I was in Seattle for 5 days last week for ‘work’. The weather was gorgeous and sunny. Clear skies and highs in the 80′s. From what I hear that is uncharacteristic of Seattle weather. And even though I didn’t run into Eddie Vedder at a Starbucks as planned, it was a pretty fulfilling trip.
REI asked if I could help them create a video showing the benefits of joining their co-op. The challenge was to create something great in a narrow time frame and I think we succeeded. Most of the filming I did was at the flagship store located in the heart of the city. It’s a pretty amazing store with a really cool pinnacle enclosed in a glass atrium. Outside they had a waterfall and bike trails around the store.
Filming in the store was challenging because of the sound issues and the mixture of sunlight and incandescent light created a lot of color issues. For those who don’t know, outside light often looks blue if not correctly balanced in the camera. However, if you correct for the window light, then everything inside looks weird. So it’s best to stick with one or the other in your frame if you don’t have any lights or gels to adjust the light. It was run and gun style filming armed with my Panasonic Af-100. I was a one-man band so I didn’t have the luxury of lighting. Besides we were interviewing the staff and REI members on the spot, so lighting would have just been silly.
At the end of each film-day, I was fortunate to have Tom, the photo manager at REI, show me the sights around the city. For those who have been on business trips, you can appreciate having someone help you get out of the hotel and check out the city in which you are staying. We drove around through the cool neighborhoods, past the landmarks and walked the urban trails. What an incredible city! Loved the houseboats along the water. When I was a kid, I read a book about a family living in a houseboat and thought that seemed like the way to go. We saw the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat, and an interesting dirt sculpture under a bridge.
Mainly I just liked the vibe of the city. I got to see see my first drawbridge go up! We got a fantastic view looking straight up at it from the waterfront trail. I can’t believe I have never seen a draw bridge go up. I was geeking out about it. The concept of a drawbridge, the fact that someone thought of that, is fascinating to me.
We walked over to the photogenic Gas Works:
which provided an amazing view of the skyline at night:
Tom at one point suggested we try some of the famous Seattle salmon. I felt bad telling him that I don’t care for salmon. Later he suggested some of the best sushi, and I told him that I don’t like sushi. When I told him I didn’t like coffee, I felt about as popular as Ozzy Osbourne at the Alamo. In an effort to save face and show some Seattle love, I told him that I like grunge music. But I think we missed that opportunity by about 10 years…
One of the highlights of the trip was driving outside of the city to the gorgeous mountains. We went to an area known as, “Exit 38″ and interviewed some rock climbers. The weather was fantastic and everyone was out in droves. Every time the topic of weather came up with the locals, they sighed and got long faced at the thought of the long, grey winter. It made me understand why all the Seattle grunge music was about being down and out. It also made me understand why none of the grunge guys wore pink spandex like their LA predecessors. In this climate, only flannel will do.