Southeast Portland

Division Street, and wow, it has changed
Taken with a GoPro.
Taken with a GoPro.

I really love having no reference points, visual or otherwise, between the time I lived in Portland in the 1980s and the present. This lets me make comparisons from mental pictures. SE Division Street between Cesar Chavez Boulevard (formerly 39th Street) and about 26th Street used to be a quiet place. I distinctly remember several biker bars. The Oregonian (now called Oregon Live) now claims it is Portland’s “hottest food destination.” I like the food cart court here, St. Honoré Boulangerie, and the Bollywood Theatre.

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Cement kiln, southeast Portland
Shot in October 2014.

The Lehigh Northwest Cement Co. is located near the large railroad yard in the industrial area of southeast Portland. I always have liked living near railroad yards. They are reminders of what keeps our country’s economic engine moving, and cement producers are always likely neighbors. To me they are strong icons of our industrial economy and fall into the category of photography I embrace focussing on industrial typologies. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)

Sellwood neighborhood, first impressions

One of the golden rules of photography I learned years ago was to immediately take pictures when you see something fresh and your mind is open to new ideas and perspectives, not deadened by familiarity and routine. I have always taken my best pictures usually the first days or hours of arriving in a new place, because I am receptive and attuned. So this morning, I did a stroll in my new neighborhood, Sellwood, in southeast Portland. I do not want to make any comments yet, since it is all fresh. But there is a certain degree of “hipness” that permeates the air, and I generally do not like that subjective word. Sellwood is what it is, and it is now home, and here is how it looks with a GoPro fisheye lens, with some added contrast for effect.