I have to start this out by saying that if you plan on taking photographs at the zoo be sure to bring a camera or lens that has some sort of zoom capability. I brought my 50mm lens, which is not a zoom, it’s a prime lens meaning my legs are my ‘zoom’. Being that I couldn’t run into any enclosures I didn’t get very many good shots of other animals. The large cats and elephants were out of the question, ditto for the giraffes and zebras.  I am not going to cry over spilled milk, I knew I was going to Portland and I knew I was going to the zoo, I should have been better prepared.  The last photo is my favorite, I only had one opportunity to shoot the hippo and it was right up against the glass. Shortly after I released the shutter a group of kids came barreling around the corner and the hippo quickly retreated. I am sure that will be the last time I will ever be that close to a hippo in my lifetime.  Beautifully constructed exhibits like where the hippo was is what made me fall even more in love with the Portland zoo. There was the illusion of closeness to the animals, yet their was a safe distance for both the animals and the patrons. It’s a really interesting place and hard to imagine it was started by a pharmacist that used to house the animals in back of his store. Yes,  you read that right.

Yes, the Portland Zoo was my absolute hands down favorite spot in all of Portland.  It’s a mere 10 minute drive from the heart of the city, but feels a million miles away.  The grounds are landscaped so well that you feel like you have stepped into a remote forest instead of a city zoo. The bear exhibit was the most impressive, you really felt like you were standing right next to a bear, so much so that when a bear came sidling next to the glass inches from me I let out a swear word and had to profusely apologize to all the parents around me (for those of you that don’t know me that well, it takes a lot to get me to use a swear word).  As far as I could see there were no bars in the entire zoo, which as both an animal lover and photographer made my heart sing. I know there are many people that eschew the zoo, my husband kept repeating that it was such a depressing place.  As someone that studied at one of the most prestigious zoo’s in the country I can tell you that it is even more depressing to think what would happen to a lot of these animals if they were in the wild.  Unfortunately, there’s a lot of poaching going on for the most fanciful of things, rhino horn which is supposed to be a cure all, is made up of nothing more than keratin (same stuff as your fingernails), the saddest part of this poaching is a rhino’s horn can grow back, but the rhino is often killed for his horn.  Talk about a bunch of stupid enterpriser’s, why not just grow some rhino horn? But back to the beauty of the Portland Zoo, I loved it.  I have one more set of photographs from the zoo to share soon. I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I would have liked.  It was raining off and on during our visit to the zoo and I didn’t have any protective covering on my camera. If I lived in Portland this would be a place I would visit on a regular basis.

The scenic route.  Tomorrow I will show you my most favorite place in all of Portland! I have had many an email asking me if I made up my mind, of course not, we still have a March 16th North Carolina trip planned and the town we are visiting is coincidentally called the ‘Portland of the South’. We aren’t making any big plans until we have seen everything and made a copious checklist of pro’s and con’s. It’s amazing what happens when two type A, neurotic individuals meet and marry. I think if we have a child he/she may become the Big Lebowski and ask to be called ‘Dude’, just super mellow and stoned all the time, let’s hope not, but just sayin’.

If I had my druthers I wouldn’t have been shooting all my photographs out of a moving vehicle, but my husband was on some sort of mission that meant he must make it to Oregon in the time he had calculated or he would implode (at least that’s how he acted). I was really surprised how quickly crossing into Oregon made the weather leap from sunny California to frosty and foggy. It really seemed like a matter of minutes. This photo was taken near Mount Shasta, I think, don’t ask, I can’t read a map in the car because I am susceptible to motion sickness.  On our first road trip together we took a winding coastal road and when we came to a smooth plateau I nearly tucked and rolled out of the car so my then boyfriend (now my husband) wouldn’t witness the horror of me throwing up all my innards, I swear I lost a kidney that day and maybe even a lung, it was not pretty. What was pretty was the ride up to Oregon, if you ever have the opportunity to drive from California to Oregon you will witness some of the most scenic views that you ever did have the pleasure to encounter. There were booming vistas of snow peaked mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, blue skies and even angry stormy ones.  Each mile seemed more beautiful than the next.  I hope you allow me to indulge you with this trip.  I am going to show you tomorrow my most favorite place in all of Portlandia.  I think some people can probably guess what it might be, no?

 

I would really like to promise that this will be the last weathered barn upload you would see from me, but I can’t. I shot a lot of them from Northern Cal to Portland, OR. I never was really close to them either, which was a shame because I would have loved to been able to inspect a little more.  I shot exclusively with my 50mm prime lens, which is not exactly the most ideal lens for landscape photography.  I also shot mostly out of a car that was going over 80 mph. I find that I shake on solid ground, but am quite still in a moving vehicle, go figure.  I was playing with the tilt shift effect here but may have gotten a little heavy handed (it happens to even me, a third degree Black Belt in Photoshop). I couldn’t get enough of the large expanse of sky all around us, I guess I am so used to living in a place with towering cement skyskrapers that the sky had become a novelty. I am happy that I still had the ability to take it all in and gawk like a teenager who had a Kardashian sighting. It was that good.

I will be editing a photo a day for the remainder of 2012::Project MMXII, this is my ‘after’, you can view the ‘before’ here. Read more…