subjects.  

Northeast Photographic in Bath, Maine, developed the film and scanned it with a Noritsu system. The Noritsu colors tend to look very warm, and I adjusted color with Photoshop Elements 2024.

 

Zeiss Ikon ZM rangefinder camera with 21mm ƒ/4.5 C-Biogon ZM lens

 

NO KINGS! Olympia, Washington, March 28, 2026 (Oly 26)

 

Washington State Capitol

On Saturday, March 28, 2026, angry Americans rallied at more that 3,300 NO KINGS protests around the USA and in many foreign countries. More and more people are disgusted by the nation's shift to kleptocracy, corruption, authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, and governmental incompetence. 

NO KINGS protesters gathered at the Washington Capitol Campus starting about 10:30. I biked to the campus and walked around. People were peaceful - no fire bombs or good stuff today. I loved the creativity of the signs. People in the following photographs gave me permission to take their pictures.  

Many (most?) of the signs were oriented to US politics, diversity, the excesses of ICE, and the rights of all humans. I saw some protests against the war in Iran. Oddly, I did not see any Ukraine or Gaza signs, but I may have missed them. Possibly most people here have moved on. 

 

Yup, same old s***. They could have added Mao Zedong's octagonal cap.

Ah, the wheel of corruption

Who is a puppet? Not me.....

Ferocious mountain dog is sick of all the doodoo, too

Time to wee - this one was seemed appropriate

More and more of these Handmaids are appearing at protests. 

 

These ladies are an allegory of a dystopian totalitarian America, where fertile women become the baby-making slaves for the leaders. The television series was based on the 1985 novel, The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. Women vote? Not in that brave new America.

I took these pictures with my Fuji X-E1 digital camera with the 18-55mm lens. I set the jpeg emulation for Astia film. The output is colorful and "sharp," but definitely looks digital. There is no character. 

This is an old camera on digital terms. I am sure it does not have enough megapixels, bokeh, or equivalence (bogus concept among D shooters), but it works well. It has been to Burma, Cuba, Hong Kong, the Colorado River, Columbia, Nepal, Greece, and more, and it keeps truckin' along.

Next week, we will continue on the 1950 Grand Tour around the world in Kodachrome slides.

Mid-Century: The General Administration Building of Olympia, Washington (Oly 25)

The now-empty 1956 General Administration Building is a significant International Style building on the Washington Capitol Campus in Olympia. According to the nomination for the National Register of Historic Places,  

The building is also historically significant…as an intact example of Modern architecture in Olympia, Washington. The building was designed by prominent Tacoma architect, A. Gordon Lumm, in the International style distinctive for its horizontal cubical form and spare ornamentation. Its exterior minimalist appearance and interior architectural flexibility, including movable aluminum wall panels, demonstrate a growing aesthetic for modular space able to easily accommodate changing space and technology requirements. In this case, a building that needed to serve a diversity of state agencies housed in one structure. 

The building has been unoccupied since 2018 for many reasons. The wiring, plumbing, and structure no longer meet building codes. And more important, it is not seismically stable. During the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake (M_w = 6.8), the building developed cracks, and some employees refused to enter it. It was not built to modern seismic standards and is close to the bluff overlooking Capitol Lake. Considerable liquefaction occurred during the earthquake along Deschutes Parkway and at the southern end of the lake.  

The state determined that it was not cost effective to renovate the GA building and would demolish it, despite its architectural significance. As of this writing (January 2026), no work has started. For now, the state plans to replace it with a parking lot and toilet (yes, really!). Eventually, a new executive office complex may be built on the site. But will they save the toilet?

Poor George has mildew, Nov. 19, 2025 
(Fuji Acros II film, Pentax 28mm ƒ/3.5 shift lens, yellow filter) 

2024 view from Columbia Street SW (Leica M2, 21mm ƒ/4.5 Zeiss Biogon-C lens)

Compared to some mid-century architecture that I have seen, this one does not look bad to me. The eye is drawn horizontally along the windows and the concrete panels with the corrugated pattern running sideways. I prefer this to most 1960s brutalism concrete buildings. 

Visitors during the No Kings protest (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

These two photographs are from the east side of the building from Columbia Street SW. I used Panatomic-X film in my Hasselblad 501CM camera with the 40mm ƒ/4 CFE FLE lens, tripod-mounted.

The building is closed, but I took two interior views by placing my Samsung phone against rather dirty windows. I like the tubular lights in the 2nd picture above.

Status: Unknown. I will monitor progress.

