Plumbing

Each apartment or office building in the Pearl has an external cluster of pipes and meters. Some of them have interesting sculptural qualities, and make good subjects for black & white photography.

Working in the Pearl

A couple of people I encountered on my walk yesterday.

Pulling a hose the full length of the block

Marking the sidewalk for utility work

Signs

The northwest corner of the Pearl District in Portland is occupied mainly by large apartment buildings and small offices and shops. The signs tend to be small, reticent, almost shy.

Construction in Color

This is the current stage of the apartment and office building (16 and 5 stories, respectively) going up across the street from our condo. Now that they've dug out and laid concrete for the foundation, they're rapidly filling the basement with structures whose purpose is not yet clear, at least to me.

Complex Geometries of Construction

The skeleton of a big apartment building, as it's being built, is regular but multi-layered, leading to a perceived complexity close to chaos. Sort of as if Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock had collaborated on a painting.

Construction

Lots of construction going on in Portland's Pearl District. It's reflected in the street corners, sidewalks, and shop windows surrounding the site.

Near-Far Perspective

I find something powerful and dramatic in this mode of composition, even though the near object is rather mundane.