Category: Ecstasis

by jad

RICHLAND

Last night, I watched the breathtakingly beautiful RICHLAND, a documentary by @komsomol.films on the history and people of Richland, WA, a once secretive town that’s tangled up forever in the afterlife of the atom bomb. I knew I’d be informed but I did not expect to be moved – it’s those “nuclear feelings” that UW professor Shannon Cram brought up in the Q&A that did it. Watch it when you can. I’m currently working with @uraniumfilm to bring this film back in April, but that’s fine, watch it twice – it’s worth it. I’ll have more to say about RICHLAND … Continue reading “RICHLAND” →

by jad

Seattle’s Nuclear History: James Acord

“Art and science are parallel paths to truth and understanding.” This is a quote that a Seattle artist I just connected with shared with me. It’s something James Acord said and believed. It’s something I believe in as well. Acord’s faith in the “transmuting” power of art was relentless, giving him the stamina to pursue his life’s work for decades. This is how he became the only private individual in history with a radioactive materials handling license: WN-10407-1, a number he tattooed on the back of his neck. His pursuit cost him dearly, not unlike Will Navidson in Mark Z. … Continue reading “Seattle’s Nuclear History: James Acord” →

by jad

Seattle’s Nuclear History: UW

Did you know that UW had a nuclear reactor? It’s not there anymore; in fact, the whole nuclear engineering program was shut down in 1992, a few years after the reactor itself was decommissioned. People fought to keep the brutalist building (renamed in the interim as More Hall Annex) that housed it, but after several rounds of litigation, UW was finally allowed to demolish it in 2016. They built the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering in its place. Architecture fans pushed hard for incorporating elements of the original structure in the new building, but the … Continue reading “Seattle’s Nuclear History: UW” →

by jad

Doing the Puyallup (Again)

Given the good number of story posts I’ve seen, a bunch of you were at the #StateFair yesterday like us. This is probably my fourth or fifth time at the Puyallup fair, so it pretty much qualifies as a family tradition now. Christine was reflecting on how stepping onto the fair grounds is like stepping into childhood for so many, as very little changes every year. I like it. It’s goofy and fun and I’ll come again. One thing we did this year that was new for me was to watch a hypnotism show. When the hypnotist asked who here … Continue reading “Doing the Puyallup (Again)” →

by jad

Christine’s Project: Tacoma Rose Garden

Behind the scenes (and rose bushes) shot of Sabrina talking to Christine about Saint Rose of Lima, as part of our ongoing photo-documentation project. See also. I think I caught this decisive moment mid-TikTok. It was a lot of fun being back at the same spot I got my nerve up to try “street” photography for the first time last summer, using up a whole roll of film walking around Tacoma taking candid shots with my heart thumping in my throat. I was nervous about wasting film and pissing people off, but now, both considerations are a lot less intimidating, … Continue reading “Christine’s Project: Tacoma Rose Garden” →

by jad

Nuclear Culture & Photography

“The first bomb, set to go off at a height of some five hundred metres, produced a nuclear flash which lasted one fifteenth-millionth of a second, and whose brightness penetrated every building down to the cellars. It left its imprint on stone walls, changing their apparent colour through the fusion of certain minerals, although protected surfaces remained curiously un-altered. The same was the case with clothing and bodies, where kimono patterns were tattooed on the victims’ flesh. If photography, according to its inventor Nicéphore Niepce, was simply a method of engraving with light, where bodies inscribed their traces by virtue … Continue reading “Nuclear Culture & Photography” →

by jad

“Phooey America”: Nuclear Culture

I’ve been interested in the history of the atom bomb and nuclear technology ever since I read about Hanford in a book on the Columbia River called “The Organic Machine” almost two years ago. This book inspired me to visit the region last summer for my first serious foray into film photography, and soon after, I would fortuitously meet a photographer at the PCNW fair who had published a whole book on that area I had just been to. I was hooked and I kept telling myself I’d visit again. I immersed myself in the history of that godawful decision … Continue reading ““Phooey America”: Nuclear Culture” →

by jad

Montréal: Kahnawake

St Kateri’s shrine was the reason we’d thought to visit Montreal in the first place, so, as you might imagine, standing here by the quiet banks of the Saint Laurent after months of anticipation felt pretty good. Our Lyft driver’s GPS had been acting up, which meant that I’d get a chance to have my longest exchange in French of the trip (which also felt really good). More significantly, it also led to experiencing this church from this vantage point first. I don’t know what was special about this tree, but it literally took my breath away. Christine was walking … Continue reading “Montréal: Kahnawake” →

by jad

Montréal: Habitat 67

Habitat 67 is an iconic housing complex situated on a man-made peninsula in the Saint Lawrence River. It was constructed as a prototype of the future of urban living for Montreal’s #Expo67, the theme of which was “Man and His World” (sorry ladies). It was supposed to demonstrate how urban mixity and suburban individuality could be brought together in an affordable way, but that last part crumbled under the pressure of the actual cost of construction. The modular units are now expensive condos. Spots for the walking tour only opened up a week before we visited (on my birthday, no less), … Continue reading “Montréal: Habitat 67” →

by jad

Montréal on 35mm

I just got my scans back from @moodysfilm – I was worried the imposed airport x-ray might have ruined my rolls (first time flying with film), but, thankfully, it seems like we scraped through! These were some of the last shots I took on one of the last things we did on our last day there; they’re from the Japanese section of the Montreal Botanical Garden, where the Government of Japan was at pains to tell us that the bonsai is NOT a tortured plant. x I didn’t end up taking as much film photography as I’d planned; the extreme heat and … Continue reading “Montréal on 35mm” →