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A monochrome view of a tall communication tower extending into fog, surrounded by the silhouettes of tree branches.

A foggy landscape with a winding path, surrounded by trees. Two people stands on the grass near a bench, looking at the scenery. The sky is overcast. The photograph is monochrome.

Council Crest. Portland, Oregon. 11th October, 2025.

A Walk on Powell Butte

A Walk on Powell Butte

Walking on Powell Butte often brings me into a black and white state-of-mind. That’s what happened when I wrote a post about a photo walk there in December.

Last weekend I found myself there again. This time I constrained myself to “black and white photos with the iPhone using Obscura, mostly with the new 4x lens”. I find contraints to be helpful for creativity.

Obscura has become my go-to app for a manual UI for iPhone photography. Like any sophiticated interface with a purpose, it takes some getting used to, but that’s worth it. I thought I would make edits in post-processing, but in the end I didn’t touch the files at all, except one crop.

A black and white image of an orchard with trees in a grassy field. Two people are walking among the trees, and a narrow path winds through the scene. The sky is partly cloudy.

A black and white image of a wide, grassy field with a lone person walking a dog on a curved path. In the background, there is a line of tall conifer trees and distant hills under a cloudy sky.

A person sits under a tree in a grassy field. They are being held by the arm of a second person who is not visible due to the tree trunk. There are a couple other trees in a row nearby. The image is in black and white.

A grayscale landscape showing a mostly trees with a few scattered buildings and structures and hills in the background. Thick clouds fill the sky, and an airplane is visible at the center.

Black and white image of wild plants in the foreground, with a hilly landscape and cloudy sky in the background.

Grayscale image of a grassy field with a few small trees, bordered by a line of taller coniferous trees under a cloudy sky.

I’m pretty happy with how this experience turned out, and look forward to similar explorations with Obscura in the future.

A person standing on a pathway in a garden with lush greenery, a bamboo fence, and an arched entrance in the background.

A person is kneeling on a wooden bridge in a lush garden, surrounded by green foliage and white flowers. They are holding a camera, focused on taking a photograph near a pond.

Caleb at the Japanese Garden. Portland, Oregon. 16th May, 2025.

📷 Hasselblad 500C/M
🎞️ Kodak Gold 200

A gnarled tree with moss-covered branches and red-tinged leaves, set in a lush, green forest background.

A tranquil garden scene featuring a gnarled, moss-covered tree branch extending horizontally. The background includes lush green foliage and reddish leaves, with a path visible in the distance.

A bonsai tree in a pot, displayed on a wooden stand against a background of horizontal wooden slats.

Three trees at the Portland Japanese Garden. 16th May, 2025.

📷 Hasselblad 500C/M
🎞️ Kodak Gold 200

Recently, I had some delicious Biang Biang noodles at Frank’s Noodle House here in Portland 😋.

Had been wanting to have these ever since I finished reading Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, which was a really nice book.

On Friday I had the day off, so I took the opportunity to be outside all day exploring new-to-me places a couple hours away right here in Oregon. Here are some photos from that.

A black and white image of a mountain peak surrounded by clouds, with rolling hills and power lines in the foreground.

A scenic waterfall cascading over rocky cliffs surrounded by lush greenery and trees under a clear blue sky.

A freight train travels along a track beside a river, amidst a landscape of rolling hills and dry vegetation under a partly cloudy sky.

Two people sitting near a rocky riverbank with fishing gear, surrounded by rugged terrain and a flowing river. In the distance is a bird with a curved neck, likely an egret.

A vast landscape featuring golden fields with sparse trees, a few small buildings, and a distant, partially cloud-covered snow-capped mountain under a cloudy sky.

A long train traveling along a rocky coastline with cliffs and trees in the background, and a river in the foreground, under a partly cloudy blue sky.

One of my pet peeves about iOS is that the Apple Weather widget does not show the temperature when it is raining, so I just submitted the following feedback:

The weather widget should show the temperature at all times. It should show the temperature when it is raining. If you live in a place where it rains a lot you don’t see the temperature when it is raining, which can sometimes be several days in a row, and that is just silly.

Weather widget showing rain forecast for Portland for the next hour with a cloud icon and a bar graph indicating rain intensity.

A cat, curled up like a shrimp, sleeps on a folded, colorful floral blanket laid on a carpet, with a rainbow reflection nearby.

Shrimping.

A fountain with water spraying upwards, surrounded by stone blocks, during sunrise. A person walks nearby, and trees and streetlights are visible in the background, with the distant silhouette of a bridge and skyline.

Salmon Street Springs. Portland, Oregon. 19th September, 2025.

A rowing team on a river with a large arched bridge above, surrounded by trees and sunlight reflecting off the water.

Rowers by the Sellwood Bridge. Portland, Oregon. 20th September, 2025.