I’ve been looking for some photographs from my Seattle years that are unfortunately nowhere to be found. I know there are more photos from the time I lived in various locations around the Seattle area - including when I lived in the town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island. I also can’t find the photos from the boat trip that Jim and I took in his chartered 42 foot “Gallius” Grand Banks design yacht to Vancouver Island and up the coast of British Columbia; after I left Seattle and returned to Michigan State University. At least I kept a detailed log book on the trip.
That’s the problem with holding onto things through the years…sometimes they get lost or misplaced. I seem to have all of my photo albums, but I also know I once had these early pictures that can’t be located at the moment. That’s a good reason in itself for undertaking this entire project of telling my story online – everything is saved online and backed up electronically in case things get lost, damaged – or worse. Years from now, when I’m only a distant memory for my son, everything will still be available online for anyone to look at. Perhaps the photos will turn up some day, and if so I will add them at that time. In the meantime, I’ll continue on with the story.
I owe a lot to Jim for giving me opportunities while living in Seattle that I had never had before. As his hot air balloon co-pilot and employee at Electricraft Stereo, he pretty much took me under his wing and gave me some tremendous opportunities. From my first credit card as an Electricraft employee, to frequenting an excellent Italian Restaurant called Venetti’s and brunching at the “13 Coins Restaurant” downtown Seattle; I experienced a life that I had only previously seen in magazines. Jim had a high end contemporary home on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, with a swimming pool and hot tub. It was there that I further developed my interest in architecture, as I read all of Jim’s back issues of Architectural Digest and enjoyed living in his beautiful home. I also took up a pastime of creating fantasy art “dot art” pen drawings as well as painting graphic art designs on canvas – which later proved to be the beginning of my Air Force “squadron art” paintings that you will soon see examples of.
We were part of a small group that informally called ourselves the “Party Pros,” who really enjoyed living life to the fullest - like the traditional Champagne toast after a hot air balloon flight. Jim drove a new Mercedes sedan, and also owned an older right hand drive Rolls Royce and an Aston Martin. Electricraft chartered a twin engine plane to fly to Boise once, to discuss the Sound World stereo store purchase; and I got to sit in the right seat in the cockpit for the entire flight there and back. The charter pilot explained everything to me along the way, and allowed me to fly for a few minutes from the right seat under his supervision; which further developed the aviation skills that I needed later on flying fighters in the Air Force.
So with that background explanation, I’ll continue on with a few photos. After the bike trip to England I returned to Seattle and these photos are a collection of some passport photos, a few pictures around Jim’s house, and a “photo safari” walking tour through Seattle that I took one day. It was during this time that I was asked by Jim to drive new Mercedes-Benz diesels from New York City and Fort Lauderdale back to Seattle to sell at the dealership, as diesels were in high demand that year and were few and far to be found at the time. Along the way back from Fort Lauderdale while driving a red Mercedes-Benz sports coupe, I stopped just east of Denver to take these pictures of a crop dusting bi-plane and some wild annual sunflowers that were growing alongside the road. So here are these pictures – enjoy! 
Cheers,
Mark
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- This was a passport photo from late 1977; when I first arrived in Seattle and had considered going to Europe to continue the bike trip right away, but it was never used.
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- Here’s the actual passport photo that I used to travel to London on in 1979, once I finally continued my bike trip overseas.
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- These were my passport arrival and departure stamps in England: Heathrow, Southampton, Dover and my return flight to Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle.
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- I took a few pictures of Jim’s house in Seattle; here I’m reflected in the mirror of the armoire.
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- This is an interesting art print of Jim’s that I photographed; it reminds me of the short film, “Dinner For One.”
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- This art print of a rose in soft pastel shades is a favorite of mine – I love the colors.
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- My self portrait continues to be a favorite picture of mine, in that it captured the the essence of who I am better than most any other picture.
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- I started “The Seattle Years” postings with these two self portraits of mine back in Set One.
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- I took a walking “photo safari” around Seattle one day, starting with this picture of an overcast Seattle skyline; taken in 1979 from atop Queen Anne Hill near Jim’s house.
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- Here the Space Needle is framed by a work of art in a park on Queen Anne Hill.
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- Another version of the Space Needle captured within a piece of contemporary art on Queen Anne Hill.
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- I liked the idea of this Native American sculpture blessing the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, as if to say, “Peace be upon you.”
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- A Totem Pole stands beside the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, contrasting the “towers” of Native Americans with those of modern futurists.
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- The Space Needle appears to be supported by the crown of a stately tree, as if an alien craft had just landed there.
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- Towering geometric structures from Seattle’s World Fair emerge from the tree tops, as if futuristic mushrooms growing out of moss that covers the forest floor.
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- The British “Union Jack” flag with the Space Needle, which was timely as I had only recently returned from my bike trip to the U.K. and France.
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- I was driving east of Denver when I spotted this crop duster working the fields, so I pulled over to the side of the road to take these pictures.
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- The pilot put on a beautiful airshow along the highway, performing dramatic loops and low altitude passes over the fields.
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- Yet even with all of the pilot’s artistry, he or she performed in a very “business like approach,” working the sky and ground in a disciplined manner.
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- The pilot exhibited such a sense of freedom from the “work-a-day world” that held most people down like gravity.
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- Horses graze in the distance in a field east of Denver, in another image of freedom from our modern world – the open range.
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- It just so happened that where I pulled over to the side of the highway, was this stand of “wild annual sunflowers” (Helianthus Annuus); which reminds us all to, “slow down and smell the sunflowers.”
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- A close-up of the wild annual sunflowers, beneath the most beautiful blue sky.
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- More wild annual sunflowers growing beside the highway in a sort of communal way, with many branches sharing a common stem.
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- In the distance the Rocky Mountains rise up from the plains like a surreal mountain fortress.
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- An airliner approaches Denver, as the city sits in the distant shadows of the Rocky Mountains; never really knowing to which it belongs..the plains or the mountains.
