You’ve heard the cries of every Portlandian from edge of the Willamette to the mouth of Columbia. (Please note, I am not, I repeat, am not a cartographer. I am a photographer therefore I have no idea where the aforementioned rivers start and stop) Don’t Move To Portland. We know. We know we have water and snow. We have awesome quirky donuts, exquisite food cart culinary oasis’, militant bike messengers, beautiful landscapes and an appreciation of the art of wine, dance, art and bacon. We here in the Northwest indeed have it all. So much of “ALL” that there has been a rush upon our borders of those outside wanting nothing more than to bask in the afterglow of the dream of the 90’s. We are occupied by hipsters, hipsters who hate hipsters and hipsters who hate those who hate hipsters. We are a city of Beers and Beards and now recently Buds. When I met with Lauren and Dan to discuss their engagement session we collectively decided, “whatever”. As we got closer I cultivated a plan to celebrate our fine city and it’s center. Let’s start on the east side. Meeting at OMSI we departed on our adventure. The first stop was down the way at the Eastbank Esplanade where we used our wonderful city as a backdrop. I love the sky line here. The river in the foreground with mountains constructed by man in the background, silhouetting the couple behind the sunset. Next stop we did something a little more unconventional. We decided another good place would be by the new Trimet bridge. You know….Portland is so great that our mass transit lines are interesting. Another unconventional place was atop a parking garage at a super secret location. Before starting I told them the two rules, 1. You don’t talk about Engagement Sessions. 2. You DON’T talk about Engagement Sessions. After our rendezvous with some sweet photographs we decided to descend down Burnside to the epicenter of Portland Weirdness. We decided to end our time together at VooDoo Donuts, a Portland icon. I don’t know if they were into the Bacon Maple or the Mango Tango but I do know we were all into ending our photo session on a high note. I love this alley way. Not only because of the backdrop provided but the characters that are always around. Musicians selling their wares wanting to take a photo with the couple, hearty “Congratulations” from those inebriated to the point of enlightenment, there’s definitely magic in the hole. Our time came to an end but the memories will carry on. Thanks to Dan and Lauren for putting up with my ideas and locations. So the lesson here kids is this, Don’t Move To Portland unless……unless you are willing and ready to photographically Zoo Bomb the Bleep out the place. Keep Portland Weird.
