Global Credit Union Print Display

I currently have 7 prints displayed at Global Credit Union. This is one of thier lending centers, located on Post and Riverside (726 W. Riverside) in Downtown Spokane. If you're interested, please stop by and take a look. All of the prints were printed on Kodak Metallic paper and range in size from 16x24 to 20x24.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of one of these prints at the sizes above, they will be $225 each and they will be flush mounted on 1/2 inch Gatorboard. The mounts are very light and strong. These are high quality display prints.

These are part of a series of night shots that I have taken over the years. The Space Needle and Ella's Supper Club were both shot on Medium Format films, then scanned so that I could have them printed at my local photo lab. The rest of the images are digital files shot with my Canon EOS 5D, using various techniques; long exposure, 2nd curtain sync w/flash, and high dynamic range (HDR).

I always enjoy listening to your comments about my work. Please leave a message or send me an email.

Chris Thompson
Northwest Artistic Photography

Spokane Interstate Fair

Saturday, I went to the fair. It's a tradition I would like to start for every year, seeing as how my daughter is two years old now. She enjoyed seeing the bunnies and smaller animals; she was a little intimidated by the cows, donkeys, and horses, though.

I've been to the fair 5 or 10 times in my life; never with any purpose. This year I went, because I entered three photos into the photography exhibition. All three were being shown. I won 3rd place in the "architecture" category, and had an honorable mention in the "photojournalism" category. The other category was the "machine" category, my 3rd photo was shown in this category. After walking the exhibit, I got a feel for what to do next year, in terms of mounting and presentation.

Architecture

(3rd Place)

Photojournalism

(Honorable Mention)

Machine
It was just chance that I even entered. A friend of mine let me know about it a week before entries were due. I had just enough time to have them printed, mounted, and entered. Now that I know what to expect, I hope to do better next year.

There are 2 main categories; black & white and color. Followed by 13 subcategories in each category. Each of the 26 subcategories offers a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, as well as, honorable mention.

Skyfest 2008

I spent this weekend at Fairchild Air Force Base in Airway Heights, for Skyfest 2008. The show was really good. Saturday, we had to deal with smoke moving in from the northwest; due to fires in the region. Sunday was great, during the afternoon the clouds slowly moved away and when the Blue Angels took flight, there were many patches of blue sky. It was great for contrast.

The last time I went to an airshow at Fairchild was right around 1988, give or take a couple years. I was told that this is the first year since the mid-seventies that the Blue Angels have flown at Fairchild. I was really impressed by their aerobatics. Here is a photo of the Blue Angels lined up on the tarmac before their display.


PHOTO: ©2008 CHRIS THOMPSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

This photo is a composite; the sky from Saturday was removed and replaced with the sky from Sunday. Saturday's sky was smoke filled and very flat, while Sunday's had quite a bit more contrast and very clear blues. I think the composite turned out very well.

I will try to get some more photos of the airshow posted later.

Dorian Fire

It is unfortunate for Dorian that one of their buildings burned down. Even more so because it is one of the older buildings (c. 1898) still in Spokane. The building has quite a bit of character; being used as a Ford dealerships warehouse, the locally famous JOEL furniture store, Dorian Studio, and recently Churchill's Steakhouse. I was very happy, however, to be able to capture photos of Spokane's firefighters and trucks controlling the, at one-time, 4-alarm fire. Here are some photos of the fire:

ALL PHOTOS: ©2008 CHRIS THOMPSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


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Salvaged display photos from Dorian.
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Shot from the 3rd floor of the WTB Operation Center.
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The goblets were filled with water seeping through the roof.
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I miss the yellow fire trucks, this one came from SCC.

ALL PHOTOS: ©2008 CHRIS THOMPSON. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Global Credit Union Exhibit

Well, I had planned on showing my work at Global Credit Union down on Post and Riverside in Spokane, but due to poor timing, it didn't happen. I am currently looking for other venues to show my work. But for those that are interested, I printed my photos on Kodak Metallic Photo Paper (C-prints). I have 3-16x24, 3-18x24, and 1-20x24 prints that I made for the exhibition. Here is a picture of my CD cover for the JPEG prints:

These are part of a series of night shots that I have taken over the years. The Space Needle and Ella's Supper Club were both shot on Medium Format films, then scanned so that I could have them printed at my local photo lab. The rest of the images are digital files shot with my Canon EOS 5D, using various techniques; long exposure, 2nd curtain sync w/flash, and high dynamic range (HDR).

Though I was not able to show these, I am happy to have them hanging on my walls. They are custom mounted on 1/2 inch Gator Board and hang very nicely. If anyone would like to sees these images, please send me an email and we can arrange a time to view them. Also, if you would like a copy of one of these photos in the size listed above and mounted on 1/2 inch Gator Board, they are for sale and will be custom printed when ordered for $225.00 a piece.

It's Official

After 2 and a quarter years of study, I received my Associates Degree. Though I am happy to have graduated, I am going to miss the countless hours I have spent in the Photo Program. I will be taking an adult non-credit course just so I can use the facilities. I love printing color photos and the school is the only place that I have access to a 4x5 color enlarger and a 20 inch color processor. And, it also helps that I just purchased a 20 inch 288 foot roll of Kodak Metallic paper that is just waiting to be printed.

My only wish is that my friends and I keep in touch. More often than not, everyone goes their own way after graduation. There are always places to go shoot and fun to be had. Drop me a line or leave me a message on Myspace.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't "walk" at commencement. But it was nice being able to photograph my friends and see the excitement in their eyes during the proceedings.

Congratulations Class of 2008! We are officially photographers.

About Me

Photo by
Keyra Elder

Hi, my name is Chris Thompson. I have been taking photos for many years now. I will be graduating from Spokane Falls Community College next week, with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Photography. My main areas of interest are long exposure (waterfalls, star trails, etc.), night, automotive, and architectural photography. I am also interested in urban and rural scenics.

If you are interested in taking a look at my photography, please visit my webpage link. The web page link will currently take you to my Myspace page; which has a wide variety of my images. On my Myspace page, I have a link to my DeviantART page. I hope to have an actual website up and running by the end of summer. Please let me know what you think of my photography, I am always looking for feedback.

Don't be alarmed if you come across pages or photos that are labelled "Camera Joe", this is my nom de plume (pen name). I post work as Camera Joe or as Chris Thompson. Camera Joe was, and still is, just a way of making things interesting and unique. I still use the name for my web pages and email.

I get the most satisfaction out of shooting medium or large format color negative or transparency film. However, much of my stuff is shot with digital. Digital has brought photography a long way, but it still lacks the "hands on" approach that film offers.

I have been published in Photographer's Forum magazine's "Best of College 2008" annual and the Photography Vibes 05/06 annual. I have also placed in a number of photo contests throughout the years.

Some of my photography:

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and look.

Chris