Last night I went to the Seattle Photo Meetup meeting. In some ways, the big reason I went was because I had a carpool partner (who incidentally turned out to be a phenomenal navigator). I say that because I’ve known about the Seattle group for a year or so, and yet this is the first time I’ve made it out there.

This month (and most months, it seems) they were meeting at Uptown Espresso in Belltown. The cafe was quiet, with people sitting in ones and twos around the perimeter, drinking coffee and hunched over books or laptops. And in the center, spread across three or four tables, was a loud, uproarious group of about twenty people, passing around photos (and in some cases, laptops), or boisterously yelling across the tables to each other.

Definitely a lively bunch of people, by necessity the group members split into two or three smaller groups where the cafe layout made it possible to wander around from one group to the next, admiring everyone’s latest photographic endeavor. This month’s theme, “Self-Portrait” generated a lot of innovative results: my favorite would have to be the guy who wrapped himself up in red DANGER tape, mummylike, with his eyes peering through a slit at you.

In the end, the Seattle meetup turned out to be a barrage of photographic suggestions, giving me a broad range of ideas for where to go and what to do next with my camera. It complemented the Eastside meetup as though we had talked it out ahead of time. The Eastside meetup is more quiet and sedate because of its smaller size. However, that size has turned out to be perfect for more indepth discussion on select topics.

One thing the Eastside can’t possibly hope to match is the variety. We’re not just talking film vs digital in Seattle. We got a couple of medium- or large-format guys, as well as… well, I don’t quite know what J. is; he seems to be bristling with cameras. I caught half a conversation about developing prints using coffee — you know, for those of us who have a spare pot of Folgers lying around. I half-jokingly asked if you could drink it after you did the developing. Sure, it’s full of colloidal silver now, but don’t they sell that sort of stuff at the GNC?

I can’t pick a favorite. I may end up having to go to both.