Halle’s Smooooth Words o’ Wisdom

This is picture that I shot for the January issue of Oregon Business Magazine on Portland’s Willamette River and the river’s Superfund status. It’s a dirty ‘ol river and I was happy to have been handed the assignment. Art Director Martin Gee said that my being ‘outdoorsy’ had something to do with his decision. I’ve had women end the relationship for the same reason! Pictured here is North Portland’s Schnitzer Steel Yard. This was a fun story to work on that took me to a lot of local places I’d never been. It’s funny how you can learn so much about a place you live when you just take the time to look around slowly and patiently. Fortunately this assignment afforded me the time to be patient.

For one day this season we were ok with El Niño. Superbowl Sunday. Chris and I had a surprisingly good day skiing der Hood. We ditched the car in Govy, stuck out our thumbs and the first car up Timberline Rd. obliged. The clouds lifted and the snow up high was as good as Hood snow gets.

We met this local lady in Tygh Valley New Year’s eve day. This is the only photograph that survived the day. The reason? I uploaded it from my phone via a Flickr Tweet. The rest of the photos and my phone rest at the bottom of a pond. The reason? New Year’s Day my dog Jane fell through a crack in the ice and the phone was lost to the pond during her rescue. Jane made it as did I. The phone didn’t and won’t be fetched from the pond until spring. We are lucky. Phones are replaceable. Good ‘ol dogs aren’t.

…but often, those are the days that are most fun to work outside.

Big thanks to the Miller family for being game and for the Multnomah Falls café au lait.

Saw this after breakfast last weekend.

Darlene cuts my hair. Shaves my head is more like it. Seven bucks a whack. I give her a 10 and she keeps the change. She’s been around Portland awhile and each time she whacks me(my hair!) I am reminded of a bygone era. An era that’s fading fast. We have a shoot scheduled for December which is part of a project titled Voices of Et Cetera. I’m really, really looking forward to it.

Claudia and I experienced a banner day picking today. Chanterelles are more pleasant and are easier to clean when dry!

The tour to Ramona falls is one of my favorite things. Yesterday Steven, Ralph and I skied the route with a snowcat assist part way up the Palmer. It was a great day spent with friends on the mountain. We encountered a handfull of giants along the way.

These portraits of Mert are part of an ongoing project tentatively titled Voices of Et Cetera. The title arose from an NPR story on historian Studs Terkel. My friend Steven D. Lenhart helped make these pictures in Wamic, Oregon and posted a photo and iota from the day on his blog.

I love cover assignments. This was shot for an Oregon Business Magazine cover last fall. It was a scorching hot day and I was glad that I didn’t have to wear waders. Jon the art director was even happy to slosh around in jeans. I hope Maine is treating you well Jon!