As of Tuesday June 2, 2009, Pirate Town still stands.  For months now, people who know and love this dilapidated old factory near the University of Portland have heard rumors of its impending demolition.  My last trip there, Pirate Town proved to be a fun and successful venue for fire and LED spinning photos, so I tried to make it a point to visit again before it was torn down forever.   The problem is that no one seemed to know how much time we had left!

Tuesday morning, I felt a strong pull to organize a last-minute shoot, so I contacted everyone I knew who I thought might be interested.   Even though it was really late notice, my good friend Haven was able to make it, and she brought along her friends Kristi and Zac as well as her good friend Káli (who I had previously connected with on the Hoop City website, but had never met in person).

As is true with any inspiring canvas, the urban art covering the walls of Pirate Town is always changing.  We were greeted with some incredible tags and murals that we knew would really work well in our photos.

Since our last visit was dominated primarily with glow photos, we wanted to focus more on fire dancing this time. We also wanted to explore some new locations we weren’t able to utilize previously.  I knew that these beautiful and talented performers would look fantastic anywhere I shot them, so it was time to try some new spots.  One was an entire small structure with a fantastic woodwork in the vaulted ceiling that I really wanted to take advantage of.  I positioned the performers in the middle of the room so that the entire scene could be absorbed in the photos.  Another was positioning them at the base of the huge smoke stack at the back of the main building.  That spot looked especially good when Zac and Haven brought out the poi.

The ladies soon switched to the glowing LED hoops, and each took their turn in front of my lens.  We finished up Kristi’s set, and began debating whether or not to continue shooting, since it was past midnight by then.  As we were discussing things, we noticed headlights coming down the road and bright spotlights shining directly on us.  Apparently our decision was being made for us!  The University of Portland campus security paid us a visit and asked us to leave.  Of course we did so without any trouble.

While we were packing up, Zac and Kristi talked with the security officers about the current state of Pirate Town.   Apparently, the main building is still being held off from demolition until approval from the EPA because of asbestos concerns, but the other buildings were scheduled for demolition this week.  This is sad news for those of us who know how incredible Pirate Town really is.  I now wonder if there was a reason I was pulled so strongly to set up another shoot there without much planning.  I like to think that deep down I knew it may have been my last chance to shoot Pirate Town in its full glory.

The full gallery of shots is split up into separate albums based on performer and skill, so be sure to explore them all!  For now, here are some samples:

Mt. Hebo is a little-known spot just inland from the Oregon Coast, right where highway 22 meets the great costal highway 101.  The trail, which starts at Mt. Hebo Campground, actually runs about 8 miles total, though it’s about 6.5 miles round-trip to the spectacular summit views.  Since our start time was a bit later than planned, a summit trek was all we could fit in.

That’s not to say there was any compromising on quality for the day.  The trail winds through amazing secondary and old growth forest, with descriptive signs filled with trivia along the way.  These signs teach such tidbits as the fact that the bracken ferns along the trail may be eaten when they first emerge from the ground in the spring.

Fire ravished this forest in the 1900’s, so the Forest Service replanted most of the area, aside from the early stages of the trail which runs through homestead land.  This becomes more and more apparent as you compare the early sections which contain varied ages and tree sizes to the later sections where the forest is much more uniform and specific.

Once we hit the summit, we were treated with a grand, yet hazy, view of the surrounding mountains and ocean.  I found the view to be quite disorienting, as the reflection of the sun off of the ocean gleamed bright white, while the shades of the forest-covered hills were a rich deep blue color.  This reverse in colorization made it difficult to distinguish each element in the view.  See for yourself in the full gallery of photos.  Enjoy!

This year, Portland’s Rose Festival will include a bonus third weekend.  Normally, the two weeks of celebrating Portland and its cherished roses spans only two weekends, and they always seem to fly by.  This year, I decided to be there at the beginning for the first time as a photographer.

Friday night marked the beginning of the Rose Festival with a spectacular fireworks display along the Willamette River.  People lined both the Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade awaiting the show.  I positioned myself on the east side between the Hawthorne Bridge and the Morrison Bridge, with the firework launch barge between my camera and the downtown skyline.

This was my first time ever shooting fireworks, so it was quite a learning experience.  I loved the fact that it felt like everything I loved about three styles of photography: Urban, low-light, and fire.  Enjoy the full gallery to see more!