15.12.09

PORTLAND SCRAPBOOK


This website features work from my past 10 years of living in
Portland. The work is called "Portland Scrapbook" because the basic
structure or concept of the project is that of a personal scrapbook or
photo-journal documenting the life I've been building and the photos
I've been shooting since I moved here to the Pacific Northwest.

My move to Portland was a very deliberate choice, and a signficant
philosophical shift for me – deciding to find a place where I could try
to settle-down and make a home – rather than continuing my rabbit-like
habit of hitting the open road for another 6-month escape. The Pacific
Northwest offers the wanderer in me the wonderful compromise of being
able to take daily escapes into the lush green wilderness of the
Pacific Northwest – and all I have to do is step off the front porch of
my house onto Portland's rain-soaked streets.

The core of the work (those photographs that would appear prominently
in the actual scrapbook and installation of this project) are landscape
images of Portland and the Pacific Northwest.

These are the primary type of photographs that I’ve been shooting since
moving here – subjective black & white (and a few color) landscapes
that depict what I consider a uniquely Pacific Northwestern view: the
urban/industrial/logging/railroad/highway/bridge manifestations
of human activities of the region, occurring within and
intersecting with the lush, ever-growing and ever-overtaking
forest/river/mountain/cloud/rain environment of the Pacific Northwest.

These images occur primarily in Portland, but expand to include
outlying areas. These are the places I have come to call “home.” Around
this core set of images are strewn the mementos and fragments from my
daily experience that represent the narrative of my new life. There are
photographs of people I have met, relationships I have started, trips I
have taken, and projects I have completed. I also intend to add a
background layer of ancillary material: photos of me by other people,
post cards, letters and emails I’ve sent and received, journal entries,
maps, poems, snapshots, etc.

Please click on the galleries to the left to view my various
photographic series.

This site is a work in progress. I will continue to add galleries as I
shoot more photos, and find time to scan and upload the ancillary
material. I hope that through this online photographic scrapbook you
can get a taste of what has been my life and adventures since moving to
Portland.