Rain Clouds in Portland

Normally, you don't get too excited about rain and clouds here in the "rainy" side of the Pacific NW. The predominant clouds here in Winter and early Spring are those dreary Stratus drizzly, chill you to the bones types. But on rare occasions, we see more "interesting" cloud formations. Here are few examples shot in three hours of some actual cumulus and cumulonimbus here in Portland.

The west hills of Portland

Some beautiful shadowing effects, but no lightning

Leaving downtown, one of my favorite places to photograph clouds is at the Columbia River near the airport. With 360 degrees views, there is usually something going on. Although not spectacular this day, it was still a quick escape from the urban landscape.

Spring rain on the west hills

Last light offered some very nice colors of pinks and deep blues

Hawthorne Bridge Fog

Returning from an early morning harpsichord tuning at the Oregon Symphony, I decided to take the longer way home along the Willamette River. Clearing fog, especially in the morning, is always a draw.

Didn't have my "big" camera stuff with me, but did have along my little 6mp Fuji. It was cold, but there were quite a few people enjoying a morning run, etc.

Changing fog and colors

Fog breaking through with geese

The Hawthorne Bridge is a great subject, and is a vital link across the Willamette River. Fun to walk or ride a bike across, it has been dangerous for more than one motorist!

Morning stroll on the bridge

The fog also created interesting reflections on some of the buildings downtown.

Reflections in black and white

Night Photography on the Broadway Bridge

One of my favorite places to return to in Portland is the Broadway Bridge. The possibilities with varying light can be very engaging. Long exposures on a bridge with traffic can be challenging, so timing and tripod placement are essential.

At the west end of the Broadway Bridge is the Portland Amtrak Station. The light from the Station's tower is a great subject, with varying clouds. It's a somewhat difficult, high contrast exposure.

Portland Train Station at dusk

As I was heading back on the south side of the Broadway Bridge, the full moon began to make an appearance. Timing is everything with these shots at lower ISO settings and a 6 second exposure. Traffic vibration and timing the cloud movement so the moon appears in the frame for only a short portion of the exposure requires some patience. HDR (High Dynamic Range) might work here, but I haven't found a solution yet that yields what I would like.

There were two patrol boats on the river for the Rose Festival, with their intense blue lights. The clouds made a nice line between the top of the bridge to the moon, with the city lights lighting the clouds.

Steel Bridge from the Broadway Bridge

The structure of bridges is fascinating, and these old bridges were put together with an incredible number of rivets. No better time to highlight these than at night. All the surfaces on the Broadway Bridge were recently restored, so they appear relatively smooth.

Broadway Bridge Structure

Glare from the lights on the bridge is the largest obstacle, even with a lens hood. In this case I used my hand near the edge of the hood. The warm light from the sodium lights makes a nice contrast with the blue sky, giving it a sort of split tone look , although this photo would work in black and white as well.