All things considered, sometimes the world is better left a bit out of focus

            Life has kept me pretty busy these past few months, so ironically, among the many things I have been working, even though I just hung a whole show on the St Johns Bridge, I have not actually been out in quite a while to take photos of it.  Coupled with the fact that I have lately been seeing a lot good photography of this bridge on Flickr, really made me itchy to get out and revisit one of my favorite places in Portland to take pictures.  

I remedied all that about a week ago by getting out at sunset to Cathedral Park, under the bridge, where I have taken most of photos of this bridge.  Sunset never amounted to anything but I figured the sky would slowly fade into this deep well of blue that it sometimes does and we decided to head across the bridge instead to the far side and the vantages over there.  I had this particular angle in mind at the time but it was not until I hiked up the trail and set up on the little footbridge at the vista that the idea to take a shot completely out of focus occurred to me.  Actually I took three shots in this series, one in focus, this one out of focus, and another where I racked the focus in and out during the exposure.  I really like all three, and thought about posting them as a triptych, but ultimately I liked this one the best.  It removes the sharp details, and gives more emphasis to my favorite aspects of the evening, the deep blue color of the sky versus the yellow and red of passing traffic, and the graceful form of the bridge itself.  

I hope to get up here again soon, I want to try and find a vantage point that affords me a good view straight down the bridge.  I know there used to be a decent one but there were still a few trees that obstructed that view and they have grown up even more in the intervening years since my last visit there.  It was too dark this evening to do any further exploring, but perhaps tonight...  :-)

Taken with my Pentax 6x7 and cross processed Kodak EPP.

Taken in: United States / Oregon / Portland / Springville (show map)

Taken on: February 15, 2008

Tags:

St Johns Bridge

Portland

dusk

blue

bridges

PDX

Out of focus

myopic

blurry

traffic

lights

night

city

urban

suspension bridges

historical bridges

Pentax 6x7

cross processed

Kodak EPP

6x7

city lights

long exposure

Zeb Andrews

Zeb Andrews photography

Blue Moon Camera « less

Sets appears in: • St Johns Bridge • Freed from infinity

Groups appears in: • pdx [portland] • Oregon more » • Cross Processed Film - C41 E6 BW ECN2 • Bridges of the World • Blue Moon Camera • Bridge Photos - Only Best Quality - By Invitation Only • St. Johns Bridge (Portland, Oregon) • Portland Bridges • Pentax 67 (6x7, 67, 67II) • Film is not Dead!! • Light STREAM___ • Blue, only Blue • La nuit • flou! sharpness is such a bourgeois concept! • The Art of Blur • focusschmocus « less

Camera: Pentax 6x7, f/8.0, 40 sec, 200mm (=135mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Pentax 6x7
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	40
Focal Length:	200mm (35mm equivalent: 135mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Program:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 7.0
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