Photowalking

[olivermoss]

Some sidewalk pics:





Still trying to figure out how I want to shoot janky sidewalks. I prefer the top shot.



I shot this because of another thing I am trying to figure out. Portland has parking strips (space between sidewalk and street) that are filled with roots. They are organic curves in the rectangular space created by concrete. It creates a really cool feeling... but I don't have a good picture of one because of lighting issues. This... isn't really that, it's a tree in a yard, but it's also making the sidewalk feel a little enclosed by roots. Anyway, I need to start noting where locations of sidewalk are so I can try to shoot them at certain times of day. Noon? Light too dappled. Dark? light is unpossible. I really need early golden hour I think, which is currently like 3 seconds around 4 PM. Maybe more of a fall/sprint shot, but I need to start planning getting the shot.

















These last two shots are part of the same mural wrapping around a building. It's interesting because of how elements are blended. In the bears section, the weird, jagged shapes often used in basic tagging is made into part of the landscape. In the spraycan shot, you can see how those vertical lines are layered in with the images. Those vertical lines look like sloppy graffiti clean up, but it's part of the design. I feel like this who design is very meta. Someone gooder at murals and street art could make interesting observations.

Portland has a street murals program. Here is the map. If you go through the legend you can see that street artists from Japan, UK, Israel, etc as well as local street artists are given place to work. Most of the major projects are those, but this doesn't look like part of the program. It's a massive project, though.

Comments

[walgesang]

This are so fantastic. I love the street murals! My userpic is from a street mural. The rainbow steps are also very cool.

[olivermoss]

Cool!

It was fun to find another rainbow stairs. There is a sort-of well known one north of here, but it also looks cool on that house

[muccamukk]

I really like the shadows on the rainbow staircase.

[james]

I love the colors and lighting in that first one! I love how it looks almost completely greyscale, then isn't. (And the fact the colors are rainbow pride are bonus!)

[olivermoss]

That was a fun house to come across!

[lovelyangel]

I like all of these photos – and some a little more than others – but it would take a list to call them out and what I like about each – and I’m feeling pretty lazy today (and soon have to start preparing food for Thanksgiving dinner). I think my favorite is the 4-window photo, but #1 and #5 are great, also.

[olivermoss]

I rarely take pictures of windows, but that one was too good to pass up :)

Have a great Thanksgiving!

[mistressofmuses]

I LOVE that one of the four windows.

The rainbow stairs are great, too.

All the murals are really cool. The rabbit one is probably my favorite, but I really like them all.

Agreed that the top picture captures the janky sidewalk better, imo.

And I really do love the juxtaposition of organic, curving shapes into a very manmade, right-angled space.

[olivermoss]

I rarely take pictures of windows, but had to make an exception for that set. The neon lights were great, but the spray bottle being sideways in the top right, so you can tell what it is, just sold me.

Yeah, I am trying to balance clarity of sidewalk jankiness with trying to make it an actually good picture. I am going to need to take a few swings at it. I am pretty using to navigating stuff like that in the complete dark.

[mistressofmuses]

The silhouettes of the plants (and that perfectly positioned spray bottle) juxtaposed with the curved neon light absolutely makes it! I love it.

[st_aurafina]

These are some moody, gorgeous photos, wow.

Every time I see your photos, I want to get my camera out and charge it up and see if I can improve my skills a bit? I really need to do it.

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

I hope you do :) It's great to have your own pictures sometimes, and you never know what you might find to shoot.