The AHC Hard Hat Tour of the Salvation Army Industrial Home, #1

About the Hard Hat Tour, found at Community NonProfit Resource Group--Portland: This Salvation Army building was the District Headquarters for Men's Social services for the state of Oregon, Eastern Washington, and all of Montana. Architecturally it is a GREAT building, designed by Frederick Manson White who came to the US in 1888. With the firm McCaw & Martin, he worked on downtown Portland's First Presbyterian Church, Dekum Building, and the Armory. In his own practice, he designed the Sherlock Building, Imperial Hotel, and the Auditorium Building. Actually, White did not design the whole building. In 1930 he designed the remodel which added the northern building to the southern building. In another post, I've got a special treat of a photograph which supports the fact that the southern building was a Salvation Army building, prior to the 1930 remodel. Our "hard-hat tour" will allow attendees to see the building before all of its restoration is complete. It is an opportunity for a behind the scenes look at the challenges, conditions, and innovative approaches for a superb adaptive reuse project. We're standing inside the southern most section of the Salvation Army Industrial Home building which is actually two buildings remodeled into one. This part, erected in 1893, started as a hay and feed business. It's great that those huge, first-floor windows remained open, allowing the sun the illuminate the huge room for us. Our first speaker, Morgen from the Architectural Heritage Center, set the historical stage for the tour. Then a woman from Venerable Properties spoke of what had been here up to this point in time and about Venerable's plans for the building. One view of the stairs we did not take to the second floor. The staircase is in the southern most section, too. Looking up the staircase. I held the camera out across the red tape, knowing not to put my foot over there on that part of the floor. Wonder what sort of lives were led by the men who laid these bricks back in 1893? This is the exterior, southernmost wall. One of my favorite items found on the Hard Hat Tour, this sign leaning against the wall which separated the newer portion of the building, the northern part, from the older, southern section. The remodel by Frederick Manson White took place in 1930 and gave the Salvation Army just what it needed, much more space to perform their services for Portland. And I don't mean chapel services, but the many ways in which they helped those in need. Here is the photo as altered at Picnik, HDR-ish. You may remember my lament about the April 19 closing of Picnik. I'm still not happy at all about it's disappearance from my photo/blogging toolbox, but I have found Ipiccy and PicMonkey, both of which give me great hope. See yesterday's post for evidence to their effectiveness. Here's the same photo, altered in Picnik with the special effect Gritty. And here it is, altered at Ipiccy, HDR Picture. Seems to me a decent tool, although I will take me some time and some playing around with the tool to get used to this muted look. After April 19, I'll have to be happy with it, unless PicMonkey comes up with something more like Picnik's HDR-ish. Ipiccy's Gritty special effect. I'll bet you're looking forward to April 19 when I won't have all of these alternatives to shower on you! Ha, ha!

Steel Bridge over the Willamette River, altered with Picnik

Westbound traffic lane and a vehicle, plus MAX tracks and a westbound MAX train emerging from the Steel Bridge; eastbound MAX train, and the Steel Bridge. Thanks to Flickr contact drburtoni for suggesting that I take the altered image you see below and make it black and white.


I took the original photo on October 8, 2011. This one is altered with the Picnik special effect HDR-ish.

From the Internet:

The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic (on the Pacific Highway West No. 1W, former Oregon Route 99W) and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. The bridge links the Rose Quarter and Lloyd District in the east to Old Town Chinatown neighborhood in the west.

The bridge was completed in 1912 and replaced the Steel Bridge that was built in 1888 as a double-deck swing-span bridge. The 1888 structure was the first railroad bridge across the Willamette River in Portland. Its name originated because steel, instead of wrought iron, was used in its construction, very unusual for the time. When the current Steel Bridge opened, it was simply given its predecessor's name.

The structure was built by Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company at a cost of $1.7 million. It opened in July 1912 to rail traffic and on August 9, 1912 to automobiles. In 1950, the Steel Bridge became an important part of a new U.S. 99W highway between Harbor Drive and Interstate Avenue. Harbor Drive was removed in 1974 and replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Between 1984 and 1986 the bridge underwent a $10 million rehabilitation, including construction of the MAX light rail line.
In 2001, a 220-foot (67 m) long and 8-foot (2.4 m) wide cantilevered walkway was installed on the southern side of the bridge's lower deck as part of the Eastbank Esplanade construction, raising to three the number of publicly accessible walkways across the bridge, including the two narrow sidewalks on the upper deck. The bridge is owned by Union Pacific with the upper deck leased to Oregon Department of Transportation, and subleased to TriMet, while the City of Portland is responsible for the approaches.
The upper deck was closed again for summer 2008 for maintenance and to allow a junction to be built at the west end for the MAX Green Line. The lower deck of the bridge was threatened by major floods in 1948, 1964, and 1996.

