Small Towns in Washington: Packwood

Packwood is an unincorporated community in eastern Lewis County, Washington. It is popular with tourists because of the proximity to Mounts Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens. Many travelers probably zip on by on US 12, but there are some oddly painted houses and shops along 12.

Maybe Bigfoot will pump gas and clean your windshield.

This is just a hint of the local architecture. The overcast light and drizzle helped make the colors stand out. I need to return and do another pass through town.

I took these pictures on Kodak Portra 160 film with my Pentax MG camera and a 50mm ƒ/2 Ricoh Rikenon lens. This is a 6-element double Gauss design, quite conventional for the 1980s. Some elements may be multicoated. This was a $25 lens that really surprised me. Some of these 1980s optics are fully functional and still remarkable bargains. Eventually, these bargains will run out.

The Leica IIIG in Oregon and Eastern Washington (May 2025) (Abandoned Films 13d).

We were restless after a very wet March in Olympia. It was time for a road trip. And I wanted to exercise my Leica IIIG camera and try Kodak T400CN film again. Some of these expired rolls have looked fine, but others have deteriorated. The rolls I used in Greece looked great. I should give up on this long-expired film forever, but thought I would try one last  roll. I loaded a roll in the IIIG for some of the great expanses of Washington state east of the Cascades (plus an overnight in The Dalles in Oregon). 

The Dalles, Oregon

The Dalles is a busy rail junction. But areas of this rail yard now have bare sections and unused tracks.  Still, an interesting place. The mill became a winery?

Waiting for a horse

Columbia Hills State Park

Cross the Columbia River, drive past Dallesport, and ascent a gravel road up into the Columbia Hills. In contrast to the forested mountains of the Columbia Gorge closer to Portland, these hills are in the rain shadow and are a dry terrain. The area is famous for wildflowers in early spring.

Dalles Mountain Ranch (50mm ƒ/1.8 Canon lens, yellow-green filter)

Farmland and the Palouse, Washington

Head east out of Richland, and you drive through miles and miles of beautiful rich farmland. As you continue east, you enter a land of hummocky low hills composed of loess (wind-blown silt). This is the Palouse. It encompasses parts of western Idaho and central east Washington. 

Rail junction, Roosevelt (Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8 thread-mount lens, orange filter)

Pasco-Kahlotus Road north of Pasco (50mm ƒ/2 Jupiter-8 lens)

Historic schoolhouse, Pasco-Kahlotus Road (Jupiter-8 lens)

Silo, Kahlotus (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter)

Grain terminal, Oaksdale (Jupiter-8 lens, yellow filter)

The Grain Train, Oaksdale

This roll of T400CN was thin, and once again, it may have been mis-development by Photoland at The Evergreen State College. I will not use their services ever again. This old T400CN is grainy, probably much more so than when it was fresh. But I still like the tonality, and the ICE scratch removal in my Nikon Coolscan 5000ED scanner is a great convenience. As a substitute, I can try Ilford XP2, which is the only C-41 black and white film still in production. 

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: the Duwamish Waterway and Port of Seattle, Washington (Sea 07)

The Duwamish Waterway (river) flows into Elliot Bay along the base of the glacial drumlin that forms West Seattle. The mouth of the Waterway has been extensively modified to create the Port of Seattle. The city created Harbor Island and the other terminals by dredging and filling over the last century. This is a busy commercial harbor with container and bulk terminals. But I was surprised to find that the city has been preserving small parks and wetlands in the industrial zone. And bicycle paths let you bike along large sections of the shore, passing through or around the commercial terminals.  

March 2, 2025, was not raining, a good day to drive to the city and explore the waterfront. It was a cloudy Pacific Northwest winter day, the sky was overcast, and the light was blue.  Click any photograph to see it at 2400 pixels wide.

