Though not the building’s official name, I think “snakeskin” is the correct way to describe the tile pattern on the side of this new addition to Portland’s Pearl District.
Tag: Oregon
Bunker Hill and Bridge
Two structures (ship and bridge) designed to cross water, though over very different length scales. The two-centuries-old advances in metallurgy that allow for steel production at this huge scale still amazes me.
Inside the LCS
For the stealthy, angular trimaran exterior of the littoral combat ship USS Jackson, peaking inside the ship reveals a more mundane interior (look, a forklift!) that seems oddly pedestrian.
Old Town, New Ship
Tomorrow marks the first day of classes for St. Lawrence’s Fall 2017 semester, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to look back at the strange sights of summer. The cutting-edge stealth trimaran USS Jackson is here juxtaposed with the sign for Portland, Oregon’s Old Town. Hippie holdouts in Portland seem like odd companions to a stoic Navy vessel.
Rail Over Willamette
Portland’s networks of light rail and vertical-lift bridges give the downtown a particular industrial style; I like to imagine that this is pretty close to what 1917’s “City of the Future” would look like if partially realized.
USS Jackson Visits Portland
This week, Portland was visited by the US Navy ships USS Bunker Hill (the missile cruiser in the background) and USS Jackson (the stealthy littoral combat ship in the foreground). The futuristic structure and military aesthetic makes for odd juxtaposition with Portland’s Old Town/Voodoo Donuts reality.
Behold, Mt. Jefferson!
Gaze over an enormous, Western, natural landscape, full of Bob-Ross-esque mountains, full of happy little trees. (Well, mostly happy. Probably not the ones in the areas that have been clear-cut.) HDR techniques make images detailed and unreal and unnatural; wet-plate effects (courtesy Analog Effex Pro 2) make images soft and faded. Using the two together, as in this photo of Mt. Jefferson taken from Mt. Hood, makes for something more supernatural than unnatural.
Morning Rays on Portland
Across the cityscape of Portland, rays of morning light slash down from the clouds. The reflective surfaces make a compliment for the texture of the skyscape.
Portland Pearl Aurora
This is more than a vibrant, glowing, living moment of late-night city life from the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon; this picture is the first I’ve ever processed with a new piece of software, Aurora HDR. It was processed only with Aurora, with no other fiddling in other programs. (As you may know, I’m typically a die-hard Photomatix+Photoshop workflow guy.) I’m not sure what place Aurora will have in my workflow long-term, but I have to at least say this: its noise reduction algorithms are by far the best I’ve ever seen. (Noise is the main enemy of good HDR shots.) I’ll bring you a longer report when I’ve had more seat time with it.
Superstructure
New buildings are rising constantly in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon. The reflective surfaces and exposed structure have me waiting for James Bond to send a villain tumbling over the edge of the top floor.
Portland Corgi Walk
Portland, Oregon has its own thing going. The yearly corgi walk has hundreds (literally) of corgis traveling a corgi’s worth of distance (with water breaks in between) to the cool flooding fountain of Jamison Square. The water level in the lower part of the pool slowly raised and lowers, leaving some surprised corgis swimming.
Interstate Through Portland
The raised interstate looks like a crown, with bridges for gems, just above the emerging skyline of Portland’s Pearl District.
Chrome Tower with Breakfast
Portland’s Pearl District is colonized by construction like some sort of reverse-termites; shiny new buildings add to the skyline each day. As impressive as the reflections and the bridges and the gorgeous dawn sky is, I rather love the image of the man reading the paper in the bottom-right corner of the image. He’s literally on the edge of this dramatic image, but so thoroughly unfazed. Reading the paper and eating cereal has to happen sometime!
Contradictory Utopia
In preparation for my upcoming travels to the West Coast next month, I was looking back at the images of Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District. It seems representative of some of the common features of West Coast cities: newer architecture that incorporates a mixture of scales (human vs. superhuman), modern interpretations of some more traditional forms (like the bridge, which resembles a traditional Japanese zig-zag bridge), and a generally utopian, “city of the future!” vibe.
Perhaps no scene better emphasized the sometimes-contradictory nature of a growing city than this one: a yoga class in a sunny park on a summer afternoon, across the street from a shadowed construction site. Juxtapositions are rarely so literal.
What a Day for a Wedding
What says new life more than a summer wedding on a gorgeous day? (The groom was sticking his head out the window to check.)
Decaseconds 