Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 10

I hope you're not too tired of seeing these photos of the blooming cherry trees bathed in sunlight. I can't quit looking at them myself, amazed at the impact those blossoms have on the views. We've not had much sunshine like this since that weekend about three weeks ago. However, we Portlanders know that it will return, the middle of next week in fact! I especially like how blossoms enhance the look of the trunks and branches on these two rows of trees.



Here's another photo of the same spot, taken looking a bit more to the east. I'm sharing it with you because I like the two photographers with their phones. One stands at the left side of the photo where the sun lights up her spring green jacket as she takes a photo. The other takes a giant step into the photo from the right. She wears a sweater with stripes the same green and a matching headband. While she's not taking a photo, the fact that she has phone in hand and is looking up makes me certain that she's on the search for the perfect place to take the next beautiful photo.

Along the west bank of the Willamette River, No. 6

Wait! There in the distance past the in-focus single Benson Bubbler I couldn't resist photographing because the plume of water resembled a giant cut diamond. Is that someone squatted beside the redhead in the gray hat?



Yep, he's checking out the screen on his phone. She's turned towards him. He photographed her at the same time I did, from a straight-on perspective, I imagine. He's wearing a darker gray hat and has a red fu manchu mustache and goatee. Serendipity!

Seen on the street, February 16, 2013, No. 2

Click here for a trip to City Daily Photo, transporting you around the world every day.



The colors in this photo, their vivid strength, took me by surprise when I uploaded them to the iMac. It was the chance to photograph a photographer that got me to take a few photos, not the colors. To get them to pop, I decided to alter them using the HDR special effect at PicMonkey.
 

Color mixed with grays and silvers--her purple hat and his purple shirt, her green polka dots on her pants and the green bicycle safety lane behind them, her golden yellow shoes and her jacket, the red stripe on his camera strap and around the lens, along with the rusty reds on the building--as well as all sorts of shapes and lines, all of this makes me happy. Their checking to make certain that the image on the memory card  is what they want, not just a random snap.

The story of two photos, pure amazement and serendipity for me!

Monday night, December 26, the Trail Blazers played Philadelphia in our season opener. Fans and those whose employment depend upon the games taking place, as well as the players and coaches, feel pretty good about basketball being back in Portland.

Lots of Trail Blazer fans count #12, LaMarcus Aldridge, as their favorite player.

One of the photos in this short, short story is this one that I took from clean across the entire arena of LaMarcus Aldridge as he scored. Totally excited to get it!

When I decided to post the photo, I searched on Google for trail blazers philadelphia december 26, 2011. And I come across photos from the game taken by the Oregonian, Portland's daily newspaper. Lo and behold, the very first photo I saw is of the same instant of action, taken by the photographer (Bruce Ely) sitting on the floor at the baseline--you can barely see him on the right edge of my photo because I cropped close to LaMarcus and the basket. (More about that at the bottom of the post.)

If you click on the link, you'll see the second photo in this short, short story. And be amazed.

To tell you the truth, I did the search hoping to find the photo and a word or two about who had passed the ball to LaMarcus and if this was one of those lob passes like I'm pretty sure I remember it was. Anyway, the caption beneath Ely's photo was no help, but I was very excited to see the action from his perspective, let me tell you! Please click on the link above or here to see Ely's photo. I would have tried to copy and paste it onto the blog, but I didn't feel that would be the right thing to do. One of these days maybe I'll contact him for permission, if this happens again!


Here I've I cropped the photo differently so you could see Bruce Ely. Look at that other camera and lens standing in front of him!

Seen on the streets of Portland, No. 1

A photographer stands on the corner of SW 11th Avenue and SW Yamhill Street, bent at the waist, eye to camera, the MAX Yellow Line going east on the far side of Yamhill.

I took this photograph facing north, behind the Central Library, after dropping four books in the Drop Box on the sidewalk, around 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009.

By the way, yesterday's ceiling is known as cantaloupe according to one of the PCPA tour guides.

Guest Post from Tom Wright, in Brandon, Mississippi

Sunday, August 31, 2008
WAITING ON GUSTAV ...
I remember how it was three years ago before we knew of the potential for the danger that was to come. There was a sense of excitement, an anticipation, that something was going to happen but it was more like the feeling that we got waiting for the first day of school to start. A little buzz of emotional electricity. There wasn't a "carnival" like atmosphere, we'd been through hurricanes and their after effects before and know how serious they can be, but folks just went about their daily lives on a bright and sunny summer day.

