I take lots of pictures. Having the convenience and versatility of a cell phone for me is a game changer. I always felt a little self-conscious carrying a camera strapped to my neck. For much of my life, my camera was a secondary accessory brought out for a particular purpose. I used to shoot primarily with a 35mm Leica and had a couple of lenses for it. A few years back, I sold it along with my other analog equipment and can honestly say, I do not miss them. They were great for me in their time and I can only imagine if 50 years ago the digital technology had existed. Whew!

I look constantly around at my surroundings when I’m out and about. Even when I’m a passenger in a car, I take pictures out my window. And yes, on occasion, I have been shouted at to close the window from fellow occupants! I’m working on an upcoming series of photos taken from the car.

For now, here’s some recent images that I have been working on and that will be added within the day (or so) to the store. These are a collection of images looking into windows, the world that goes on behind the soul of a building.

This was taken at night walking with my son along Mississippi Street in Portland. I happened to look up and instantly saw the man hanging from the window. That’s what it looked like before the next instant when my brain took charge and it became clear it was a partial manikin in a window. Well, it’s Portland! On the technical side, I did have to do a fair amount of editing. For starters, yes, I love my cell phone but there are clear trade-offs. A big one, the optical telephoto is limited. So, for this shot, I had to crop out the bottom third of the image which was only a distraction from the central purpose: the hanging man. I also had to do some embellishing of the existing light, increasing the window light, shifting the light more to the orange hue, and some sharpening and noise reduction mainly on the wood frame of the building to give a sense of the light trailing off from the window. In the store, I include the unedited shot for comparison.

Along a central walkway in Ashland, there’s a view inside a window where patrons dine. Again it was night time and I was immediately drawn to both the color and texture of the wall and the window looking in. The two diners looked like they easily could be love birds, but there’s no way to really tell, it’s left only to one’s imagination. But, in the editing process something odd happened. I had a fairly linear composition that I shot, the window roughly occupying the middle third of the image lined up straight. When I was attempting to use the crop tool just to remove a small bottom portion that contained distracting shadow lines, I accidentally selected the perspective tool which turned the window wonky and at first I attempted a simple undo but the software refused to oblige. In the end, I stopped and then realized, this is much better than what I intended to do. So there, a lucky accident. The store shows the original version with the unaltered tv screen in the window that became the final edited print.

This is in Astoria, my favorite small city on the planet. The colors are what first grabbed me. In the windows, the dark sky, the light and dark shades of green. The green hue itself. I had to lighten the sky a bit for better contrast with the building and windows. Really, very little editing for this image.

An abandoned building, the Vernonia lumber mill (originally owned by Oregon-American Lumber Company) was built in the early 1920’s. It has been left to stand against the ongoing forces of nature and time. The building is located in a small park within the city limits of Vernonia, Oregon, better known more recently (if at all), as one of the film locations for the 2008 vampire movie, Twilight. Beyond that celebrity distinction, it’s a nice old town with a good coffee shop among other local businesses.

Rebecca and I went hiking in the park where we first discovered the old building. All we saw at first was a tall, bland wall facing our direction. From the path there was a dirt walkway to an open doorway. Stepping inside, it was quite a surprise! In a large area maybe 100 feet long by 50 feet wide (These are only approximate dimensions taken from memory), and the graffiti lined all the walls to the top where no ceiling existed. There too, a young man had set up his drum set in the middle and was practicing his craft.

I took quite a few photos of the graffiti strewn walls, a few I have included here. If you are in the area, check out the town of Vernonia. Here’s directions to the park I mentioned, the building is about a 5 minute walk along the lake to the entrance.

I did make a final print for sale from this location for those who may be interested:

Whenever I drive down toward Bend, Oregon through the small town of Sisters, on a narrow stretch of highway, these metal horse sculptures so beautifully dot the surrounding landscape, I want to stop and take a picture. I never do stop, but this time as a passenger, I shot this image through my open window, these horses seem so wild and alive!

The city of Portland is on the edge of their collective seat, worried beyond measure their beloved little town has lost its adorable “weird” status. Well, to that I say (humbly), not to worry, this city is wonderfully weird to its core: just ask the horse on the roof that watches over the downtown area.

City driving has its special challenges even in small town Portland. The horse on the wall looks like it’s about to dart into moving traffic and if it did would anyone even notice?

This picture is of me taking a picture of the beautiful Painted Hills, 3000+ acres that includes the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, a geologic wonder. Millions of years ago, this entire area was underwater and the different sediment layers offer scientists a clear view into the past. I used this image that Rebecca took also on our about us page.

Nearby is the tiny town of Mitchell, worth visiting (in my opinion) just for the local pub and surrounding buildings. When I was there, there were about a dozen fancy, new-looking corvettes lining both sides of the street eating at the pub.