mpcurtis, Author at Mel Curtis

Home Alone

I went to grad school to not only fill in the gaps of my self-taught photo education but also to get that piece of paper that would open the door to teaching at the university level. My photo education in grad school continued to be self-taught, but at least I got a piece of paper out of it. Teaching itself…

June 25, 2025Seattle

Odds and Ends

Ansel Adams

My comments about photography and music are not mine but rather the words of Ansel Adams, perhaps the greatest photographer of the 20th century. In case you are not totally familiar with his work, a brief history lesson. His first career dream was to be a concert pianist. He trained and worked hard at it, but felt he wasn’t good enough…

June 18, 2025Odds and Ends

Musings Seattle

One of These Days

So, tell me about your new camera. Have you always been mirrorless, or is this a new thing? I am not really into mirrorless myself, though I know they are rage and DSLRs are going away. Besides not liking the digital viewfinder, I didn’t like the idea of getting all new lenses. When I switched from Nikon to Canon all…

June 5, 2025Musings, Seattle

Gardens Musings Seattle

A Place to Find a Little Peace

It rains here today as it has off and on all weekend. But we need it and the gardens are happy. I mostly have this year’s edition of the garden in place. A few more perennials and fewer plants over all on the deck. With the perennials I hopefully won’t have to reinvent the garden every year. I am sure…

May 19, 2025Gardens, Musings, Seattle

Gardens Seattle

Empathy

I think it is easy to sympathize with a person or people going through difficult time. It is easy to keep your emotions at a distance and not lose any sleep at night. But empathy is a real feeling and it seems it is a learned emotion. Or it least it has been for me. I had a friend many…

May 15, 2025Gardens, Seattle

Musings

Keep Moving

The big dark is over for now and spring has arrived. Winter was a bit tough as I coughed my way through bronchitis and fought my through fatigue. I no sooner healed up when we found out little Barney has cancer. Another one of life's tests. it seems they never end and with each hurdle we adapt and keep moving.…

April 16, 2025Musings

architecture Musings Seattle

Sentimental Snapshot

Update on my Instagram contact that was interested in a print. Turns out they were only interested in a memento and not art. They were locked into getting a 12x12” image to match their current lineup of other 12x12 images. Plus, they wanted to have it printed there with the other images so they would match. So, they want to…

March 24, 2025architecture, Musings, Seattle

Musings

Quietly Ride off into the Sunset

Yes, setting up printers can be a pain, thou I don’t recall having much trouble with mine. But that that was 10 years ago and perhaps I have suppressed the painful memories. Every now and then my computer forgets the paper profiles in my system, and I have dink around and fix that, but otherwise no major printing problems. But…

March 4, 2025Musings

Landscapes Musings Seattle

They Just Present Themselves

I enjoy making my little iPhone pics. They are not grand themes or anything. They are just little moments in my travels, mostly from my walks. What’s interesting is that I can look at them and know almost exactly when and where I took them. I can almost remember the moment too. Because they are all immediate responses to something…

February 19, 2025Landscapes, Musings, Seattle

Uncategorized

Time to be Done

My career is perhaps easier to explain. When I left grad school, my goal was to teach, work with galleries with my personal work and do commercial assignments. It took me awhile to figure out you can’t do all 3 or at least all 3 well. Within 6 weeks of arriving in Seattle, I had a gallery, apart time teaching…

January 29, 2025Uncategorized