The lift span of the bridge is 211-foot (64 m) long. At low river levels the lower deck is 26 feet (7.9 m) above the water, and 163 feet (50 m) of vertical clearance is provided when both are raised. Because of the independent lifts, the lower deck can be raised to 72 feet (22 m), telescoping into the upper deck but not disturbing it. Each deck has it own counterweights, two for the upper and eight for the lower, totaling 9,000,000 lb (4,100 metric tons).

The machinery house is above the upper-deck lift span with an operator's room suspended below the house so that the operator can view river traffic as well as the upper deck. The average daily traffic in 2000 was 23,100 vehicles (including many TriMet bus lines), 200 MAX trains, 40 freight and Amtrak trains, and 500 bicycles. The construction of the lower-deck walkway connected to the Eastbank Esplanade resulted in a sharp increase in bicycle traffic, with over 2,100 daily bicycle crossings in 2005.

Great technical diagrams at this link, as well as photos.

Waiting, with Resignation. #3

I took three photos--this is the last of the three.


Here's the first photo I took when the dog and I both had noticed each other. What a beautiful glossy coat!


In the second photo, the dog's turning his head to his right, away from me. Seems to be asking, "Are you sure you have to take my picture? I shall ignore you in hopes of discouraging your efforts."


With resignation, "Oh, well. It didn't work." Here's the last of the three again, the original of the top photo in this post. You can see how I altered it using Picnik's contrast, sharpness, and HDR-ish.

I took these photos on October 30, 2010. I didn't have a clue where the two of us were, so I searched through my Flickr Photostream and am convinced that I took this photo on NE Broadway, between NE 15th where I got off the bus and NE 16th where I went into a building.

Enter for your chance to ... ? Monthly Theme Day--Electricity.

Monthly Theme Day at City Daily Photo - Electricity. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.



I'm riding on the MAX Light Rail train on the right, the red and white one you can see curving to the left. I love how these two tracks lead to a gentle 400-foot serpentine when two trains meet along NW Hoyt and NW 3rd Avenue, on the west end of the Steel Bridge.

I can't tell from the reflections exactly what one could win if one entered whatever--surely it's not crab legs. Nor can I tell what sort of bottles of beer appear.

I took this photo on September 20, 2011. It's been altered at Picnik with the Effect HDR-ish. I think it works well for Theme Day.

On the street, animate. Seen from the bus on East Burnside. October 8, 2011. Portland's just plain interesting.

Almost anachronisms abound. Left to right.

(1) The need for a box fan in Portland in October--see it in the doorway. It's usually in the low 60s, or cooler even.
(2) People sitting out from under cover--the two men closest to the curb. In October in Portland, it's more than likely to be raining.
(3) People smoking near the entrance of the Grendel's Coffee House. The Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act prohibits smoking in most public places and places of employment. Additionally, smoking is not permitted within ten feet of any entrance, exit, window, or air-intake vent.
(4) The USPS corner mailbox beside the brick column. According to a Sept. 8, 2011, article at Seattle PI dot com, in 1985 there were 400,000 of them out and about, now 160,000 remain. Actually the article is pretty informative.

Image cropped and altered with Picnik Effect HDR-ish.

Big Pink, another modern piece of architecture which totally fascinates me.

I cannot remember the term used to describe what's going on with the building in the left corner, the Embassy Suites which started out as the Multnomah Hotel. I believe the same thing impacts the building (a parking garage maybe) which stands between the hotel and the Big Pink. You see, my simple goal as I stood facing west on SW 3rd Avenue on Saturday, February 18, 2012, was to enjoy the glory of that huge blue sky, a sight almost unseen during a Portland winter. Naturally I noticed the Big Pink. Had to take photos, just had to take photos, hoping to catch the sky and the building at their best.

