The Kress Gallery experience

The Kress Gallery experience 

The 14 members of the photography team for the National Trust for Historic Preservation have been working on the 2012 project for NTHP for a full year.  These photographers have donated images to the local organizers for the 2012 national NTHP conference which is to be held in our own community of Spokane.  Spokane is actually the smallest community to have ever gotten this event for their City.  At this point, well over 1000 images/photos have been provided for the conference committee. 

I have had a great time working with many of these photographers, although for the first time it was the KRESS Gallery event that got all of us together in one spot.  

The KRESS Gallery event had been discussed by many of the local organizers for many months, and to our good fortune, it was the KRESS Gallery who agreed to host all of the photographers and to allow each photog to display some of their photos with prints on the walls of the KRESS.  The event at the KRESS was to be held in conjunction with First Friday, and it was a perfect event to be scheduled on the monthly First Friday event schedule.

The following photogs and team members contributed to the NTHP project and all displayed at the KRESS Gallery (KRESS Gallery display remains until March 27^th).  

NTHP Roof rat night shooters (on dwtn rooftops).

John Moore

Josh Burdick

Chris Thompson

Paddy Hoy

NTHP Team members

Barbara Murray

Rob Chiappe

Todd Conley

Dean Huggins

Herman Marchetti

Jeff Schindler

Eric Strate

Juli lynch

Pat Schilling

The Gallery event at the KRESS Gallery was an unbelievable success.  At least 150 people would cycle in and out of the Gallery every half hour, and by the end of the evening there were thousands, easily.  Recognizing these very good technical photographers for a year’s worth of work was an absolutely terrific evening.  

The Spokesman Review published an article in the newspaper about this event on Friday March second, the same day as the Gallery event was to take place.  I’d like to think that this publicity helped get hundreds of people to speak with the NTHP photographers and inspect the images of our community in Spokane.

What a fantastic evening, at a fantastic venue, with thirteen super photographers and friends.  

None of this would have been possible without the work of Jennifer McWilliams from the City Preservation office.  Jennifer and I traded so many emails or phone calls, that it is no wonder that her work made this a success.  Jennifer explained that her City position is funded by a grant, and her responsibility is to work on the 2012 NTHP conference.  I think that Jennifer is an outstanding City employee, and I hope that we can retain her services with City government in 2013.  This young lady is an incredibly hard worker, and what a loss it would be for the City to not keep her on board for some very important functions.

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

Walking on top of Spokane

My night season is beginning to wind down in 2012, and it has been the most productive season I have EVER had.   I think I’ll remember this season as being the busiest and most fun of them all.  I have been working on the National Trust for Historic Preservation project since March of 2011, and this project resulted in a number of rooftop shoots during daylight, and many of those also occurred after dark. 

Gaining access to these rooftop areas has been complicated at times, but nonetheless it has been incredibly fun.  Shooting from a rooftop allowed me to get some very good technical photogs to climb the roofs with me.  My standing rule for a night rooftop visit was to have a minimum of two shooters, for safety reasons.  A normal shoot included photographers, Chris Thompson, Paddy Hoy, and Josh Burdick.  We began to shoot on top of so many places that we became known around downtown as “the roof rats.”  True, we scurried about on top of one place or another.  Mostly we had to hurry to meet the time schedules of the building engineers and property managers and their staffers.  Almost invariably our night shoots concluded at or near 5:30PM so the building staff could go home and not have to work a lot of overtime for us.

I suppose I have mentioned this before, but for a night shooter…shooting always at ground level has a number of difficulties.  Chiefly, the main problem is high intensity light sources.  High pressure sodium, Metal halide, even fluorescent lights can create HUGE obstacles after dark.  So, early in 2011 I began to work on getting myself above ground level to shoot in daylight, as well as after dark.  NTHP provided me with a list of their targets to shoot, but it was my intent to shoot Spokane with views never before seen.  To do that I had to get on top of the tallest buildings downtown, as well as some of the “shorter ones.”

I have been on top of rooftops before (after dark), such as the City Hall building, the Doubletree hotel, the Davenport Hotel, as well as Spokane’s Clocktower in Riverfront Park.  So the value was not lost on me about what the potentials could be by getting all over downtown Spokane, by walking all over the rooftops downtown.  

At some point, when I have time, I’ll write a lot more about the experiences I had on these rooftops.  Here is a list of the shoots from elevations/buildings that I have had thusfar.  I will try to include a link or two shot from each of the locations.  Right now my total of visits to Spokane “above ground” locations stands at 32 buildings.  