Now, I live in the central part of Mississippi, in Brandon, just ten miles east of the capitol city, Jackson. When a hurricane hits our coast, believe it or not, we feel the affects, not anything like they do on the coast, but it sometimes gets nasty, a lot of strong wind and a whole lot of rain. When Katrina hit, it was like nothing we'd seen in a long time, at least since Hurricane Camille. The actual storm was something to behold. The wind was like nothing that I'd ever seen and the torrential downpour was a virtual "frog strangler". In my neighborhood there are a lot of old and very large pine and oak trees, many that were uprooted or just snapped off. Many trees came down on houses, destroying a good bit of the house, if not the whole thing. We were without electricity for over a week - it was August and it was Mississippi and it was hot.



At my house we were lucky. A large tree was snapped off at the base and came down on my storage barn and my wife's car, barely grazing the house. A huge pine tree in my neighbor's back yard, behind my house, snapped and barely missed my house, wrecking my back fence. This was nothing compared to the damage that others experienced.







There was utter chaos as Katrina hit. Folks waited until the last minute to evacuate and there were tremendous traffic jams on the roads from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Alabama and even Texas. The motels and hotels were full all of the way to north Mississippi. After the storm, well, you know the story. I want to say in support of my much criticized state, that good Samaritans came out of the woodwork, providing shelter, gasoline, food and even money to the evacuees.

This time it's different. Folks are taking things much more seriously. The highways from Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have already been turned into "contra-flow" highways, meaning that traffic can only head one way - north or east. Shelters have already been opened and mandatory evacuations have been ordered. I heard on public radio that, before Katrina, Bourbon Street in New Orleans was "party central", but last night it was almost deserted - a wise move.

If anyone is interested in listening to what is going on in the way of preparing for the storm, you can listen online to Mississippi Public Radio, which is broadcasting storm info non-stop.
You can listen online at:

http://radio.mpbonline.org/MPB_Live

We'll see what happens. The anticipation and anxiety is definitely here, even though the day has dawned bright and sunny and humid. We'll keep you posted. Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers.

Thank you, Tom, for your memories and photos from Katrina and your thoughts on Gustav. If any of you have photos and/or thoughts you would like to share here on Mama and Me from PDX, e-mail them to me, and I will post them for you. We continue to pray for everyone's safety.

Tom graduated from Corvallis High School in 1964. Be sure to take a look at the CHS Class of 64.

UPDATE:

Here's some information/comments from another dear Mississippi friend, Fredna Gibson.

How about Tom Wright???? He did an excellent job describing how Katrina affected our part of the state.
I don't think people realize that hurricane Katrina hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast, not New Orleans. New Orleans received damage from flood waters when their dams breached. New Orleans also got so much more national media attention than the coast because of the devastation from flooding.

The MS Gulf Coast, on the other hand, was wiped off the face of the earth. I don't think people actually realize that.

It will break your heart (three years later) to drive down Beach Blvd from Ocean Springs to Long Beach, there is nothing left but a few casinos. In fact, you can't drive all the way to Long Beach!!! All of the beautiful antebellum homes are gone, none have been rebuilt. It looks like a giant hand reached down and scaped the coast clean.

I have cried every time we have visited the coast. I have family in Gulfport, they will be traumatized for the rest of their lives as a result of Katrina.

We are all praying that the Lord will calm the storm so that the damage will be minimal.

And just now, Fredna e-mailed to say, "I think we dodged a bullet this time with Gustav, thank you Jesus!!! Thank everyone for your prayers." Amen.

Pleasing familiar

Driving the Buick. Stopped behind a bus. Glimpsed the photographer. Grabbed my camera. Clicked a couple.



Several definitions of the noun familiar at Merriam-Webster please me--2: one that is familiar; especially an intimate associate, a companion. And--4 a: one who is well acquainted with something b: one who frequents a place. How about this for the adjective familiar? 5 a: frequently seen or experienced, easily recognized, a familiar theme b: of everyday occurrence, a familiar routine

Do you feel a familiarity with a scene such as this?

The Proliferate Photographer

Yep, that's me, reflected in the button one may push to cross the MAX tracks in front of the Rose Garden Arena--you can see it on the right side of the button, it's light gray. The Trail Blazers play basketball there. I took this photo on that cold and sunny Saturday, Dec. 8. You can see my rolling red bag--the zipper broke on the rolling black bag--with a cup of Barq's Root Beer sitting on it. I'd been to a Burgerville for lunch while out on my multi-hour walk.