Once I had downloaded the photos to iPhoto, I noticed a bit of serendipity--at first glance the alignment of some floors of the Big Pink seem to meet the building to its left in the photo, the one which I think is a parking garage. Makes it look like the two buildings are connected, doesn't it? Actually they rise on opposite sides of SW 5th Avenue.

Image altered at Picnik, Basic Effects, Sharpen and Color.

Altered with Picnik, Basic Edits: Exposure, Sharpened, Cropped; and Effects: Advanced/Cloned, No. 4

Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland's living room. I cloned the young man's backpack out of the photo and a small round object which was in front of him on the bricks. Normally I wouldn't do such cloning, I'd try cropping it out. However, I decided, "Why not?" I've got little more than two months left with my beloved Picnik, so I'm going to go for it. I really like the results, too. I like the sunshine, especially below his right knee and the sort of glow around him on the bricks; the shadows following the concrete forms along the curve; and the glistening, rain-wet bricks in both patterns.

I took this photo on an unusually sunny winter day in Portland, January 21, 2012, downtown. It would have been my dearly departed husband LeRoy's 65th birthday. I was out and about after that morning's top-knotch lecture at the Architectural Heritage Center--one of the best lectures I've attended:
Real Estate Development and the Re-Shaping of Old Portland
Focusing on the early days of Portland, Dr. Tracy Prince, author of Portland’s Goose Hollow, presented a slide show of historic photos and maps to demonstrate how dramatically different the terrain of Old Portland (the west side—from the Willamette River to the West Hills) was from today’s terrain. This changed terrain includes: building the Great Plank Road which ran through the narrow and dark Tanner Creek Canyon; burying Tanner Creek, Johnson Creek, and Balch Creek; filling Couch Lake and Guild’s Lake; filling the 20-block long, 50-feet deep Tanner Creek Gulch; building streets upon 30-50 foot pilings in areas that today’s residents would describe as flatlands; and 1870s Oregonian stories about 25-foot deep cuts required when B Street (Burnside) was graded beyond the gulch. Such incredible alterations to Portland’s natural landscape were seen as necessary for growing a young frontier city and to accommodate real estate development.


The photo as it came out of the Nikon D50.

Altered with Picnik, Various Edits and Special Effects, No. 3

A. E. Doyle is my favorite Portland architect. This building, which also appeared in yesterday's post, is one of his which I adore. One of these days I will go inside and ask if I may take photos. Until then, more about the exterior.



Info found at the Architecture Foundation of Oregon Web site:

The US Bank Main Branch ... Architect: A.E. Doyle ... Built in 1917 (Please notice the building peeking through the space between the columns and the building. More about it soon.)

Built in 1917 and added to in 1925, the US Bank building was built in two stages that allowed it to occupy half of the National Bank Block in Portland. The location of the first project was at the corner of Southwest Sixth and Stark, later extended west to border Broadway. One of the west coast’s leading architects, A.E. Doyle designed the bank in the Classical temple style after the famous Knickerbocker Trust Bank in New York designed by McKim, Mead and White. This style was considered at the time by US Bank president J.C. Ainsworth to ‘embody the most modern type of bank architecture’.

When visiting this magnificent building, the first architectural elements you are likely to notice are the freestanding monolithic columns designed in the Corinthian order. The Corinthian order was chosen for the entire exterior of the building, in part to set a contrast between this building and the Doric order of the rival First National Bank.

Looking up between two of the columns.

This photo contrasts the size of the pedestrian and the dog with the size of the columns. Monumental difference. The intersection: SW Stark is the one way street, eastbound, crossing SW 6th Avenue, looking north on SW 6th Avenue.

Large bronze doors to the lobby greet visitors at the entry. Arvard Fairbanks, a former sculptor and professor of the University of Oregon designed these doors, which were inspired by the fifteenth century “Gates of Paradise” located in the Baptistery in Florence, Italy.


The Bank’s interiors are just as ornate and detailed as the exterior, having been built in a period before the modern movement removed ornamental architecture, and in a time when no dollar was spared to create a masterpiece. Three different colors of marble are present in the main lobby; each traveling from far reaches around the world. The white marble that can be seen in the floor and columns came from Italy; the red marble in the floor traveled from Hungary; and finally, the black marble at the counters found its way here from quarries in Belgium. The ceiling displays excellent artistry in ceramic bas-relief that was made in casts that were hand carved. Architect A.E. Doyle carefully oversaw the hand painting of the bas-relief, which has never needed to be repainted.

