Persimmons and a Blue Sky

SE Lincoln, Portland Oregon

Officially Sanctioned Lawn Graffiti

SE 28th, Portland Oregon

Pink Graffiti

SE Hawthorne, Portland Oregon

Orange Wall, Purple Door and Shadow

SE 20th, Portland Oregon

Rose Stalk Detail

SE 38th, Portland Oregon

At Sarah's request I've included this one. It looks pretty cool on the screen but makes a lousy print.

White Fences, Blue House, Tree Shadows

SE Lincoln, Portland Oregon

Rose Stalks, String, Gray Down Spout

SE 38th, Portland Oregon

Another View from the Railroad Station

Train Station, Portland Oregon

Davis Variation on Two Trains and a Red Roof

Train Station, Portland Oregon

Two Trains and a Red Roof

Train Station, Portland Oregon

Large White Plastic Tube

Portland Oregon

White Concrete Cloud

SE Warehouse District, Portland Oregon

City Sign Company

SE Warehouse District, Portland OR

Red Heart

SE Warehouse District, Portland Oregon

View from my Window at Work

NW Broadway and Hoyt, Portland Oregon

Yup, just another day at work staring out the window.

Messages

White, Blue, Yellow, Rust and Paper

SE Warehouse District, Portland Oregon

Graffiti on Glass

NW Flanders and 8th, Portland Oregon

Yellow Guard Rail, White Squares of no Graffiti

SE Warehouse District, Portland Oregon

Well, Yes and No

In response to Closeted Photo Fan's comment on Concrete Steps, Steel Railing, Glass, Marble, Wood, "...and leaves. Did you actually see all of this before you took the photo, or were you attracted to the composition first? Whichever, it is very nice...lonely but nice."

Interesting question. I've wondered this about other photographers. For me and the way I work right now, I think, the initial attraction is subconscious. It manifests in the conscious as, "Oh look at that color, shape, form, juxtaposition, expression, quality of light, something." Sometimes I just raise the camera and release the shutter. Sometimes I compose in the viewfinder, walk around, move up or down. Mostly, if my mind is calm, it's right there. I find if I'm working something too hard either the first try or two is what works. Even If I take several more variations in many cases none of them will work at all. The electrical charges on the sensor are raw material. I take them and build them into what I saw. Many times this is nothing more than some standard operations. Sometimes there is a lot more work involved. If it gets too involved I usually move on to another picture. I probably didn't see it well to begin with. While I work to get the complete picture as I see it in the viewfinder out in the print I've got no qualms about cropping to make a picture more powerful. I seem to stick usually with the same aspect ratio as the camera, currently 2X3. My next most used format is square, then 4X5, occasionally I'll cut something to a panorama type format. Again if I find myself dinking around with it too much I'll move on to something else. Probably not well seen.
In general I think my mind takes it all in. An aspect of the whole floats up to the conscious level (as bait?). I look, compose (?), and release the shutter. I have had too many incidences of serendipity. Too many "Cool, I didn't see that before and it works." experiences looking at my pictures to think that I'm just lucky or that the universe is rearranging itself just as I push the shutter release.

Black and White Graffiti, Purple Streaks

SE Warehouse District, Portland Oregon

Sarah and I went to Office Depot and then walked around the warehouse district. It was a good day for graffiti.

Concrete Steps, Steel Railing, Glass, Marble, Wood

NW 10th near Lovejoy, Portland Oregon

Two From the Steel Bridge

Steel Bridge, Portland Oregon

Blue Sky and Clouds

Looking up, Portland Oregon

Men's Room

Portland Oregon

Pretty much where ever you have a camera you'll find a picture.

Yellow Square White Stripe

NW 10th and Irving, Portland Oregon

You can almost see the stripe on Google Maps on the south east corner of the intersection in the satellite view. Ain't technology grand?

Blue Dropbox, Yellow Stain, Rebar Step

Portland Oregon

Sarah and I were walking over to the Hollywood Farmer's Market when we passed this drop box in the Value Village lot. I stopped to photograph it and Sarah waited. In the few seconds I was shooting a woman walked by and asked, rather vigorously, "May I help you?" Sarah replied kindly (Sarah is always very nice.), "No thanks." The woman responded, "What are you doing?" I had just finished so I turned and answered, "Taking pictures of the drop box." "Why would you do that?" She said less as a question than an accusation. "Look at the colors" I said enthusiastically, "Those blues and the yellows. Want to see?" "NO" "Are you sure? " "No" "They are really quite nice. The pictures are right here. Take a look." "No thank you." She said for the last time and walked off. Apparently my enthusiasm for the colors was not infectious enough. Oh well.

Two Women

Portland Oregon

Looking up Through Sarah's Favorite Maple

SE 24th Portland Oregon

Three Photographers Photographing

Hollywood Farmers Market Portland Oregon
PSU Farmers Market Portland Market
Behind Trader Joe's Portland Oregon
See post three days ago. (Warning digitally manipulated photograph)

Almost Leafless Tree

Portland Japanese Garden, Portland Oregon

You might think we went to the Japanese Garden last weekend. Usually we go in bad weather when there're not so many folks wandering around. The weather was quite lovely on Sunday and this still looks like it was taken in the rain. We also stopped at Trader Joe's.