sunshine, a river, and a bridge

It was kind of sunny(ish) yesterday, so I wandered out for a walk. It was either that or work, so it wasn't a tough choice. I ended up out near the Riverscape condos, on the Willamette just north of the Fremont Bridge. The whole area has a weird and rather desolate feel to it. I can't put my finger on why that is, exactly, but I'm sure the total absence of other people isn't helping. With a choice location right on the river and great views of the bridge, the place ought to be one of those vibrant urban centers like you always see in architects' drawings, but it isn't. Perhaps the feng shui is all wrong or something.

To see what I mean, check out this earlier photo of mine from October 2006, right around the time the first phase went live. Now there's more of the same further north, and down at the far end a lonely condo tower squats in a muddy field. All in all, the place is, um, one of our lesser gems of urban planning, I'm afraid.



But really, the point of this post is not to carp on about the place again. The developers didn't demand a taxpayer-built aerial tram or monorail or anything, so I guess the place is reasonably low-impact as far as these things go. The real point is that it was sunny outside for once, and I went out and took some photos, and here they are. It's not much of a point, I admit. But on the bright side, reading this post didn't cost you a cent.



Anyway, I happened to have my infrared & ultraviolet filters with me, so a few of the photos were taken with those. My original goal was to look for dandelions and take some UV "what a bee sees" photos. I did find a few, believe it or not, but it wasn't quite sunny enough to get useful results. Oh, well. It'll probably be sunny again someday, and when that happens, dandelions are sure to follow.



Just a couple of years ago I lived out in the 'burbs and hadn't yet taken up this photo thing in earnest. The idea of going out and eagerly looking for dandelions would have seemed like the height of absurdity. And really, it still is kind of absurd. Not that that ever stops me, mind you.