In Between. Portland, OR, March 2010. Kodak TMY.
This month I have two articles in the Online Extras section at the website of TRAINS Magazine. Both of these stories were written for a content extra that promotes the activities of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art, whose excellent 2010 conference I attended (and impromptu got …
Category Archives: Writing
A plug and a project
Photos on Railfan’s web site
Old United Railways mainline in Guild’s Lake. Portland, OR, April, 2010. Kodak TMY.
Back from the Center for Railroad Photography and Art’s 2010 “Conversations About Photography” conference in Chicagoland, I’ve got a few brief things to catch up on.
First, Railfan and Railroad has published two of my photos and a short article about the relationship …
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 …
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 …
Review: Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
By Martin Burwash. iUniverse, 1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403; http://www.iuniverse.com/; 9 x 6 x 1.1 in; trade paperback; 480 pages, 15 maps; $29.95
In the late Winter of 1910, the largest avalanche disaster in the history of North America struck the tiny railroad town …
G9: One Year Later
(If you hear Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson reading this to you in your head, don’t be surprised.)
Nearly one year ago, I, a dedicated film photographer, did something unthinkable: I bought a digital camera. No, I hadn’t eaten one too many happy pills. No, I hadn’t drank my fixer one too many times. (Mmm, fixer!) No, …
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, …
The Seattle Bus Challenge
It began with, as usual, a Monday lunch. Dan, Portland blogger, avowed transit geek, and ideas guy, had a question: were transit systems in the northwest well developed enough that a person could ride from Portland to Seattle, purely by using local busses? No Greyhound, Gray line, Amtrak, or charter systems. True, public busses.
For a …
The continuing demise of film: And so it goes….
I am an adherent of film-based photography. The advances of quality and ability in digital photography are by no means small. Add to this that a lot of friends shoot in digital. However, those aspects do not interest me. My background in the visual arts comes from painting, watercolor in specific. The textural, sensual feel …