One little fact about myself that I don't often talk about on-line is that I am a giant architecture nerd. I love the way buildings an public spaces, both big and small, can influence the way we exist, the way we get around, our moods, our desires to be productive or to just relax, and most importantly, the way they can be shared amongst a cross section of people who might otherwise have nothing at all in common. I often feel that the greatest cities on earth are the ones where there is a public interest in making monuments, parks, and art on the streets so there becomes a collective sense of belonging and uniqueness to the places where people live and visit.
So naturally, when I have the chance to incorporate my photography into architecture, I get pretty excited.This particular structure is a giant slab of concrete that anchors below one of Portland's more iconic bridges. It is basically just a giant series of geometric blocks with horizontal lines from top to bottom. It's not the most amazing or adorned piece of architecture on the planet by any means but yet it fascinates me all the same because it seems to serve a purpose far beyond its original intention (i.e. keeping a bridge from falling down). One can often find people hanging out, reading a book, taking a nap, or just staring off into space along its base. In a sense it is almost like a make shift public forum.
It also just happens to be a perfect place to shoot when the sun is far too bright to make anything else work!!
Normally I would probably turn my nose up at an image with so many gray tones and not a lot of bright whites or heavy shadows, but here it seems to work out ok. I'm glad the eye is drawn more to the patterned lines in the concrete and easily trails from the bottom left corner to the upper right. It's outside of my usual aesthetic, but that isn't such a terrible thing.