Happy Halloween!

Our lighted Jack-o-lanterns await Trick-or-Treaters.

Marching By

More from the Monster March. Shooting candids of strangers is not easy for me. However, it's a good chance to practice various photography skills. Here I tried to pan with this dad and daughter to keep them in focus and suggest motion in the background. Best I got was soft focus in the background. Sigh. I do love how the pastel colors in the man's shirt, beads and mask are also present in the background.

Melts In Your Mouth

From the Moreland Monster March.

Ghost In The Street

Moreland Monster March's ghost!

Monster March

Sellwood-Westmoreland held their annual Monster March on Sunday afternoon. It was quiet the big deal! I'm guessing maybe 500 people gathered in costume to parade through the streets of our Portland neighborhood.

Sunset Over The Willamette

Caught the last of the amazing sunset last night. You can see a bit of the reflection in the Willamette River right around the southern tip of Ross Island. What a gorgeous place we live in! I hope we can still be able to look for beauty in our new spot come February!

Leccinum Scabrum

Leccinum Scabrum, or Birch Bolete, popped up in our yard after the first heavy leaf and rain fall. These are edible mushrooms, though no one we talked to at Oregon Mycological Society was wild enough about them to inspire us to cook and eat them. We have maple trees in our parking strip which are not mycorrhizal. Near as we can figure, these mushrooms are associated with the root structure of the old birch trees in the parking strip down the street from us.

House on 14th Street With Fall Color

Our house with the maple tree out front turned to yellow flame.

Maple Leaf

I separated out one brightly colored leaf from the rest to photograph on the sidewalk. I used one enhancing filter from PSE4 but I have no idea which one. The filter mostly smoothed the shadow out the blue/black background and perked up the leaf color a little bit.

New House, New Paint

A little video of our new house. We just had it repainted outside and have had many compliments on the color scheme. The maple tree in our parking strip is gorgeous in its fall color and dropping leaves faster than we can rake. The rocking motion of the video comes from me trying to walk with my boot cast.

Lintel Detail-Bagdad Theater

Lintel detail from McMenamin's Bagdad Theater and Pub. This is from the ticket seller's area. I love finding suns to photograph.

CasBar

Neon sign at McMenemin's Bagdad Theater pointing to where you can buy beer to go with your pizza. I love how the red light illuminates the painted art detail on the wall. Also, the reflections of the light on the plastic surround/mount for the sign excites me!

Capt. Neon

Sign from MeMenamins Bagdad Theater at the restroom doors.

Bagdad Theater-Leading to Balcony

Another composition in the Bagdad theater of the archways leading to the balcony. I think the lobby and hallways of the Bagdad are more interesting and more grand than the inside of the theater itself. So that's all I took photos of. I was bracing my camera against a wall at extrememly slow shutter speeds to get this photo. Lucky for me it came out sharp.

Historic Bagdad Theater Lobby

The Bagdad Theater Lobby. Very cool place. We were there at lunchtime which explains the absence of any people in my shots.

Bagdad Handbill

We had lunch at McMenamins Bagdad Theater and Pub yesterday. Universal Pictures built the Bagdad in SE Portland in the late 1920s for $100,000. It is now saved from demolition by the McMenamins and converted in 1991 into a movie house serving pizza and beer. They've actually added tables in front of each row of theater seats so you can eat and watch the movies simultaneously!

More info here about the theater and the famous acts and movie premieres that have been held here: http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9&id=500

Your Basic Cat In A Box

Malibu showing her irresitable cuteness by snuggling up in a little shipping box.

Drive By-Yukon Tavern

This drive by has an interesting, minimalist look; kind of dreamy and vague, that I like.

Zoom!

This red 70's Toyota Corona was passing us on the way back from lunch. Its candy red blur made a great complimentary statement against the green of the South Park Blocks. I moved the camera just slightly against the car's direction of travel to increase the motion blur.