Monday, January 16, 2012

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
2011
2010
2008
2007
2006
http://www.spokanenightscenes.com/toparkade.htm

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

Sunday, January 15, 2012

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:


Daylight views of dwtn Spokane for NTHP:

John D. Moore, CPP