Day 454 - Portland

ISO 100, 70mm, f/32m, 25.0 sec

I took this nearly a month ago.

This sign is without a doubt, one of Portland's icons. It lives on the west side of the Burnside Bridge, but it wasn't until tonight that I knew the history of the sign.

It was erected in 1940 for White Satin Sugar. In 1950, the outline of Oregon was animated to fill up with white sugar.

White Stag Sportswear bought the sign in the late '50s changed the name to White Stag Sportswear with the deer on top. I remember that sign. In 1977 it became designated as a historic landmark. White Stag moved out of Portland leaving the sign. The expense of maintaining the sign and paying the electric bill was a source for debate almost to a point of taking the sign down.

In 1997 the name White Stag name was changed to Made in Oregon and Sportswear was changed to Old Town, but the debates continued. After a threat to dismantle the sign in 2009, the city of Portland agreed to pay the sign company $2,000 a month for maintenance and electricity, and in 2010 money was donated to change the lettering to Portland, Oregon.

Day 434 - Here comes the fog

ISO 100, 27mm, f/18, 30.0 sec

The fog was just starting to roll in as I snapped my final shot of the evening.

Day 429 - Sunset in the city

ISO 100, 23mm, f/22, 1.6 sec

Since Karen was craving Ethiopian again today, I got to spend some more time on the Esplanade.

I was in high hopes for a more vivid sunset, I guess this will just have to do.

Those clouds were full of little raindrops.

Day 422 - 32 days

 

ISO 100, 22mm, f/14, 30.0 sec

I was jonesing. It has been 32 days since my last sparkly twilight shot. I'm not going to lie. I've been irritable, depressed, just downright moody. Every photo I took just looked like crap. I had lost my mojo.

We had mentioned going up to Portland this evening for skyline shot, but it never got above 34 frickin' degrees. Staying home and pouting made so much more sense and was so much warmer. I had work to do, a house to clean and nearly two bazillion of crappy photos to process.

However Karen had the call of Ethiopian cuisine and the strong desire to remove me from my funk, she nearly drug me out of the house. In fact, I think she was ready to hire a team of white horses.

I feel much better now. Full tummy and a sparkly twilight.

Note to self, days are getting longer, get off of your butt and go shoot.

Day 418 - Promising

ISO 320, 27mm, f/22, 1/10 sec

I had high hopes for a much more vivid sunset, kind of like wishing for more hours in the day.

Day 399

ISO 1600, 30mm, f/5.6, 1/40 sec

Day 399 - The chillins'

Class tonight, so I'm puttin' up a couple of out takes from Saturday night with the girls.

ISO 100, 25mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec

Someday, I will get a handle on this whole flash thing, I just know I will.

Day 394

ISO 100, 33mm, f/4.0, 1/160 sec

Day 394 - The finishers

My third assignment for my portrait class is to shoot a portrait of two people that communicates something about the relationship of these two individuals.

Since both of my daughters have finished in the Portland Marathon, I thought it would be really fun to have them running in the foreground of the skyline at sunset.

Believe me, this was nothing short of ambitious. I discovered quickly that the fading light is a pain in the butt to work with when you have moving targets.

The girls rocked it though. Karen had flash patrol while I made the girls run the same mini-course over and over again.