Altered with Picnik, Vibrance Special Effect, No. 2

Altered by cropping, tinkering with the exposure, and using the Vibrance Special Effect to make the colors pop.

What do you think is going on here? Did the man on the bicycle squeak in pain after taking the curb, causing the man waiting to cross SW 6th take a close look?

Altered with Picnik, Focal B&W, No. 1

Focal B&W Special Effect. I took this photo on March 12, 2009 with my backup camera, a Coolpix L12.

At the time renovation of the downtown Portland Transit Mall, which goes south on SW 5th and north on SW 6th, nears completion. On this particular day, the lane lines must have been painted; crews had placed bollards alongside the lines to keep vehicles off the paint prior to its drying.

Speaking of lanes, let me explain them to you. Automobiles are allowed in the leftmost lane only and may turn left only (except for one intersection whose location I do not recall). You can tell from the recessed metal tracks that the MAX has priority in either the center lane or the right lane, depending whether it is making time or boarding and/or de-boarding passengers. Buses are the only wheeled vehicles allowed in the right lane, but of course they may not go there if a MAX train is there. All of the bus stops are on the sidewalk beside the right lane. This is SW 6th, looking north in the middle of the block south of SW Madison. I am at this intersection most days after work now that the Mall has reopened.

Happy Valentine's Day! My heart's breaking!

Natural curl of the telephone cord, altered in Picnik. I had too much fun with too many special effects to remember exactly what I did!

Now for the heartbreak. Picnik's going away.

Here's what you read when you click on the banner at the top of your photo you're about to alter in Picnik:

"Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012. Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things.

Premium Refunds: To our primo Picnik Premium (That's me!) members, we will refund your current membership fee in full. By "in full" we mean the whole darn thing. Yep, this means no prorating here. Just to say thanks. (They did!)

Now the Good News - Free Premium for ALL! Now the silver lining. To say a great big thank you, Picnik Premium is free for everyone! Use Picnik in all of its premium glory, for free, from now until our official closing date of April 19, 2012. Enjoy!

We are excited to bring even more photo-editing fun to Google Products, like Google+, where you can find many of your favorite Picnik effects. Just look for them under Creative Kit. "

Suffice it to say, I am one great big ol' unhappy camper. Even if I don't use a special effect, I resize my photos because I like the impact that results when I do so. I straighten photos, I crop photos, I can't go on, or I'll be crying on my keyboard.

Quirky find of mine, at the east end of the Morrison Bridge

I took this photo on November 20, 2010. SPF 100, 768,000 FL OZ. I can't remember how long the water tower was painted like this, but I do remember hearing something about its decoration being illegal, according to city guidelines. I thought it matched the hideously large signs about flying to Hawaii. If I were to remove anything from this intersection, it would be those signs, not the decoration on the water tower. I altered the photo with the HDR-ish special effect at Picnik.

It's all in how you look at it.

Big Pink and a parking lot sign. The sign is on the southeast corner of SW Broadway and West Burnside. Big Pink is exactly one block east of the sign. I used the tilt feature of my camera so that I could take a satisfactory look from this unusual angle. I've cropped the photo and used the HDR-ish special effect at Picnik. By the way, Big Pink is either 536 or 546 feet tall and is the second tallest building in Portland. I found both heights on the Internet, so who knows. I do know I've been on the 30th floor, which is not the top floor, to the Portland City Grill. See views from the PCG here and here.

Happy Halloween!

The tree with the sign on it which inspired my altering the photo for Halloween! Picnik is so much fun! The tree is in the backyard at the Zimmerman House Museum in Gresham, Oregon.

Happy birthday to my younger son, Leland!

Thursday, August 25, Part 7, Timberline Lodge and Mt. Hood, before we said, "So long."

Looking a different direction from the viewpoint above the main entrance at Timberline Lodge. I've used the HDR-ish effect in Picnik to get this look. I couldn't believe it when I clicked on it, how those trees got that blue glow behind them, the whole image fascinates me.


I still think this just might be Mt. Jefferson, south of Mt. Hood. I couldn't resist trying Orton-ish in Picnik on the closer shot that I took with my zoom lens. I like. Do you?


