Independence Day 2022

[Adapted from email, sent 7:52 pm] I mean, I was going to start this off by noting how much less photogenic the Fourth of July is than most things I have to share about, but then I got this reminder of my own face! I mean, not bad for a selfie, huh? I think I found my "good side," at an angle that creates the illusion of a defined chin. I took this on the balcony of our condo before we headed down to South Lake Union last night, I wore earrings that were supposed to resemble fireworks. Shobhit thought they were the Macy's Holiday Star. Maybe I should wear these in December instead.

It's just under two miles from our condo to Lake Union Park. Part of our route was walking down Denny Way, crossing the bridge over the freeway. I liked how this shot turned out—notice the Space Needle in between the two towers to the right. Those are the "Omni South Lake Union" towers, residential towers topped out just last year, both of them 41 floors (though one is 414 ft tall and the other is 424 ft). I believe it's also these towers I have to blame for the view of the Space Needle now being obstructed from the roof of my own building. Bastards! Maybe I should just move there. The tower in the foreground is also one of a two-tower complex, set for completion this year, 44 floors. Seattle has had something like twenty, roughly 440-ft towers concentrated around the Denny Triangle erected over the last five to seven years, and this one is unusually tall for the neighborhood, at 484 ft. At least these ones have a more distinct design, in a sea of basic, rectangular towers all roughly the same height and boring as shit.

Oh look it's local Google offices, slithering their way into all your data!

We arrived at South Lake Union Park at about a quarter after 7, and within minutes there was a pretty sizable abortion rights march that crossed the footbridge from Goose Beach, and spilled into the park to circle around the fountain, chanting their slogans. This was nearly three hours before the holiday event even actually got started, so even though I am behind them in terms of intent, I can't say that anything much was actually accomplished with this particular action.

Seen through my binoculars: that must have been a Seafair Pirates ship. I enjoyed the octopus tentacles on the hull. Seen in the background is the burgeoning U District neighborhood skyline of its own, featuring three separate towers constructed in the past two years.

This was the first time the Lake Union fireworks show happened since 2019—we went down to Renton both last year and in 2020 to hang out with my friend Danielle at her place as an alternative. In 2019, we had friends in a temporary apartment right by Lake Union so that one year we could watch them from a nearby home. So, the last time we went to Lake Union Park for the fireworks was 2018. Both that year and in 2017, I went down early with a blanket tote to get a good spot and just bide my time relaxing and reading. In 2018, Seafair didn't even set up a presence in Lake Union Park, giving us a lot more space to choose from. It was a bit disappointing to learn this year that not only were they back, but they blocked off huge sections of the park for reserved seating (much of which clearly went unsold) and a beer garden. Shobhit didn't want to go down as early this time, citing "I'm getting old" as a reason; it was fairly full by the time we got there, but we crossed the footbridge over to Goose Beach and found a spot over there, where there was a short concrete ledge we could sit on by the foliage. I would have much preferred having a blanket tote I could lay down on, but whatever! We did get a very nice view of the fireworks from here.

Another shot through my binoculars. You can see the rusted old machinery leftover from what was a former coal gasification plant, closed in 1956, in what is now GasWorks Park, beyond the boats. (The Wikipedia page for the park claims the plant was the last of its kind in the United States, but the page lacks sourcing and I cannot find any corroborating sources.)

The developing University District skyline, beyond the I-5 bridge, at dusk.

I've kind of settled on the idea that the only way to make photos of fireworks even remotely interesting is to contextualize them in some visual way. This was one of only four shots of the fireworks that I actually kept this year—by far the least number ever, but generally speaking, who cares?—but I quite like how this one turned out, with the pattern in the clouds, the deep blue of the sky at late dusk, and the reflection on the waters of Lake Union. This was actually the first shot of fireworks that I took last night, and it's easily the best. Completely unrelated side note: that's the AGC Building to the left. When Shobhit returned from Los Angeles in late 2016 and had little choice but to find retail jobs, he got a job at the Starbucks on the ground floor of that building. He quit when he needed to take a trip to India and they wouldn't let him take the needed three weeks off.

Through binoculars. I like this shot because it looks like an air-sea war battle.

I didn't even realize how pleased I was with this shot until I looked at it on my computer at home. This is after the show ended, moving with the crowd southward out of South Lake Union toward downtown. Many heads of the crowd are barely visible in the dark shadow at lower right.

Crossing the street at Mercer. Can you find Shobhit?