Old National Bank building (2)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/seaonb.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/west2.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/onbeast.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/inb.htm

Chase Bank building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riversidedwtn.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/ponb.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/bbboa.htm

Riverpark Square Mall (2) RPS Parking garage (1)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/cowlespaintgray2.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/chase1024.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp29.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktowereast.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/leaning.htm

Small Business Resource Center building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riversideeast2.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/lincolnwest.htm

The Davenport Hotel (2) and the Davenport Tower (1)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/davwest2.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/southview2.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/foxsigng.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/rid.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/ciau.htm

Knitting Factory

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp45.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp84.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp94.htm

Montvale Hotel (3)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp18.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp31.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp65.htm

Spokane Club (2)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp27.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp28.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc21024.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/ourladyof.htm

Peyton building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp23.htm

Holley Mason building
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp101.htm

Hutton building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp102.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp55.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp56.htm

Bank of America building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/wtb1024.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/bct.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/davenportcrosby.htm

Sherwood building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp70.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp86.htm

Fernwell building (3)

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp81.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp3.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/boa1.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/onb1024.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/onbfernwell.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp47.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp48.htm

INB Performing Arts Center

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp38.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp40.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp42.htm

The Paulsen building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp50.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp71.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp98.htm

The Clocktower in Riverfront Park

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower7.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/westerndwtnpanorama.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower1.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower3.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower5.htm

Spokane City Hall

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nordstrom.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/courthouse.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/courthousepost.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/monroebridge.htm

Wells Fargo building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/wellsboa.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/onbbldg.htm

Doubletree Hotel

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/potter3.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/npano.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/harrypotter.htm

Sacred Heart Hospital Parking Garage

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/northbynorthwest.htm

Deaconess Medical Center Parking Garage
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/lincolnstreetofframp.htm

Northtown Shopping Center Parking Garage 
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/ntwn.htm 
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/regal.htm

The Davenport Hotel Tower

The Davenport Hotel Tower

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the rooftop of the Davenport Hotel Tower building.  I was unsure exactly what the view from this tall building would be, but it turned out to be fantastic.  In addition to good views of downtown Spokane, Mother Nature treated us with a brilliant sunset.

This rooftop was not without issues, and it got pretty cold up on top of this structure.  Yet, as the sunset diminished and the downtown lights began to come on, this was simply an incredible view.  For a photographer to have gotten access to literally all of the tallest buildings in Spokane, and to see the sights that I have seen, is certainly humbling.  These opportunities come along once in a lifetime, and I wanted to insure that I got as many images as I could in the hour or hour and a half that I was on top of this Tower.

The view from the Tower, had a great view of the original Davenport Hotel, although at more of an angle than when I had shot that Davenport Hotel from the ground or parking garage levels in the past.  Looking down on that historic Davenport Hotel, was quite an experience.  

From the Davenport Tower location, I had a wide open view of Interstate 90 (I90), and the entire southern edges of the downtown area.  The view up onto the northern edges of the Spokane South Hill was also wide open from the height that I was located.  Shooting these busy streets after it began to get dark, gave new meaning to the traffic flow on I90 at the Sunset Hill area through the entire downtown of Spokane.  Traffic was HEAVY on this night shoot on downtown streets as well as the I90 corridor.

Views from the Davenport Hotel Tower

A  view from the roof of the Wells Fargo building, toward the Bank of America building

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/wellsboa.htm

 A  view from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower toward the Parkade
 http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/arkade.htm

  
A southeast view from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/southeast.htm

A southwest view from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/southview2.htm

A northwest view from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/davwestnite.htm

A northwest view of the Davenport Hotel from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/davwest2.htm

A north view of downtown Spokane from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/northview.htm

A north view of downtown Spokane from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/stanorth.htm

A northeast view of downtown Spokane from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/greengarage.htm

A southern view of downtown Spokane from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/si90.htm

A eastern view of downtown Spokane from the roof of the Davenport Hotel Tower

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/rid.htm

Many of these and additional images will be supplied to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for their national conference in Spokane this year.  

JDM

The Spokane Parkade

The Spokane Parkade

The Parkade was the target of mine for a recent photo shoot, from the top of the Old National Bank building in downtown Spokane.   One week prior to this recent shoot, the Parkade was featured prominently in one night shot from the top of the Chase Bank building, but the lights were not illuminated on top of the Parkade roof.  Such was the case for the shoot from the Old National Bank building two weeks ago.

