My First 2010 Industrial Shoot

I realized the other day that I haven't done an industrial shoot in months.  I think the last one I did was in October, when the sunset was creeping around 6:30 or so and I stopped in North Portland after work.  Maybe there was a failed attempt after that, all I know for sure is that my macro lens hasn't been on my camera for months.  I decided yesterday was the day to correct that.



Scanning Google Maps, I found a new pocket of industrial area that I was eager to check out.  I drove out there and realized that everything in the area was fenced off or really remote.  For some reason, I'm not as bold when it comes to approaching remote places as I used to be.



Luckily, I had a backup plan.  I drove across the river and stopped in <s>beautiful</s> downtown Vancouver Washington.  I hadn't visited for a year or so, and thought that maybe I'd be able to find something interesting and new.  Unfortunately, I was mostly wrong.



I visited the train yard and walked around downtown, but didn't find a lot of things to catch my eye.  I was surprised at how little was going on at the train station... maybe it was the Sunday afternoon that kept it slow.



I came home after sunset, happy that I had gotten some exercise and out of the apartment.  I parked my car in the new garage (yes, I've changed again) and realized that I hadn't taken any picture of this new space.  So I shot a few until I heard the garage door opening and someone coming in.  Then I tried to scramble and pretend I was putting my camera away into the trunk of my car.  Just a casual guy leaving, not some weirdo taking pictures of the garage.  Heh.

December Photo Highlights

I've really been engrossed playing Medieval 2 for the month, and have barely managed to get out and take any pictures.  I did go out one evening when the clouds looked promising, and took some pictures from the Broadway bridge.  The clouds thickened up and I was disappointed, but the photos still came out OK.

Another evening, we had some fog.  This really is a rare thing for downtown... I don't remember having any fog during my free hours since last winter.  Anyway, I broke myself away from the video game to take some shots in the fog.  Although it turned out the fog wasn't all that thick once you got to the heart of downtown.  You'd think it'd be thicker by the river...

And I've thrown in a couple of Christmas photos as well, just because I can.






































I doubt I will be breaking away from the game in January... it's still as addicting as the day I bought it last month.  I guess I should be happy, I'm really getting a great value for my $20, but at the same time I feel like an addict... thank goodness nobody is going to call 9-1-1 on me.

Some Long Overdue Photo Catching-Up

How is that for a clunky title?

I don't think it's any secret that I haven't been posting lately.  Most of my evenings are spent playing 'Medieval 2' with the occasional hour or two of online poker thrown in for good measure.  I've gone out and done a few photo shoots over the last few weeks, but haven't taken any time to put the pictures up here.  Hopefully I can correct that with this quick dump of some of the best photos I've taken over the last few weeks.







These first three are from an walk I did around Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge, which is sort of on the edge of Portland proper.  I used to ride my bike through here daily, back when I was interested in keeping in shape and somehow wasn't playing video games all the time.  Oh, it was that year when I didn't have a working computer.  Explains a lot.

Anyway, I had a nice little walk around there for an hour or so and managed to get a couple of nice photos.  Yay, wildlife areas!







The next couple are from a walk I took up to Washington Park.  I wanted to get out of the apartment, and didn't expect a lot of excitement from the photos.  And I was correct in my assessment: there was nothing exciting.  But a couple of photos worth showing, so there you go.







We've not had a lot of rain here (despite what you may have heard, it doesn't rain constantly in Oregon) but I did manage to get outside for one evening when it was dark and rainy.  I love the kinds of photos that can come from a good nighttime rain photo shoot, but of course they can be tricky to get.  I didn't last very long, I was cold and wet and wanted to get back to my beloved video games.







I don't think my post-sunset shots of the Willamette River and downtown need any sort of description.  So why am I typing here exactly?







Finally, last week I had Thursday off, and woke up before sunrise to head down to the waterfront and get some rare sunrise photos.  Which came out pretty much as I expected: pretty and sunny.  So there you go!  Hope you've enjoyed.