Your highness, when I said that you are like a stream of bat's piss, I only mean that you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around it is dark

If you have been to Johnny's blog already you would have learned that we went to the river and snapped some photos. He got his post up first but I took a lot more pics so it took me longer to go through them. I won't bore you with the Opera Shaft story because he went into it a bit at nosmot blog.



I could not resist PSing a cover for this blog entry. Please forgive me?


I am going to break this into three parts to seperate certain aspects of the experience.

1. The Opera Shaft
2. Viaduct Stairway
3. Surrounding Area

1. The Opera Shaft: SE Water Av. & SE Caruthers St.

This is the biggest of three cranes at the Opera Shaft site. Hanging from this crane was what looked like some type of grinder/digger. Very heavy, maybe 20 feet tall, and possessing two massive toothed gear things at the end.

I am not sure what these stairs go to. It looked like some kind of machine but there were rows of them. Holding tanks of some kind? Cooling tanks for water for the grinding thing?

Here you can see the amount of these giant green metal box's. I count nine sets of stairs and there is no telling how many there were behind me.

Detail of my favorite green box with yellow crane behind it. I thought it read DEAD at first glance. Anyway, I like the idea of naming a band DEAD, but spelling it DE5D. Yeah, I know I am strange. The longer I look at this shot the more I think of this and, I'm sad to say, this.


2. Viaduct Stairway: SE Caruthers St. & SE Grand Av.

The first flight of stairs facing east. It is really too bad that there is so much garbage laying around because this should be a landmark of some kind. Perhaps some of us should put together a Cool Things You Have Not Seen In Portland walking tour.

I know JT does not like his picture taken but this angle facing up the final flight of stairs railing facing north was too neat to pass up. You can't really get a feel for the railing's mass from this shot. Plenty of crumbling concrete I tell you. I like the moss as well.

Looking down Grand Avenue from a landing midway up. It appears to have an adverse bank to it. You can get a feel of how tall the viaduct is from here.

More of the Gothic Cathedral architecture of the railing. The sun was just right so it was hard to take a bad picture.

The Stairway has all sorts of life to it. There is a tree groing directly underneath Grand. If you have not seen JT's photos of the tree check it out here. It is totally in the shade but has managed to survive all this time. There were even baby trees groing next to it.


3. Surrounding Area: SE Caruthers St., SE Water Av. & SE Grand Av.

Narwhale! A little bit of Value Horse's tidy spray technique. Wonder what HAVE Means? This is also the train car that the kid was taking photos of on Nosmot blog.
[side note, I could be wrong but I see a connection here.]

Opposite end of the Narwhale car. More Value Horse. I really like the vivid paint and block drop shadow.

I guess I am obsessed with doorways. I am going to have to do a little neuroscientific research to see if it means I am going nutso. Shadowy 444. Love it!

Slowly decomposing bird. Johnny, being the vegetarian wuss that he is, wouldn't take this shot. I love the color of the thing. It reminds me a little of Russell Mills' art on David Sylvian's Secrets of the Beehive album.