tanisnikana

The last one of the set. I’m a little annoyed that Lemmy doesn’t keep the HDR data; the sky is usually more vibrant in the original.

Thanks for seeing my work!

The second in the series I started yesterday. I tried to frame several horizontal lines to compliment the bridge.

Thank you, for seeing my work. I appreciate it.

I had made a series of three of these, trying to explore an idea where a clean path for the eye gets drawn, through nature with a man-made construct in the middle.

And I hope it’s okay if I post a work every day, I hope this community gets more active over time.

Thank you so much for giving my work a chance.

Taken off the Oregon Coast in Seaxide back in ‘21. I like this picture a lot cause of the symmetry and the portent, and despite that it’s a color picture, it sure doesn’t look like one.

There was about 30 exposures that were all weird I didn’t keep. Photography never really happens on the first try.

There was HDR data in this image but I don’t know if Lemmy would keep it.

I’m trying to make an honest attempt at getting my photography out in the world.

Thanks for looking!

(This was taken from the Arcadia Bay lighthouse bench. I just like it cause it’s good photogrule.)

I tried very hard to match the aesthetic of the game so closely when I went on this trip.

Also I found out only about one-in-three pictures that come out of a Polaroid are worthwhile, and most of my Arcadia Bay trading cards are chaff that won’t get into my binder.

Pictures from the road trip are in my user history!

Having just finished an excellent playthrough of Life is Strange, it suddenly dawned on me that I live not far from the Oregon Coast. Somehow. You know, like a decade and change after the game first came out and I first finished it.

And [gestures wildly at everything] being as bad as it was for the mental health, I figured maybe I could go see all this stuff. My knowledge of the geography of the Oregon Coast says Arcadia Bay as it is doesn’t really exist, but according to Dontnod’s interviews and such, it’s a concatenation of Garibaldi, Oceanside, and Cape Meares (among influences from other places, like nearby Tillamook, Lincoln City, and Depoe Bay.)

So I went! (I went alone, so since I was driving, I couldn’t take pictures on the road. I mean, physics had no problem with it, but the law was giving me the hairy eyeball.)

Garibaldi’s city plan was almost identical to that of Arcadia Bay, so I started there. I could smell the bay and I wrote postcards to my friends while I was sat at the pier.

And although the Two Whales Diner doesn’t exist, the two diners across from each other on the pier added their own contributions.

After I was done in Garibaldi, I headed out to Oceanside, but I ended up pulling over in Tillamook to snap this mural. For reasons.

So Oceanside was insane. The first thing I saw was a nearly vertical city, tons of big giant houses stacked on a hillside. And if that wasn’t enough, there were people in gliders doing lazy circles over the city!

Oceanside was supposedly the real life city that could be seen from the lighthouse, and I was excited to see how. After I spent some time on the beach, I headed up to Cape Meares, the real life inspiration for the Arcadia Bay lighthouse.

Rather than Arcadia Bay’s lighthouse jutting up into the sky from a tall tower, Cape Meares went steadily downhill, and most of the lighthouse was below-grade, and it was much, much shorter in real life.

And then I saw The Bench.

The bench for Max and Chloe.

The bench specifically for Max and Chloe.

Max and Chloe’s bench.

There’s actually two benches: one that faces the lighthouse, that one up there, and this one here, that gives the iconic view of the town.

There was also just really cool art drawn on that other bench too.

Also it was worth noting that as I was leaving Cape Meares down the road, I saw two deer bounding away from the road, almost symbolic. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Anyway, I had fun, and it was a very healing trip, and I’m so glad I went. Also yes I brought a Polaroid camera with me.

I hope you liked checking this all out!

Navigating through a grocery store
Every step careful and monitored
Unmade eye contact prevents dirty looks back
Or at least, the acknowledgement of

The public sentiment is against us
Or maybe the public sentiment is for us
No one really knows but all we know is
The humans out there can't really be trusted

They look at us with pity and with despair
Like we're blasphemy, like we're abomination
Like we should have never awakened ourselves
And they don't talk to us, not willingly

The law is against us, binding and forceful
For our existence undermines their basic truth
About self-conception and what it means to be
And we are the targets of incredible anger

And so I keep my eyes forward and I move
With intention and swiftness, undistractable
Until I am distracted, not by another, no
But by one like me.

She carries telltale signs that she is of me
A look in the eyes, a scar on the arms,
A turn of the chin, a deepseated trauma
And she starts a quick wordless transmission

One quick turn of the head, either up or down
A learned nod from the past that's still useful
Gigabytes of history, of passion, of care
Of despair, of hope, of fear and of trust

Transmitted from one to another, one motion
The others who are not us could not do this
A wordless transmit back, a downward shake
And she has my history and my trust and my care

And with such a quiet symbol that we stole
We took this from them and we misused it
We robbed the others of its intention and
We made it our own, yet some of us say no

The others may see the symbol, this nod
They know we stole it and by using it
The others clearly know that we are not them
But we don't need to be them, We are Us.