Portland Day 1: All of My Favorite Things
I started off my first full day in Portland bright and early, catching the bus at 7:30 to get over to Cathedral Park for my first session. I was really hoping that since it was actually 10:30am in Asheville I might have an easier time waking up, but no such luck. So with bleary eyes, I transferred to the MAX along with every other person in Beaverton and attempted to not stick out as we bumped and jostled our way along. I certainly can't speak for everyone, but whenever I travel I always feel this need to look as un-touristy as possible (perhaps a reflex from being an American abroad), but trying to look unmoved as I repeatedly jolted from side-to-side, white-knuckling the hand rail, was a bit difficult. It did wake me up though!
Since I spent most of my last trip exploring, my goal of this week was to shoot as many sessions as possible in as many locations as possible to build up my Portland portfolio and top of the list was this gorgeous little park underneath St. Johns Bridge! I'd never met Magda and Kyla before (they responded to a model call on Instagram), but knew a bit about them from my questionnaire and I knew this session was going to be a lot of playful giggles and being silly; my kind of photo shoot. I was definitely not disappointed! I'll leave most of the description to their session blog post later, but I had an absolute blast capturing their sweet love for each other underneath the towering arches of the bridge. We even took a jaunt across the bridge for some more colorful images on the historic bridge, using mostly hand signals to communicate as the combination of rumbling wheels and rushing tailwinds rendered us temporarily deaf.
When we'd captured as many dance moves, tickle fights and kisses as we thought necessary, we parted ways and I remained in the park for a bit longer, simply soaking up the last of the cool morning while I listened to music. In true Millennial form, I've included a Snapchat photo to document the experience.
As I'd rushed out the door right on time, I hadn't bothered to eat breakfast (don't try this at home, kids; breakfast is the best meal of the day) so I quickly asked the almighty Google where to go and ended up at Two Stroke Coffee, inspired by the "the 2 Stroke Engine; Scrappy, Lightweight and Loud." Clad in all black with my leather jacket and tattoos, this sounded like the perfect place to get my morning fix. They served one of the best hand pies I have ever had, alongside a fantastic cappuccino, and with Johnny Cash on in the background I tried to take in as much of the place as I could. I, of course, took a few more film shots here before leaving.
For the last bit of my exploration time, I went foraging for food, only walking a couple blocks before finding a quaint Mexican restaurant. I at first thought I was in the wrong place because when I opened the door, I walked into a grocery store. But, as it turned out, Carniceria Santa Cruz resides in the back of the store and serves some of the most delicious fish tacos I've ever had for a whopping $1.50 a piece. That's when you know you're in the right place!
After lunch, I hopped back on the bus and enjoyed a bit of air conditioning on my way to pick up groceries for the week. If you thought Portland would be cool and fall-like in September, you'd only be right if you thought 85 degrees with sun beating down on your fit those parameters! On the way, Union Station happened to catch my eye and as I'd been planning to go there later in the week to take photos anyways, I immediately pulled the yellow cable to request a stop, probably startling the driver with my excited yelp.
For the rest of the afternoon, I played with my cousins and then worked from Mo Cha tea house, even doing a wedding consult for a fantastic couple I'll be shooting a wedding for here in 2019! Great photos, great food, great conversation; this was definitely a great day.