A plaque full of facts, attached to the gigantic chimney/fireplace inside the lodge.


It's easy to get the drift when you read this sign and look at the slope of those various roofs--sorry, couldn't resist the pun! This door opens out onto the patio at the back of the hotel.

Naturally I took photo after photo of Mt. Hood from the patio. Such fun!


A cloud came to call.


And came to stay.


And then go away, afterall.


Inside the lodge, I came across a tempting table--the last of a finger-food buffet? I didn't touch one single thing.


Here's another view of the chimney/fireplace and the sign. It's in the center of the lodge, more than two stories tall. Amazing.


Look who I saw out on the patio! A sweet little miniature dachshund who actually was a good bit bigger than our Duncan.


Still a gorgeous little red dog.


Soon I walked back to the Zipcar and drove up to in front of the hotel to get my buddies, Milton and Kay.


When I walked to the SUV, I got to see and photograph this vehicle. Hmmm. Wonder why?


And I saw this KGW Channel 8 remote van. I knew it was in place for the start of the Hood to Coast, a relay race made up of teams, which was set to begin at 3:30 a.m., about 12 hours from when I took this photo. Here's some info about the race. It's limited to 1,250 teams of 12. They run from Mt. Hood to Portland to Seaside on the Pacific. It's 200 miles with 36 legs of different lengths, varying from 3.5 miles to 7.8 miles, and the terrain ranges from flat to steep hills. Each runner may total between 13.6 miles and 19.7 miles. Teams must complete the course within a 31-hour limit. It begins on the Friday morning of the weekend before Labor Day weekend, between 3:30 a.m. and 6:45 p.m., staggered with about 20 teams every 15 minutes. The slower teams start earlier than the faster teams, based on self-reported 10K times for each team member. It officially ends at 9 p.m. Saturday. My goodness!


Look! It's an Official Vehicle for Hood to Coast!

We got home in time for me to drop off Milton and Kay and then get back into the SUV to head for the airport. My superb brother Howard and his superb wife Vanessa were due to land about an hour later. Their plane was on time, their luggage was on the plane, and I got them to their hotel safe and sound--the Monaco in downtown Portland. Howard was more hungry than tired, so we made a date to dine in the hotel's bar. I drove home, picked up Milton and Kay, and we enjoyed eating and talking in the Red Star Cafe. Then everyone went home (or to the room) to rest up for Friday's fun!

The view from ... ?

Guess, anyone? Looks like I've been to an exotic locale and didn't let you know I was going, doesn't it?


I will tell you that I took the photo, uploaded it from the D5100 to Flickr, opened it in Picnik where I altered it with two effects, vibrance and HDR-ish, then I cropped it as a square before putting it here on the blog. Then I looked at it for a while and decided to try to clone out the upright that is on the window pane. That's the photo you see at the top of the blog. I tried to clone it out, and for the most part, I'm pleased with the results. Well, sort of pleased. It's not easy to find colors and directions that you can use to cover up what you don't want visible.

Here's the original photo, straight from the camera.


OK. I'll spill the beans. My living room has four windows which look out onto the sidewalk that goes from the building's front door out to the sidewalk along the street. I pulled the blinds up on the east-most window and liked the look enough to grab my camera and take a few photos. I distinctly thought, "These should be fun at Picnik!"

So, I'm not crazy just because I thought this would be fun to play with at Picnik. You can see why when you look at the altered photo above, can't you? Hope so. Such outcomes are one of the reasons I adore taking digital photos and having a great camera to do so and then having a great computer, my beloved iMac which I have named ALL, a place to get busy with my photos.

No, I'm not crazy. I'm keeping myself sane.

A few views of Portland from the 30th floor of the Big Pink

August 23, with Milton and Kay, I enjoyed my city from on high, through these views from the Portland City Grill in downtown.


Looking south along SW 5th Avenue. I cropped and altered with image at Picnik with the HDR-ish effect.


Looking southeast with the Morrison Bridge in the foreground--it's undergoing work to replace the open steel grating on the lift span. I cropped and sharpened the image a little bit at Picnik.


Looking mostly south down the Willamette River. The bridges, from the foreground back--the Hawthorne Bridge, the Marquam Bridge, and then the Ross Island Bridge. This photo has been cropped and sharpened at Picnik.

More views soon.