Some photos from the sunny days we had last week, taken with that vintage film SLR I've been playing with lately. One unfortunate thing I've noticed with this camera is that people see it and want to talk to you. I don't like talking to strangers very much even in the best of times, and I'm even more antisocial when I'm friggin' busy. I don't know what it is that draws 'em. I had a guy ask me, in all seriousness, how I managed to take pictures while it's windy. What made this a stupid question is that I was taking pics of Rusting Chunks #5 at the time, which is made of the finest Cor-Ten steel and must weigh several tons at least. Possibly it wouldn't remain perfectly still during a tornado, but we don't get those very often here.
So you get a few stupid questions, but you get even more people who want to be helpful and won't take no for an answer. They assume you're a tourist and they want to make a new friend. They rattle off a list of things you need to go take photos of while you're here. The Grotto is always a big favorite among these people for some reason. (I'm probably not going to take their advice, either, because religion creeps me out.) So, OK, it's not totally unreasonable to see a camera and think "tourist", but one time I mentioned to someone that I'd lived here for close to 30 years, and it didn't even slow him down. Grotto this, Rose Garden that, blah blah Pittock Mansion, blah blah Multnomah Falls. I wouldn't mind so much if they'd come up with something original now and then, but nooooo.
In any case, the first few pics are from Tanner Springs. Tanner Springs is a good place for photos because it's usually empty. If you do run into any locals, nearly all of them are recent transplants from California, so they probably won't try to give you "helpful" advice about Portland.
I realize the next photo is sideways, but that's how the scan came back from the photo lab. I must've made it too abstract and they couldn't tell which way was up. After looking at it for a bit, I decided I kind of liked this little accident and left it the way it was.
And now a few from Washington Park.
This next photo required a bit of work. It was a sunny day, and some guy was hanging around the Chiming Fountain you see here, waylaying passers-by and chatting them up. I kept a safe distance and waited for Mr. Friendly to leave, and he just wouldn't leave, dammit. I thought I had a good shot and took it, and just as I did he saw me and waved and wanted to make a new friend or ask stupid questions about my camera or something. Luckily I was around 30 or 40 feet away, so I acted like I didn't realize he was talking to me and wandered off.
Then when I got the photos back I noticed Mr. Friendly had wandered into the frame, the bastard. So I loaded the photo into GIMP and erased him. That was quite enjoyable.
It's not the first time I've erased people out of photos before posting them. I like to think I'm just being considerate, since I don't really like taking photos of people without their permission and posting them on the interwebs. While it's apparently legal to do so, I'm not comfortable with the idea and I generally just sort of don't want to. I think I'd make a really poor street photographer, in the unlikely event I ever felt like giving it a try.
Besides, people don't know how to hold still, dammit, and they whine and complain if they don't like how your photos of 'em came out. Even if they really are that ugly in real life, they still feel it's still your fault somehow. So I think I'll stick to flowers and waterfalls and stuff, thanks.
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