Update May 6, 2026:  A tractor is crunching part of the north side. Demolition is underway.  

On the Waterfront: Harbor Days in Olympia (Oly 24)

Dear Readers, Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2026 is prosperous and healthy, and thank you for reading along.

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Olympia really likes its waterfront! Harbor Days is a three-day festival of boats, food, children's' activities, sunshine, and antique tugboat races. A good time is had by all. Here are some pictures from the 2024 festival.

Percival Landing, Olympia (Tri-X 400 film, Rolleiflex 3.5E camera)

WWII era tug Commanche (the large vessel)

The Comanche is a sturdy old World War II navy tug, launched in 1943. I want onboard before the start of Harbor Days and spent an hour listening to two former crewmen relate stories. She is owned by the Comanche 202 Foundation in Tacoma. I do not know how far around Puget Sound she travels. This old-timer needs a lot of maintenance and overhauling. When young, she was powerful enough to tow aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean.

Where is the concert? (Fuji X-E1 digital file)

Lego artists of budding marine engineers

The commercial part of the Port of Olympia offered short tours for the public. Normally, the Port is a restricted area, so a guided tour promised to be very interesting. It was! The Port of Olympia's most common cargo now is lumber. Huge logs come into town on 18-wheeler trucks. They are sorted and labeled at the port and then loaded onto freighters. Most go to Japan and Korea. Every log has a label indicating its quality. Rarely, a cattle freighter takes cows to Vietnam. 

Machine for unloading logs from trucks

Serious forklift

Shuttlewagon - runs on rails and pavement

I took these photographs with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Xenotar lens (5-element version) on Kodak Tri-X 400 film. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner operated by Silverfast software on a Windows 7 computer. I cleaned chemical blobs and dust with Photoshop CS6.

The Leica IIIC Explores Olympia with Ektar 100 Film (Oly 23)

It was time to exercise my 1950 Leica IIIC camera. An overcast morning in May of 2025 provided perfect soft light for Kodak Ektar 100 film. I have found the Ektar to be a bit garish in bright sun, but in overcast, it brings out the colors. Also, my mid-century 50mm Summitar and Jupiter-8 lenses are lower contrast than modern multicoated optics. In gloomy light, the Ektar tends to look blue through the Summitar, so when I scan it, I pull down the blue curve a small amount. 

Gull Harbor Road

I met the gent who owns this funny little electric car. It is a post-1979 Comuta-Car. Sebring, Florida–based Sebring-Vanguard made the original CitiCar from 1974-1977. Commuter Vehicles from California bought the design and manufactured the Comuta-Car from 1979 to 1982. Eight 6-volt lead-acid batteries supply power for the electric motor. The fellow said his purple car does run.

I think Toyota manufactured this little Chevrolet. It did not look too derelict. 

46th Avenue Northeast

Bigfoot is awaiting

This is a nice traditional wood barn. But beyond it is a modern steel building. I like the textures and patina of wood. I might have photographed the elusive Bigfoot.

Shinckle Road Northeast

The little coffee stand at 3525 Shinckle Road has been unused since at least 2022. It was originally on this lot because the street address on the door is correct. The A-frame house has a lot of roof area. This type of design works well in a locations with heavy snowfall, but that does not apply to Olympia.

Lilly Road

Hmmm, I could clean off the mildew and convert this bus into a camper. 

Slightly rough house, Lilly Road

West Bay Drive

Detroit iron in storage shed near Tugboat Annie's Restaurant

Kiddie car at warehouse

Tech Note

I took these photographs on Kodak Ektar 100 film with my Leica IIIC camera and a 5cm ƒ/2.0 Leitz Summitar lens. This is a 7-element coated lens designed before WWII. This lens is a rare one with no haze or scratches in the coating. The camera and lens have been to four five continents and served the family for 75 years. How many other consumer goods can claim such a service life? I measured light with a Sekonic L318 light meter.

Leica IIIC and 5cm Summitar lens in extended position.
The large front glass is known for having a soft coating, but this one is still pristine.

Issue: When I used this Summitar lens on a Leica IIIG camera, the resolution was distinctly better than when mounted on my old IIIC. Also, the right side of each frame is out of focus. It is difficult to see the problem on the scale of internet display. Something is amiss with the lens mount. Some technician a long time ago may have lost some shims, and the mount is not quite correct. But it could take a lot of labor to get it right, so this IIIC will become a glass case display. I have more than enough 35mm cameras to keep me occupied. And I can use the Summitar lens on the more modern Leica M bodies.