Wy'east From Holgate Blvd, Lents

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Here's an angle on Wy'east that you don't get from me so often; one where the ramparts of the peak aren't visible, and a clear angle on the peak is impossible to achieve. But the mountain still peeks through, and the peeking peak is still majestic, even though it be obscured.

The Brown Eyed Girl, who helps me look when I'm not looking and should be, thought the angle she got from the drivers' seat heading east on SE Holgate Boulevard crossing I-205 going east was magnificent. She's right, of course. You can't quite get the same view on foot without putting yourself in harm's way, but more's the pleasure for the challenge. The complex foreground dares you to find an expressive composition.

One thing I've self-learnt is that, to make the mountain seem as big in pictures as it does to my subjective impression it just takes the right crop. And in this framing, despite the human artifacts all in front, the mountain still looms. And, also, I enjoy putting all this together; our world is a world of people and what that world does to and with the world of nature; in Oregon, we're no angels in that regard, but I fancy we do it with a bit of awareness and panache you won't find elsewhere.

In Portland, evergreens still rule, for instance. And the houses of man live amongst them at a sort of peace. Even now in the money-mad 2020s.

I-205, Monday Afternoon, With Occasional Mount Scott

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I really am at something of a loss to understand why I think I should go out these Covid-19 "Stay-at-home" times and find of Portland a howling desertion suitable for the opening to The Omega Man. I guess I figure since I'm going to be living in times like this, it should at least be a spectacle as I was conditioned to be frightened of since I was a kid.

I used to read magazines and books that told you the most amazing things back in the 1970s about the world of 40-50 years hence. Now I'm here and it's just bewildering and intimidating. I mean, I swallowed Chariots of the Gods? without question ... ah, but that's another program for another time.

As for the reality of life during a particularly spooky global pandemic, the daytime Portland, Oregon, after the city gets going, seems plenty busy enough, if the traffic is a little light. The star photograph of this post is a long view of Interstate 205 looking south from the overpass of SE Holgate Boulevard. I-205 is the official boundary between East Portland and Outer East Portland, and it forms a sort of half-loop around the core areas of the city. And, last Monday, it looked like this:

Running along the super-slab there is the Green Line route of the MAX; just beyond that pedestrian crossing in the middleground can be seen a train coming this way. Look carefully and one can also see the Foster Road off and on-ramps.

That massif defining the horizon is a butte called Mount Scott, one of our modestly-named Portland heights that exult in the title Mount, and is a member of the Boring Volcanic Field.

And this is an awesome post because not only is that a cool angle on the freeway but I also got to say Boring Volcanic Field, which sounds like the mixed-est message you ever heard, but Google it up, chum. Go learn something.

[pdx] Foster Holgate Tango Foxtrot

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In Southeast Portland, the two charming trafficways, the mighty SE Foster Road and the more modest but still dear SE Holgate Blvd, meet at a rather severe angle; Holgate runs cardinal east t'west, and Foster is one of our two great eastside diagonals. And in that corner is, this exuberant building.

The building is actually home to three businesses. Over there on the far right is SharedSpace, the studio where Jake and Barry (and a few others) work and do wonderful stuff. In the middle is a cute little old-fashioned barbershop (at least it looks that way; those who know me know that with barbershops I have little truck (nothing personal)). But that splash of color?

That's an Argentine-style tango studio where you can really get lessons and such. They call it Tango Berretín.  Tango got popular again maybe a decade ago, and faded; but Tango Berretín is still kicking in high style, so they must be doing something right.

This mighty intersection is where three streets actually come together; the aforementioned Foster and Holgate, and SE 67th Avenue. Above is the picture of the building along the 67th side, and below, of course, is the gusset point. The view faces NE.

 

I'll cop to something here; there's a "Vivid Color" setting on my trusty Canon PowerShot, and it seemed unfair to photograph this delightfully over-the-top, unafraid décor in anything else. And it really made the cloudy sky dramatic, which I visually enjoy.

An eclectic corner like this kind of proves with all the ambivalence about the way Portland's growing, there are still corners of town that haven't forgotten how to weird, Portland-style.