I spoke with Steve Gelhausen about the Parkade lights, and Steve knows something about how to get those lights turned on.  Steve has worked at the Parkade for the past 43 years, and Steve arranged for me to have the lights above the roof of the Parkade, turned on.  As a result, my second shoot from the top of the Old National Bank building was perfect to see the lights displayed on the Parkade.  My thanks to Steve Gelhausen, and of course, Steve’s son Adam who tipped his father off about the light issues I was requesting when I shot the downtown area from the Old National Bank building.

On shoots prior to 2012, I cannot ever recall specifically targeting the Parkade for a night shoot, but it is so prominent in downtown Spokane, that the Parkade building and its rooftop lights are visible from almost everywhere.  The Spokane Parkade, is simply put, a downtown landmark.  Everybody knows it, everybody sees it, and everyone recognizes it.  Of course there are other landmarks visible downtown, including the RFP Clocktower, the bell towers of Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral, The Old National Bank building, and even the Davenport Hotel.

Yet, the Spokane Parkade building is very colorful, as well as displaying the rooftop light that is so easily viewed from locations throughout downtown Spokane.

In some select shots over a period of years, here are some examples of Spokane’s Parkade building in downtown Spokane.

2012

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp50.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp66.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp103.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/parknw.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/park.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/parkdwtn.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/west.htm

2011

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/reflectionsinrfp.htm

2010

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower3.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/clocktower5.htm

2008

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/qwer.htm

2007

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/geese.htm

2006

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/pne.htm

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/toparkade.htm

John D. Moore, CPP
Spokane Night Scenes
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com
photos@spokanenightscenes.com 

Spokane’s Old National Bank

The past two weeks, I have had the privilege of shooting from the roof of the Old National Bank building, after dark. The cooperation and scheduling of the two visits was second to none, and in particular I would like to thank Jesse Putnam for his assistance to me on top of the grand old building.

Two weeks ago, I was able to take up 7 other photogs for the shoot, and many of their images will be presented to the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) for use at and before their national conference in Spokane this year. This week, I needed to take additional shots of something I was unable to get last week, so I took one other photog to the top. My preference, for safety issues on rooftops, is to always have at least two people when access to a roof (after dark) is undertaken. 

Simply put the Old National Bank views were nothing even close to being “less than spectacular.” In fact, the views of downtown Spokane were close to being the best from any of the rooftops I have visited over the past year. To have two opportunities to view what I was able to view, was an awesome opportunity. To have gotten an opportunity to give some very technical photogs an opportunity to join me on the Old National Bank building, even made these visits more fun for me.

I wish that everyone who lives in Spokane had the same opportunities that I have had to see the views of downtown Spokane over the past year. Unfortunately the best thing I can do is to try and capture some of the views, and then share them online.

Some of these night/evening views of downtown from the Old National Bank building, and other rooftops, begin at:

(Archive 1) http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/dwtn6.htm

(Archive 2) http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/dwtn7.htm

Daylight views of dwtn Spokane for NTHP:

(Archive 3) http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp.htm

(Archive 4) http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthparchive2.htm

(Archive 5) http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthparchive3.htm

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

http://www.spokanenightscenes.com

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

Spokane Night Scenes, a collection of Spokane’s Riverpark Square Mall

Spokane Night Scenes, a collection of Spokane’s Riverpark Square Mall

Over the past 4-5 years, I have collected a series of images of Spokane’s Riverpark Square Mall, and it’s surroundings in downtown Spokane. The management team and public safety staff assisted me in scheduling a number of shoots from the rooftop of Riverpark Square Mall, and in doing so I was unable to capture any images of their facility. Well, actually I did, but from other vantage points. Here are a few links to images of Spokane’s Riverpark Square Mall.

