Forest Park Gestures

The day before yesterday we took a hike through Portland's Forest Park, especially wanting to see how the fall colors would look along the Maple Trail off Saltzman Road. I got a bunch of pictures that pleased me, which I'll be posting for the next few days. As Jay Maisel says, photography is about light, gesture, and color. This first trio has all three, but is mainly about gesture.

Supports

Construction

In Portland's North Pearl District

Flying Onion Farm

Flying Onion Farm in Oregon City is #5 in my series of producer-farmers who sell at the People's Food Co-op in Portland. It has an attractive and informative web site that tells about its set of three nearby fields. Especially beautiful is the field occupying a small portion of the Mahonia Land Trust Conservancy, where these pictures were taken.

Mark Bassik, proprietor of Flying Onion Farm

Farm field on the edge of the Land Trust Conservancy

Adam harvesting turnips

Sue Ellen picking greens

Mark and Adam in the greenhouse

Sadie making sure that everything goes OK

Tanner Fields Park

The sinuous fence, dragon-like walkway, and watery reflections are constant sources of visual attraction to me.

Variations

Under construction in the Pearl:

Views of the Fremont Bridge

The next to newest bridge over the Willamette River in Portland, carrying I-5 to Seattle, fronted by condo construction in the North Pearl District. Probably it (along with its new sibling the Tilikum Bridge) will be the only bridge across the Willamette not to collapse in the Cascadian Subduction Earthquake.

Lines and Shadows

Along NW 13th Ave in the Pearl:

Bits of Nature in the City

From a walk yesterday through the Pearl District in Portland.

Primary Colors

Seen on SE Hawthorne Avenue in Portland a couple of months ago.

The Forest and the Trees

The little details are lovely, but - of course - what makes Forest Park a forest are the trees.

Forest Park Ferns

It's been a dry summer and fall, so the ferns are not as fresh-looking as they might be. But they still make interesting picture subjects.

Green and Gold

The leaves are just beginning to turn in Forest Park, but that makes for some nice passages of gold among the green.

Forest Park Complexity

The fallen leaves and branches can produce an interesting "order in chaos" kind of scene.

Fallen Leaves in Forest Park

We'll be traveling tomorrow, so I'll post tomorrow's post today.

Back to Forest Park

It's been more than two months since we hiked in Forest Park (being busy hiking elsewhere, halfway around the world). Yesterday we went to the most northwesterly corner of the park, and hiked for five miles on Fire Lanes 15 and 12 and Wildwood Trail. It was easy compared to our hikes in Bhutan, despite considerable ups and downs, mainly because the path was in much better shape. The light was lovely, and the fall color changes were halfway there. Here are a couple of pictures that celebrate the glow. More to come.

Rising Stone Farm

This is #4 in my series of farmers who sell at Portland's People's Food Co-op Farmers' Market. Rising Stone Farm is run by Jeff Johnson, who bills himself "Herbalist and Farmer". That is, he and his helpers grow "healing plants".

Jeff examining an ashwagandha plant, an herb used in Ayurvedic healing.

Jeff inspects while volunteer Hans cleans up the greenhouse.

Volunteer Erika brings in greens from the field.

Associate Sarah cleans up ashwagandha plants in the extraction lab.

Jeff in the lab, getting ready for market.

My effort at a 17th C Dutch still-life in the lab.