The other day my significant other, sharp as ever, asked me why I have called my blog the “Streets of Nuremberg” when lately the contents is mostly about other places (I wonder how she found out, as she merely tolerates my photographic ventures she’s also not following my blog). Well, the answer is simple. Because Nuremberg is my hometown that I love, where I live and that I love to shoot in. And at the time I started and named my blog my work situation didn’t require all that much of travel. I work in the field of mergers and acquisitions (rather doing the integration part of it) and this is a very cyclic business, there are times with low project volume and then there are times like now where the job that pays the bills requires me to be on the road the majority of the time. And lately (and for the foreseeable future) one of my principal destinations is Portland, Oregon, as I work a major project there.
But here is the nice thing about my passion for photography and my blogging, I can take it everywhere I am. So this post is a perfect example about doing photography on a business trip. Working long hours when on project, I need to make use of the evenings to go out shooting. In this case I left the hotel around 9pm to take a tour through the nocturnal streets of the City of Roses, as Portland is also called. For more about my venture and for the images I invite you to continue reading and looking after the jump…
Staying at the Heathman Hotel I took my Olympus PEN-F with the mZuiko 12-40mm F/2.8 Top Pro Zoom and walked down Yamhill Street towards the Willamette River banks and the Waterfront Park Trail, there towards Hawthorne Bridge and up Salmon Street back towards the Hotel. An nice casual 40 minute stroll. There was not much traffic left in the streets, neither cars nor many people, which made it difficult to shoot proper Street Photography, as simply the people were missing. And a few times I had to wait a few minutes for people to appear and walk into the scene. I took quite a few images, a selection of my monochrome shots I included in this post. I will be back in Portland next week and will stay for two weeks including a weekend. So finally some time to explore the city in proper daylight.
All photos were taken hand held, thanks to the great zoom lens with fixed f/2.8 aperture and the excellent stabilization of the Olympus PEN-F.
Related Posts:
Portland Pill Hill Evening Views
The Streets of Portland – Finally
Great shots and hand held, well done! I have a rather large and bulky Canon70D and generally like to use a monopod for most of my shots, I love the B&W too.
Thanks, Karen, your comment is very much appreciated! I don’t use monopods anymore as it is another thing to carry around and this beats the purpose of having switched to mirrorless. Generally you can hand hold 1/6 sec thanks to the very efficient Olympus image stabilization very well.
I love the puddle reflection shot!
Thanks, Vicki! That’s one advantage to the constant Portland rain 😉 ! Will look for more angles this week!
Wonderful night photography. May your job take you to many more places.
Thanks, this is a really nice wish 🙂
Great shots 🙂
Thank you so much! Marcus
Perfect use of your free time Marcus! interesting use of light, nice work!
Thanks Yuri, as always much appreciated! Marcus
So cool you’re a gifted man.
Grazie Mille, Nicoletta, this coming from such an accomplished photographer like you this means a lot! Buona giornata! Marcus
Gawd I love your photography so much! The black and white night images are stunning. My favorites are the reflective ones, specially in the water! Thank you for sharing. And I like the name of your blog, haha 😉
Simply superb….especially love the one with reflection off the water. I must try some night photography soon..not easy though as I live a long way from the nearest town.
Is your camera handheld at such a slow shutter speed?
For the water reflection picture I held the camera one centimeter over a puddle ;-). The last image with the fountain I shot handheld with 1/4 sec (to het blur into the water), and you see how sharp it is. Honestly hand held. Possible with the Olympus.
Love these photos! (I have an Olympus, too, though mine is just an entry-level one, really, a basic E-PM1 Mini – but it’s been all I need so far)
Thank you, so happy you love them. The E-PM1 is a great cam. And that it is all you need. You know the saying, it is not the camera, it is the photographer 😉 !
😉 Definitely!
Portland is a great city – lovely photos!
Thanks, Sabrina, much appreciated! I indeed enjoy my trips to Portland so much!
All so beautiful! Marcus you make monochrome look easy… and it is not!! I am learning this! lol. Thanks for sharing. Love these!!
Thanks, Jane, love your comment. Thruth is, it just takes practice, practice, practice….you’ll get there discovering what works in monochrome and what not.
A very nice series. I particularly like the balanced nature of the image showing the reflection on the car of the open spaced interior of a building.
You didn’t complete your story about what you told your wife about the title of your blog.
Thanks, Tim. The building with the reflective car is the Portland World Trade Center. And about the wife 😉 well, I basically gave her the same explanation I gave in the post. Probably she picked on me because of my merchandise I ordered for myself for fun (mugs, T-Shirt)….so at least I can advertise for my hometown when wearing those shirts in Portland 😉
Again great pictures! Do you have any plans for the weekend you will spend in Portland?
Thanks again 🙂 !! No plans yet, will decide what to do when I’m there, depending on the weather. I’m in no rush, as I will have a couple more weekends in store for me there….
I do not envy all the time you have to spend in planes and being in transit and possibly jetlaged but I do envy your project location and the upcoming weekends you get to spend there 🙂