When I woke up this morning I knew exactly what I was going to photograph today and what I would post tonight. I knew, as last night I dreamt about the Smith Tower in Seattle. How sad is that! I no longer dream about – well the things I used to dream about, no, now I dream about 98 year old buildings (tragic!)
So despite the rain (and the fact that the 520 bridge is closed all weekend), I drove to downtown Seattle to shoot the tower.
Getting into the city wasn’t too bad, getting home was another thing altogether – took me over an hour as the I90 was the only way to cross Lake Washington and everyone wanted to go to the East Side with me.
Anyway I digress. When I arrived in Seattle the rain had stopped so I parked up in the Yesler car park, jumped out of the car and started shooting.
I love this building it’s very cool. It was built in 1914 and is 38 stories high (489 feet). Until 1931 it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River (when the Kansas City Power & Lighting building went up) and the Smith Tower remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle was built in 1962.
You can still go up the building today to the observation deck and I really recommend visiting if you get the chance. For one thing the elevator ride is worth the visit alone. The building has one of the last operator-controlled elevators on the west coast. The building’s interior is very ornate with the gold ceilings, polished brass everywhere and woodcarvings on the walls – really nice.
I had an image in mind, but still walked all round the building trying lots of different views. In the end the picture I liked the most was taken from 1st Ave looking up Yesler towards the tower.
I decided to post the image in black and white (well sepia really) as I think the Tower has that “old building” feel and looks great in this kind of image.
I have to say I’m really pleased with the end result; the image looks great and is exactly what I wanted.
Carter went for a swim tonight, he was a little scared as he watched Jaws this afternoon. Of course there was nothing to be worried about, I mean what could possibly hurt you in a fish tank?
