On May 19, 2012 the Oregon chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers hosted the first PDX Squared photography event. Portland photographers, both professional and emerging, were invited to enter the contest, aimed at documenting the culture of Portland. The ASMP took one square mile of downtown Portland and divided it into forty-nine squares, with each photographer claiming a square as their territory.
Mimicking Birds makes music that is at once earthly and supernatural.
Here in Oregon, flipping through stacks of vinyl for hours on end is not an uncommon pastime, so it’s good to know there is a holiday of sorts to celebrate the enthusiasm of the music collector, and the shops that serve her or him.
The Alialujah Choir was born in graveyard. The Lone Fir Cemetery in SE Portland to be exact. In 2008, Kate Sokoloff had an idea to raise money for the endangered property, and commissioned a compilation of songs by some of Portland’s most well-known folk artists called (D)early Departed. She invited Weinland’s front man and singer-songwriter, Adam Shearer to contribute. Shearer, a long-time mental health professional, was drawn to the real-life story of Dr. J. C. Hawthorne, who is buried at Lone Pine along with many of his patients.
The Deschutes River flowed icy blue under an arching footbridge at Sawyer Park in Bend. On the right side of the river, ancient layers of rock glowed orange at dusk, and joggers and mountain bikers caught the last light of a chilly January day on the east flank of the Cascades.
One of my favorite things to do is to find things happening in Oregon that are well out of my everyday experience. I can’t recall exactly how I came across the Sunset Speedway, but it fit the bill exactly. Last year, I headed out for a gorgeous evening of dirt track racing. I walked among the drivers and their cars, talked with them, took in the heavy aroma of combusted fuel, the roar of big block engines and caught the spray of clay coming up off the track. Between the drivers and their fans, there was a palpable passion for this gritty, unforgiving sport. There is a camaraderie that grows weekend after weekend.
In 1892, a twenty dollar gold piece was sewn into the back of a jacket, worn by a gangly youth, en route to SanFrancisco. A quarter century of drawing pictures on walls and boxes led to this departure. Homer Calvin Davenport of Silverton left the nest of this rural nineteenth century Oregon town bound for the cutthroat world of a daily newspaper’s art department. Raw, self-taught talent, coupled with family connections, helped grease the skids of Davenport’s departure and eventual success.
Bobbie Bustamante moved to The Dalles a year and a half ago. She had lived 130 miles east in Pendleton and 975 miles south in Anaheim, California before that. “The Dalles is a place where people really get out of their cars and get outdoors,” says the recreational runner. While the hills surrounding The Dalles offer challenging running workouts, the Columbia River is a relaxing sanctuary for her, her boyfriend and their kids.
This year, the “Today” show celebrated sixty years on air with passersby gawking through the studio windows of NBC at the Rockefeller Center. At the same time, “Today” co-host and Oregonian, Ann Curry, is moving into her fifteenth year with the show and her second year in the iconic morning show’s top job.
