One more weekend left to see the exhibit of Portland at night at Powell's City of Books

Powell's Books Portland Oregon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

If you haven't had a chance to get down to Powell's bookstore to see the Portland at night exhibit of black and white photography, it's not too late. The show will be there through the weekend and possibly the beginning of April. Nobody's contacted me about taking it down yet. So be sure and hop on down to Powell's at 1005 West Burnside in Portland, Oregon as soon as you can. The exhibit is in the Pearl Room on the third floor.

Discombobulated

Broadway Bridge Portland, Oregon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Daylight savings time has gotten me seriously discombobulated, even a week later. It seems to take forever to get dark these days. Or is it just me?

Patricia and I drove over to the Rose Quarter a few days ago in a quest to find the best vantage for the Broadway Bridge. All my shots of the BB were from the west side and slightly out of focus. In order to fit the planned bridge mosaic, I had determined that I needed the vantage from the southeast. So we got there at our usual sunset time and waited. And waited. Finally I had the right amount of darkness and the bridge did not disappoint me.

You are hereby cordially invited to an exhibit of my photographs at Powell's Books

Powell's Books Portland Oregon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

A few weeks ago I received a call from Powell's Books letting me know that my photographs had been chosen for an exhibit in their Basil Hallward Gallery located in the Pearl Room on the third floor of the Burnside location in downtown Portland. The exhibit will continue throughout the month of March and the opening reception will be held on First Thursday March 5, 2009 at 7pm. I hope you all can make it. I'm going to be featuring about 26 photographs of varying sizes, all black and white, all Portland, all night.

Remember: It's Powell's City of Books, 1005 West Burnside, Portland, Oregon

Re-shooting: A nuisance but a necessity

The Barn Tavern, Portland, Oregon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

Recently I have been working with a great guy and awesome photographer by the name of Glen Plam (he goes by mud_dog on flickr). Working to improve my technical skills. There's always room for improvement right?

I asked Glen for help with my shadows. Shadow detail hasn't been much of an issue when shooting the bridges but as I've branched out into other parts of towns and neon signs in particular, well...I had a hard time reconciling the highlights with the shadows.

Glen pointed out something that I had long forgotten: Expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows. Of course! This simple rule was deeply buried in my sub-conscious but yes, it was still there. It makes perfect sense. You can't recover information that isn't there and if the highlights are blown out by over-exposure, there's no way to bring them back.

Glen patiently demonstrated some simple post-processing techniques to bring up shadow detail and encouraged me to shoot raw. All of this led to the fact that I needed to re-shoot certain places. I didn't really want to but I forced myself.

I went out one night recently, sufficiently motivated to re-shoot, or so I thought. At first it felt awkward. The light wasn't right. I got there too early and it wasn't dark enough. The shop was still open and, worse, there were people lingering inside. Had I lost my mojo?


Deep breath.

Re-shoooting isn't so bad after all.



Here is the Immortal Piano Company, after it had closed for the night and the customers had gone home, re-shot and re-processed. It's a difficult subject...still. I deleted the original from flickr which was hasty of me. I have it somewhere in my archives. I'm still not sure if I got it right. I think what makes this shot so difficult is that the neon happens to be white instead of a color as in most of the neon signs around town and therefore a white, hot highlight.



What do you think?

Still experimenting with Portland at night

Barbershop, originally uploaded by alicethelma.

I'm still playing with the idea of a portfolio site and a new, "improved" blog. Based on some feedback I received regarding my last blog post, I've been re-thinking the whole idea. I hastily put together this viewer at my old, old (over 10 years) website, heavy duty design. As, always I'd love to know what you think.

Your feedback - good, bad and/or constructive - is always welcome. Thank you for your patience while I work things out.

Portland at night is moving

Mock Crest Tavern Portland Oregon, originally uploaded by alicethelma.
I've been working on a version of this blog in wordpress and you can check it out here. While it's still a beta version as I continue to tweak, I'm finding it a little difficult to maintain three blogs - I also have alicethelma - and continue to prowl the streets of Portland at night capturing digital images. There just aren't enough hours in the day...or night.

I hope you will continue to check the new blog often.
I enjoy your visits.
And, as always, your feedback is most welcome.

Let there be light

Lux, Portland Oregon
Originally uploaded by alicethelma

I did a little window shopping in NW Portland recently and discovered two very illuminating shops – both on NW Glisan Street coincidentally. Hive sticks out like a little box of store but the lighting attracts the eye. The window display reminded me of an old, old Woody Allen movie. Sleeper I think. The futuristic movie he made - futuristic in that mod 60s sort of way. Know what I mean?

Traveling a little farther up Glisan I encountered Lux lighting. Lux’s lights sparkle like diamonds and it’s especially pretty at night, Check these two shops out next time you’re in the Pearl.