St Johns Bridge at Sunset

On my birthday, my brother had me over for dinner and cake, and I had a good time hanging out with his family.  The food was great, the kids were really well behaved, and everyone got along really well.  So good times all around.  The kids went to bed at 8, and the timing was perfect for me to skate out and hit the Sellwood Bridge at sunset.

My brother lives out near St. Johns, one of the more remote neighborhoods in Portland.  It's a twenty minute drive... longer during rush hour.  I don't get out there much, although I should.  It's a nice neighborhood with some interesting features.  I haven't visited since I bought my D80, so I'll probably have better luck if I return.





Out in St. Johns, they have the historic St. John's Bridge.  I believe this bridge would easily win in a poll for a favorite of the seven bridges crossing the Willamette... people really love this bridge.  I think it's nice, but honestly it's probably my fourth favorite, after the Steel, Fremont, and Hawthorne.  But it's nice all the same.



As I was leaving, I remembered the cool adjacent industrial area.  I literally put my car in reverse and drove backward into the parking lot.  I hopped out and enjoyed the access to the rail line and tried to make the best of it, and the last bit of light in the sky.

Carnival for Cinco de Mayo

The waterfront holiday season traditionally starts May 1 in Portland, as we kick off our Cinco de Mayo festival. Running through the fifth, they have rides, games, and lots of food and entertainment. A few fellow Flickr users and I got together and did some shooting.



One of them, the talented Andrew Curtis let me borrow his fish-eye lens. It was really interesting to play with. It had a manual aperture setting, which was really cool. A pretty crazy lens, it was fun to be able to play with it.







I returned to the carnival the next night, hoping for a better sky behind the rides. I'm glad when I go back to a place a second time, because it's then that I remember to try some creative shots. I figured out the timing on these zooming shots pretty quickly and had plenty to choose from when I came home.




I hope you've enjoyed!

Downtown Rain, a Watch, and the Waterfront

It's just been a series of short photo shoots for me lately, I haven't gotten out and done anything serious or particularly interesting. I wanted to share these images before I got too far backed up on my posting.







We've had a lot of rain lately and I've gotten out shooting in it a couple of times. Shooting in the rain can be really rewarding, but it does present a lot of challenges. I can never stay out for more than ninety minutes or so. In my hurry to work before I get completely soaked I tend to get a lot of crooked shots, or encounter other easily-prevented flaws.

That being said, the night/rain combination does make for some great shots.







Tonight is the first night of the Cinco de Mayo festival here in Portland. Traditionally, this has been accompanied by fireworks, so I am very excited about the possibility of getting the first fireworks of the year tonight. However, their website doesn't include the fireworks in their schedule, so it has me a little worried. I guess the worst-case scenario would be just shooting the carnival rides and so forth. Which isn't really so bad.