Downtown Portland Sans Tillkum Crossing, April 2010

3884

I wasn't thinking of or looking for another picture of Portland's skyline or any sort of throwback action but I was inspired to go back and look through some very old photos ... I mean ViviCam 3705-years-old ... and I couldn't hold back from sharing this.

This is a photo taken in April 2010, on a gray, misty day, of the downtown Portland skyline as seen from the very east end of the Ross Island Bridge. It is notable for what isn't there: there are a number of buildings that are here now that aren't there then, but the big thing that isn't there would be down in front now.

The thing that's missing is, of course, the Tillikum Crossing bridge, which would be between the photographer's POV here and the Marquam Bridge. This is one of those photos I referred to earlier: there are locations that are no longer possible to get the same photo because of the development that has happened here in the last 20 years, things that have fundamentally changed the look and atmosphere of the Rose City. Buildings that now exist where once there was open space, and massive new constructions that have interposed themselves between a still-accessible space and the thing one once went to that place to observe.

I'm thinking it's past time I got an updated downtown skyline photo. Not just of my favorite angle, from the top deck of that bridge there in the photo, but also an update of this one, from the east end of the Ross Island Bridge.

[SJKPDX] My Own Westercon 69 Triumph … New Portland Skyline On The Title Page.

3333.

If you've not yet heard, Westercon 69 is now wrapping up here in Portland. The 69th edition of Westercon, a movable Science Fiction/Fantasy convention which is to Western NorthAm what the Worldcon is SFF in general, was one of the most well-attended in years, with over 1700 members; this puts it in the major leagues. With GoH's like Scalzi and Stross, Bobak Ferdowsi, a bard like Alexander James Adams, and our own local David D. Levine, and set in Portland, how could have been anything other than a success? But the success exceeded expectations.

I even had my own high point. Chosen to grace the table'o'contents, there at the bottom, is my newest Portland Skyline photo. Peep it:

So, my name and an image I made get to grace the same page with some pretty heavy hitters. I also got, as it will be recalled, to collaborate on the divising of that nifty logo, so I got that workin' for me, which is nice (thank you, Meredith!). 

[art] When You're Not Successful And People Still Help Themselves To Your Content

3327.

My friend, Jeff Fisher, has been a successful graphic designer for a very long time and I much admire him. He's published two very good books and put himself out there in the world in what still seems to be a courageous way: He stands up for himself in the matter of holding people accountable for simply helping himself to his work, which he has gotten justly paid for, but is just as likely to see his work used across the world by small businesses who don't understand that graphic work has value as well as by desperate designers in 'crowdsourcing' online logo factories.

A personal blog he maintains is http://jefffisherlogomotives.blogspot.com/, and it's got good reading there.

It's kind of a funny thing to acknowledge but I, too, have been similarly done. It's a funny thing that obscurity and lack of success does not bring immunity from this. In a recent posting I mentioned that a few people have, in the past, helped themselves to my own online stuff, specifically, the PDX downtown skyline picture I snapped in 2004. It's even being used in unauthorized places today, as this Google Images search will show.

The commonality I mentioned in that post that the three authorized users have is that, at first, they found the image on the web and simply appropriated it, without asking. At the moment I discovered that, I was a little wounded; after all, all three were fairly savvy online users, all had good ideas, and all were good people. I say this because I want to pointedly add that once I contacted them they apologized and since I liked them and what they did, I agreed to license use of the picture because of that personal reason.

But I think it goes to show that no matter how obscure or unsuccessful you are, you put something up on the web, out it goes and, Berne convention or no, people will use it. Now, I still, after all these years, have profited pretty much not at all because of another thing; I had, and still have, no real strategy for holding such kyping accountable. I'm not the DMCA sort, but simply helping yourself to what I do online without so much as checking in with me isn't cool either.

So this is a work in progress, still, even 12 years after the original was taken.

And, yes, I might have imagined that this would happen ... but I might have also imagined people could send me an email on it. And I've evolved in more ways than that; I'm much, much less inclined to use something off the 'net without making sure it's available for such (I'm thankful to Wikimeda commons for this … most people there put stuff in expecting it to be shared and used), or simply creating my own (I've the skill to do so).

I guess what I'd say to anyone putting stuff on the web right now is, have some sort of plan in place for dealing with when people help themselves to your stuff.

Be ready to contact them. Because, for some reason, they won't contact you.

