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!

To most of us from Portland, Earth Day is every day.  But when the holiday actually arrives, we really know how to celebrate it.  A local organization called City Repair organized a fantastic gathering in Wallace Park in Northwest Portland.  As a group, City Repair’s primary purpose is to inspire people to get involved and stay active in their communities.  This inspirations comes from their many projects, activities, and in this case their events.

Inspiration was most definitely in abundance on this Earth Day.   For those wanting to learn about Earth Day is all about, there were plenty of booths to explore based on a variety of subjects. There were also plenty of activities for the kids, and different kinds of food to enjoy.  But the real action was around the stage.  Apparently, in Portland, Earth Day means celebrating through music. The artists played music throughout the day, and I was lucky enough to catch several of the bands.

When I arrived, the band Alpaca! was just beginning their set, and the people were ready. As soon as the first flowing, funky bass line dropped the grass was covered with enthusiastic dancing feet.  It was easy to see the enjoyment on everyone’s faces, and I was trying to capture every smile I saw through my lens.

As the sun dropped in the sky and the light softened and warmed to a glow, I went exploring  the park for more photo opportunities.  What did I find, but one of my favorite subjects to shoot:  hoopers!  In fact, Lauren Rose, a very talented fire spinner I’ve shot several times in the past, was there displaying her many talents with the hula hoop and poi.

After Alpaca! finished their set, Tapwater was set to do a drum performance in front of the stage.  They began with a funky march towards the stage, keeping the rhythm alive for those dancing feet.  They chanted and drummed and kept the people moving.  It was the second time they played during the celebrations, so it was unfortunate that it was so short.  But even so, we all had a great time getting down to their drums.

I managed to collect many photos of the day, and below are a few samples.  As always, view the full gallery through the link below.  And remember, the full gallery is separated into smaller photo albums based on subject, so feel free to explore them all!

The Rose Festival is one of Portland’s biggest events.  One of its features are the Dragon Boat Races.  Teams from all over Portland practice rowing in preparation for two days of paddling the dragon boats down the Willamette River from the Marquam Bridge to the Hawthorne Bridge.

This year, I have become friends with several members of the “Show No Mercy Corps.” boat racing team who work (wait for it..) for Mercy Corps.  I was only able to be there for the Saturday races, but it was a blast being able to shoot the races and all the teams.

Also, my good friend Jen who I know from High School came up from Springfield to spend the day with me shooting.  She is a fantastic photographer who shoots entirely on film.  Since I shoot only digital, spending time together shooting gives me a wonderfully fresh perspective.

While waiting between dragon boat races, Jen and I wandered around Portland’s Waterfront Park.  Everywhere we looked there were interesting subjects to shoot.  Jen came up with an incredible gallery of her results.   If you’d like to browse through mine, please click the link below.