Kelly Avenue pedestrian underpass, Portland, OR, April 2010. Kodak TMY.
Recently, over at civics21.org, I wrote about the idea of hyperlocalism and history, or as local history blogger John Chilson described it to me, “microhistory.” This concept encompasses the bits and pieces of the past — the loose strings about the edges — that don’t often …
Category Archives: Culture
Historic Hyper-Localism and Photography
Review: Railroad noir: The American West at the end of the Twentieth Century
Railroad Noir: The American West at the End of the Twentieth Century
Narratives by Linda Grant Niemann, Photographs by Joel Jensen. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomignton, IN 47404; http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/; 11.3 x 9.1 x 0.8 in; hardbound; 168 pages, 23 color and 17 b/w photos, 1 map; 39.95
In American culture, the railroad is often …
The Role of Loss
Checking For Obstructions. Portland, OR, March 2010. Kodak TMY.
This week, a friend picked up a copy of David Plowden’s retrospective, Vanishing Point, a book I once wrote a Russian-novel length review of here.
I’ve come to be a great admirer of Plowden. His photography is simultaneously straightforward yet lyrical. Unlike the works of, say, the New …
On the failure of a typology
Portion of NW 5th Avenue, Portland
Over the last few years, I’ve been working through a significant shift in my photography, and as a result I’ve been experimenting with a number of new techniques and ideas. One of those has been the notion of typologies.
Typologies are a photographic tool that owe much of their heritage …
Urbanity and intimacy
North Interstate Avenue, Portland, OR, February 2010. Kodak TMY.
The sweeping view, the grand vista, the bird’s-eye perspective. These are all classic ways of shooting the city, of trying to capture the greatness on a metropolitan scale. Such perspectives have been the staple of urban photography since the medium was born in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
Once …
Ramen, soul of a city?
Anticipation is always deceiving, and nothing is ever as one imagines it. Vancouver, B.C. is both more and less than my mind had envisioned. It is less a futurist’s city, but far more human. This is especially true about the edges, or in the nooks and crannies away from the landmarks.
Denman Street and the West …
Overeating in Richmond, B.C.
Storefronts in Richmond have all sorts of interesting things to see.
Recently, I visited the Vancouver, B.C. area. Among a number of goals, I had one that stood out: to sample the legendarily good Chinese food available in the suburb of Richmond.
Interacting with the culture of Richmond was an adventure of its own, especially if that …
Photojournalism and respect
At the Lansdowne SkyTrain station in Richmond, B.C.
Sometimes I think that one of the main reasons I feel I am not particularly skilled as a photo journalist is that I’m just not enough of an a-hole for the job. On a recent trip to the largely ethnically Chinese city of Richmond, B.C., I realized that …
The Future of Beaverton?
The Future of Beaverton?, originally uploaded by route99west.
I’ve rather provocatively titled this image “the future of Beaverton” with my tongue only partly in cheek. There are many ways that the pairing of Richmond/Vancouver does not hold as an analogy to Beaverton/Portland. Vancouver, for one, is a true international city, thanks to being the only major …
Biting the hand that “frills” you
From my cold dead hands, Mr. Bingham.
Opening up today’s Oregonian is quite an education sometimes. In today’s paper, staff writer Larry Bingham outlines an in and out list, of “how life in the Northwest is shaking out in lean times.” The title is “The Frill is Gone.”
And the list? The list of outs include microbrews, …