Daylight images of Riverpark Square Mall

Spokane's Riverpark Square Mall, in downtown Spokane, Washington. http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nthp33.htm

Riverpark Square Mall, a look from the roof of the SRBC building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riverparksquarexmas.htm

Spokane's Riverpark Square Mall building in downtown Spokane. From a sunset view on the roof of the Chase bank building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amcimax.htm

Night images of Riverpark Square Mall

A look at Riverpark Square Mall and the Monroe Street bridge, from the rooftop of the Bank of America building http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc20monroebridge.htm

Photographers Chris Thompson and Eric Strate on the rooftop of the Riverpark Square Mall. http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/chriseric.htm

A look at Riverpark Square Mall and the street activity on west Main Street, from the rooftop of the Spokane Club. http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc21024.htm

An entrance to a River Park Square parking garage, in downtown Spokane, Washington. http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/nordstrom2.htm

Spokane's Riverpark Square, a downtown theater and shopping mall. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amcwest.htm

A metal sculpture of a Bloomsday runner, by the Rock City Grill http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/rockcity.htm

It is cold and icy in front of the Rock City Grill, Downtown, Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/rcg.htm

A cold and icy evening in front of Spokane's River Park Square, Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc.htm

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

(O) 509 327 5627

Spokane Night Scenes, photography from the roof of the Spokane Business Resource Center (SRBC)

Spokane Night Scenes, photography from the roof of the Spokane Business Resource Center (SRBC)

The SRBC was one of the most challenging rooftops of all the locations we have shot so far. The walls were approximately 5 feet tall around the roof area, and the width of the wall was at least a foot and a half. It made it almost easier to just use a bulb setting after configuring the camera systems (ISO, AF or Manual Focus, and DOF). With a tether or wireless remote, the camera could sit upon the flat area atop the walls and using the cameras remote shutters the images could be taken without any movement of the cameras.

There were no ladders on this rooftop, and the maintenance staffers put barrels around the rooftop so we could stand on them (optional) if we needed to get some height because of the roofs wall height.

Here are a few images from the Spokane Business Resource Center night shoot.

• The Cowles and Great Western building. Shot from the rooftop of the SRBC building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/cowlesgray.htm

• Riverside Avenue, a look to the east from the roof of the SRBC building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riversideeast2.htm

• Riverpark Square Mall, a look from the roof of the SRBC building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riverparksquarexmas.htm

• Riverside Avenue, a look to the east from the roof of the SRBC building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/riversideeast.htm

• The Lincoln building, a look to the west from the roof of the Spokane Regional Business Center (SRBC) building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/lincolnwest.htm

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

(O) 509 327 5627

Spokane Night Scenes, photography from the roof of the Bank of America building

Spokane Night Scenes, photography from the roof of the Bank of America building

I began discussing an arrangement to do a photo shoot on the Bank of America building in downtown Spokane, in May of 2011. I made an arrangement to get on the roof, with Ron White, who was VERY helpful in getting the materials to me for members of the photo team I would take up with me on the roof.

I met Ron in the Bank of America Lobby area, and after a glitch where one of my shooters did not show up, the rest of us all made the voyage to the top of the Bank of America building.

It was cold, breezy, and maybe I should emphasize the point, COLD. Parts of the roof on top of the BOA building began to freeze, even though it was still not dark yet..so we knew we were going to have a chilly photo shoot. Ron stayed on the roof with us for as long as he could, but the COLD got to him, and he returned to the interior of the building while the photog team stayed out on the roof. While we were out on the roof we were visited by Geese flying right by us, and the sound of crunching whenever somebody moved one of their feet on the increasingly frozen rooftop.

What a view, especially after it got dark. Yes, this is the tallest building in town, but the angles of adjacent buildings and targets were exceptional. All of the photogs shot until the appointed time for us to clear off of the roof area, and it was a great feeling to walk back into the interior of the building and make our way down to the security team checkpoint. Ron White gave us a splendid opportunity to see some amazing vantage points on top of the building.

There was NO daylight visit to this building, and this night visit was the only opportunity I had to view downtown Spokane.

Night visit, Spokane’s Bank of America rooftop in downtown Spokane.

A look at Riverpark Square Mall and the Monroe Street bridge, from the rooftop of the Bank of America building http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/amc20monroebridge.htm

The Washington Trust Bank, Davenport Hotel, and the Bing Crosby Theater in downtown Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/davenportcrosby.htm

The Lincoln building in downtown Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/lincbldg.htm

A northeast view from the rooftop of the Bank of America building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/ponb.htm

A view of the Bing Crosby Theater, from the rooftop of the Bank of America building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/bct.htm

A view of Spokane's Riverfront Park, from the rooftop of the Bank of America building. Spokane, Washington http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/rfpwash.htm

John D. Moore, CPP

Spokane Night Scenes

photos@spokanenightscenes.com

(O) 509 327 5627