And so it goes.

[pdx] Portland 2004 vs Portland 2016: Compare and Contrast

3325.

Naturally, having snapshots from back in the day and now currently, even if it's an unadvantageously-lit first-pass, invite comparisons. Here are the two photos, side-by-side orothogonally:

Some comparisons kind of jump out at you. The red brick-colored building there in the front and center, 1 SW Columbia, has a new companion immediately to the right; it's a shiny block of ice now blocking the view of the US Courthouse (the building with the curved roofline); the area of horizon between the Wells Fargo Tower and the Portland Plaza (the two buildings closest to the left of frame) has partially been populated with some of the rash of new apartment towers populating old Portland. You can even see the top of Park Avenue West (it's directly to the left of the flag on top of 1 SW Columbia).

Number and name the changes, friends. Portland's evolving, no matter what we think of it. 

[pdx] Downtown Portland From Marquam Bridge, 2016

3324.

In September, 2004, I snapped a picture of City Center Portland from the top deck of the Marquam Bridge, our city's link for I-5 over the Willamette River, south and east from the tall towers of downtown.

It's a wonderful view, but you can only get it, legally as far as I know, in a car travelling at freeway speed. What shoulder there is is perilously small.

The photo went a few places. Back in the day, Radical Russ Belville, who had a weekend show on KPOJ (A moment of silence, please and thank you) used it on his website. A local record-store themed bar opened with the photo on its posters.  Even Jefferson Smith's mayoral campaign of 2012 used it. It was my first real experience with something almost kinda sorta going viral.

There is an interesting commonality to all these uses, but I'll get to that in another post. Note to self.

Anyway, very recently it occurred to me that it's been almost 12 years since that photo was snapped. 12 YEARS, MY FRIENDS. That's three presidential administrations, people, and if you had a kid when that photo was taken, he or she'd be in middle school now. So it occurred to me that it might need an updating.

We tried it this last Sunday. This will serve a first-pass attempt, sadly, the light (as the viewer will note) is not quite bright enough, and certainly not at the level of the 2004 photo. Here it is:

I'll put it on the table right now, I did some photoshop primping in order to bring out the buildings that didn't get the benefit of the light they'd otherwise have had.

But this is Portland, 2016. Changing yet timeless, at once small and big, now the 26th largest city in the United States, and with a battle for its city air going on in more ways than one. Still my hometown.

[zehnkatzen] The Portland Marquam Bridge Skyline Picture Has Jefferson Smith's Back

2813.When a particularly beloved progeny goes on TV, there's always a moment of swelling pride. Now, some know this photo, and it has gone round the world a couple of times (sadly, not always permitted). Back in January, though, I reached an agreement with the Jefferson Smith for Mayor campaign to license the photo for use.

This, of course, is that photo:

It went on a few posters, which made me rather extremely happy. But in the latest campaign spot for Jefferson, my happiness meter pretty much pegged. Not just because it's a darned fine spot, and Jefferson looks very good in it, but the graphic backing up the titles going in and coming out should look very familiar.



Here they are in freeze frame:

… there was the intro, and here's the outro:

Jefferson Smith is a great candidate, and will make a good Mayor. I did license this photo to the campaign, but when it comes to politics, I don't just license these things out to just anyone.

[art] My PDX Skyline Photo - Coming To Campaign Materials Near You

2778.Disclaimer: This posting does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the Jefferson Smith for Portland Mayor campaign, though I do understand that he's a pretty nice and smart guy.

It's my extreme joy (seriously) and a thrill besides to announce that I've sold the rights to a photo which appears to be on its way to at least a semi-icon status. The photo is, of course, this one:

And it's been licensed to a designer working with the Jefferson Smith for Mayor campaign for use in campaign materials through the 2012 campaign.

I'm not saying at this point who I'm voting for, but if the people Jefferson Smith gathers about himself for campaign purposes are any indication, he'd probably make a good mayor. Friendly, coöperative, and incredibly generous in spirit.

Jefferson's campaign's web presence is here if you're so interested: http://www.jeffersonsmith.com/

In the past this photo has been used by others, both who've asked and purchased a license and … surprisingly, given my little-fishy status … those who haven't. Those who have asked and been granted permission include a (now-former) Portland-based Liberal talk-show host and a funky music-themed spot on Belmont.

In the next posting, I'll be touring some of the web-based peoples who didn't ask permission.