Snowflake Challenge #8

[olivermoss]

Challenge #8

In your own space, celebrate a personal win from the past year: it can be a list of fanworks you're especially proud of, a gift of your time to the community, a quality or skill you cultivated in yourself, something you generally feel went well. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I am going to go with the sheer amount of time I spent photowalking. I already did a 'best' gallery, so have some random instead. This collection of images can only be the work of a truly serious amount of time spent walking.

Even in a city like Portland, getting this kind of content involves wearing through shoes. A lot of the art is transient. It's gone the next time I go by, or it's been damaged and gone gunky from the weather. Yarn bombings can go from cute to gunky fast in this rain.

Fun fact: I just tossed my hiking boots this past week. I and debating whether I can claim to have worn through the soles. The tread was gone, the rubber the tread was part of was gone ... but there was still some of that foamy stuff between the pavement and my insoles?

Looking through my previous photowalking posts, last March I was super productive.

Comments

[spikedluv]

So many cool things! Love the first one, and the flowers on the bike. (The coolest thing I see on my walks are baby geese and apple blossoms, lol!)

[olivermoss]

Thanks! It helps that the yard/street art scene here is nuts. I also make sure to keep hitting different areas as much as possible.

[razielim]

Wow, hard to believe some of these are the "random" shots and not the "best of."

I thought I loved walking, but this is a whole 'nother level. Do you have any clue or record of how much time you spend photowalking per day or week?

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

I used to keep track, but fell out of it due to the pandemic. I used to mark off what streets I'd done, but only if I did them in daylight. Then when the pandemic hit I was walking mostly at night, so that went on pause. I am trying to roughly figure out what I have and haven't hit to avoid rewalking the same areas too often.

My usual walk is 5-8 miles.

[muccamukk]

Okay that last one is horrifying.

I think the heart in the chainlink fence is my fave. Both for the metaphorical value, and the lovely composition of the show.

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

Yeah, Portland can be good at bringing the creepy.

[kingstoken]

Great photos, I think I like the of the bike the best.

[olivermoss]

Thank you!

[writedragon]

I love the photos you've been sharing. Definitely a win.

[olivermoss]

Thank you!

[shipperslist]

I've always enjoyed your photowalk posts, especially the creepy/weird ones. You somehow manage to capture something in your pictures...spirit or...I don't know how to call it. Anyhoo, the 4th picture of this post is an excellent example of that.

[olivermoss]

Thank you!

I don't shoot all the weird stuff I see. I for certain feels, a sort of flavor. I like that woven heart because it's subtle, but it has a warm feel to it.

[unavee]

These are so cool but some are also so strange and creepy! The art in the first photo is my favorite. I really like the composition of your photos, too. I feel like I'm seeing snapshots out of my memories.

[olivermoss]

Portland is good at providing the creepy and the random :)

Glad you enjoy them

[dreamersdare]

Ah, those are so good. The hand tree (whyyyyyyyy?) and the baby in the window were easily the creepiest for me. Thanks for sharing these.

[olivermoss]

You're welcome :) Portland really does bring the creepy.

[mxcatmoon]

I enjoy your photos from your walks, especially the weird stuff. I didn't know Portland was such a quirky town! Maybe I need to move there for inspiration. 😉 (actually, I have some health issues that make walking difficult, so it wouldn't help).

Thanks for sharing them!

[olivermoss]

Quirky is one thing Portland has going for it. The state of our sidewalks, though, in another matter. A lot of them are a mess.

[mistressofmuses]

I think that definitely counts as wearing through the sole, as long as the rubber bit was worn through.

I do love all the random stuff you've gotten shots of. The transitory nature of a lot of the art is a cool aspect of it, and makes it that much better to have a record of.

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

Yeah, it's rewarding when you want to have a gallery of shots that aren't like everyone else's. It's also fun to find stuff and not just chase other photographer's work.

[tsuki_no_bara]

some of these are so creepy and yet so intriguing, and i love the idea that some of the things you photographed are ephemeral. when i used to walk around my neighborhood i mostly took pictures of houses. i didn't see anything this cool.

[olivermoss]

Things being ephemeral makes is satisfying. I am discovering things, not just chasing the work of other photographers. I am lucky that Portland has such a weird yard/street art scene.

[peaked]

These are all so creepy! I love them! Your photos are fantastic.

[olivermoss]

Thank you!

[svgurl]

Wow, these all look amazing! And yes, some of them (especially the last) are creepy for sure. Makes you do a double take! My favorite is the bike with the flowers. :D

[olivermoss]

Thank you!