Port of Seattle and Harbor Island shore, view east

Seattle from Jack Block Park viewing tower

Port of Seattle view north (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lens)

Terminal 5 from Jack Block Park, view south (55mm ƒ/1.8 SMC Takumar lens)

Terminal 5, view south

Don't eat the oysters; Duwamish Waterway view northeast towards Seattle

Duwamish Waterway and Ash Grove Cement Seattle Plant (35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens)

Duwamish Waterway from Harbor Island Marina with West Seattle Bridge in distance

Rail car, West Marginal Way (35mm ƒ/3.5 Super-Takumar lens)

Work barges, Kellogg Island, from həʔapus Village Park & Shoreline Habitat (135mm ƒ/3.5 SMC Takumar lens) 

Bicycle club members

I met these gents in the viewing tower at Jack Block Park. They had biked all the way from Lake Union along the Seattle waterfront. They belonged to a club and were in their 70s and 80s. Two of them had ridden through the new Rte 99 tunnel (under the waterfront) on the official opening day when it was open for bicycles.

I took these pictures with my Pentax Spotmatic F camera on Kodak Ektar 100 film, exposed at EI=64. This is a high contrast color negative film, which I find it hard to use. The scans from my Nikon Coolscan 500 ED scanner had too much blue. I used skylight filters on the lenses, but an even warmer filter, like an 81B or 81C would have helped. I corrected the colors as well as I could with the neutral grey dropper tool in Photoshop 6. 

This is Seattle article no. 07.

Seattle with my $13.50 Canonet (Sea 06)

Reflx Lab light meter

Some appointments took me to Seattle in early April. My intent was to take the Amtrak to King Street Station and then use one of the Lime rental bicycles. But rain was predicted, so I left my helmet at home. Well, as per typical Puget Sound weather, rain was falling in Olympia, but Seattle was sunny. 

OK, time to walk and try one of the Seattle Stairway Walks, the one from City Hall to Pike Place. Plus, it was another opportunity to test my $13.50 Canonet Camera. It is equipped with a 40mm ƒ/1.7 lens, a remarkably capable 6-element double-Gauss design, single coated. 

Because the camera's built-in light meter no longer works, I used a small meter that fits into the flash shoe. Mine is a model from Reflx Lab. At least ten electronics companies in China make compact light meters to attach to vintage cameras. They appear to be very accurate when used the right way (i.e., point them at the appropriate subject). This Reflx model has one of the larger fonts in its display, perfect for my vision.

King Street Station Area

Amtrak at the King Street Station

The Amtrak is only $14.50 from Olympia to Seattle (as of spring 2025). It saves you from the constant Interstate 5 traffic congestion at Joint Base Lewis–McChord. But the train is often delayed, so accommodate your schedule.

South Jackson Street at 4th Avenue

Parking garage, 400 4th Avenue

Business District

Seattle City Hall steps

Seattle's "green" City Hall is located between 4th and 5th Avenues. These impressive steps are part of the Stairway Walk. A stream gurgles down the left side of the steps. An employee inside told me that the fountain had just been restarted the day before. 

The 1914 Arctic Club Building with terra cotta walrus sculptures 

3rd Avenue view south (with a grumpy bus)

Federal Building steps leading to 1st Avenue

1224 1st Avenue

Pike Place

Public Market entrance from Pike Place

Vendor, main floor, Pike Place Market

Mmmm, nothing better than good ice cream

Lunch means Cioppino (Samsung digital file)

Maybe a hearty Cioppino in the market is better than ice cream. Maybe? 

Belltown

Waiting for riders on Pine Street

4th Avenue view south

By about 1 pm, the rain really started coming down. I took the trolley to Lake Union, completed my appointment, and returned to King Street station for the ride home. 

I took these pictures on April 7, 2025, using Kodak Portra 160 film, exposed at EI=100. I scanned the negatives with a Nikon Coolscan 5000 film scanner run by NikonScan software on a Windows 7 computer. 

Update: the Canonet has been overhauled and cleaned at Zacks Camera Repair in Providence, RI. I am awaiting its return home.