portland saturday market

a few days ago, i was perusing meetup.com and found a group called women learning photography together... well, whaddya know?  i'm a woman learning photography!  so, i figured i should join these ladies on their photography field trips!

today was my first meetup with the group and we met at portland saturday market.  this was great for me because i'm in love with street photography, but i'm too chicken s#%t to actually approach people and ask if i can take their picture.  and i'm even more chicken s#%t to take their picture without asking them.  saturday market is nice because there are so many people around and so many tourists, a photographer kind of blends in (or at least, a photographer doesn't look awkward taking photos in places they shouldn't be).

this first photo was taken in an empty lot at 4th and burnside.  it really makes me wonder why there is a table and chair in an empty lot... and why is the window bricked up?

the next three were shot along the waterfront.  the first one (with the words) is of some steps that surround a fountain.  it seems to speak about the people who came to portland, where they came from and how they got here.  

i had to get some blossom shots... spring is here (although the temperature didn't feel like spring today at all!).

and now for the saturday market... 

this woman had the best stall of any merchant at the market (not to mention that her pottery is beautiful).  

hats galore!

this band was pretty awesome.  they were belting out some southern bluegrass for shoppers' listening pleasure.

the band wasn't the only person out there trying to make some money.  this guy was putting on a dance show while his friends played some percussion on 5-gallon buckets.

this woman was drawing some pretty awesome chalk art on the sidewalk.  not sure the point of it, though, since it later rained!!

after the market, i made my way back to my car via 4th street (china town).

there were definitely other people taking photos of this sign at the same time as i was.  they must have an adolescent mind like me - lol!  

centered

tonight, i had the best yoga practice i've ever had.  this is what people must mean when they talk about being "centered."  i felt amazingly strong throughout tonight's practice and, when we finished, i felt like my life was in balance again.  and (this is going to sound incredibly hippie, i realize this, but...) i feel this aura of positivity around me tonight.  i really feel happy to be alive.  :) it is such an amazing feeling... almost like a runner's high... but with yoga.  does that make any sense?  

i may not ever be able to do this: 

in fact, i'm pretty sure that i will never do that... but that's OK.  as long as i keep feeling like i feel tonight, that's all that matters.  

kudos to whomever it was that created yoga!!  i definitely put you up there with the guy that first fermented beer.  :)  (gee, i sound like a real oregonian now, don't i?)

futures

today at adelsheim, the consumer direct department hosted a futures event, in which consumers can taste wine from last year's harvest right out of the barrel.  the owner (david adelsheim), winemaker (dave paige) and associate winemaker (erik kramer) were all there sharing their knowledge with the masses... and sarah king was there pouring in the most amazing red coat i've ever seen!

for this event, i rented a 50mm 1.4 lens and a flash.  i have to say that, after friday evening, i kind of gave up on the lens.  i didn't like it's extremely shallow depth of field (which frankly ended up making most of my photos show up out of focus... due to operator error, i know).  i decided that, until i figure out exactly what type of photography i'd like to focus on, i'm sticking with the kit lens.  i'm very partial to wide angle shots, so i'm thinking about going in that direction perhaps.  i'm not really a portrait photographer, so i'm now not convinced that i need a portrait lens.  at least i rented it first without just buying it outright!  

but i digress...

back to today's event!  (disclaimer: the image quality looks fairly poor on this blog posting, but they are much better on flickr)

adelsheim in spring

since i am taking pictures of the futures event at adelsheim tomorrow, i wanted to test out some things today... namely the flash i rented for the weekend.  chad offered to model for me, what a sport!

thankfully, i got a couple of decent shots of the space.  hopefully i know what i'm doing tomorrow when there is more than one person milling around.

after we finished in the caves, we took fife out into the calkins lane vineyard next to the winery to get some energy out.

dinner with friends

last night, our friends margaret and todd invited us over for a scrumptious dinner.  since i rented a lens (50mm 1.4)for the weekend, i wanted to take every opportunity to try it out.  here are some highlights from the evening: 

buckley

ridge 2006 zin

fondue!  there is nothing better in this world than dipping bread into a pool of melted cheese... mmmmmm....

about as good as it gets... wine glasses and a spread of items for the fondue...

chardonnay and the blazers

rainy day

can you tell that she wants to go outside and play? 

ridge

here is a shot from sonoma that i never posted for some reason...

fifey girl

the wee girl must have had a long week.  she's a sleepy baby!