Ash and I went to St Helens, Oregon this weekend for an art / antique boat / classic car festival. They had exactly one classic car and one antique boat. If that’s all you need to call it a festival, then I will be presenting the first annual tennis racket / toster /wife festival this weekend. All of which I have one. The photo is from a 1940’s Cadillac.  We also went to a distillery tour at Portland Center Stage.  (Local Performing Arts Theater) I tasted some really bad spirits. But, I got one of my favorite photos yet. I also posted a photo of a wide angle shot to show what the architecture looked like in this building. I like how the lights were hanging in front of the blue frame in the background.  It’s amazing how you can find a photo in just about anything.
 
    

Event

Martin Sexton
Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
10/06/07 - 08:00 PM

Section
Row
Type
Ticket Price
Convenience Charge
Description

GA
GA3
ADULT
US $25.00
US $6.00

GA
GA3
ADULT
US $25.00
US $6.00

Seats:17 to 18 | seating chart

Charge Summary

Item
Charge

Tickets

ADULT Tickets
Total Convenience Charge(s)
US $25.00 x 2
US $6.00 x 2

Order Processing Charge
US $4.15

TicketFast
US $2.50

TOTAL CHARGES
US $68.65

These are the final charges for my up coming concert. First off, when did two $25.00 tickets turn into $68.65? A lot of things hack me off, but nothing tweaks me more than a convenience charge. Thank you for producing a computer program 15 years ago that allows me to purchase tickets from the comfort of my living room. It’s just a pain in the butt to stop by the ticket office that I have to walk by as I enter the concert. Just make the price of the ticket $34.00. I still would have purchased it. Second, if you’re going to charge me a convenience charge for one ticket, why the heck would you charge me a second convenience charge for two tickets? If anything I just made life easier on you, ticket master, by buying two tickets at one time. Finally, where does this money go? ($18.65) I picture a Montgomery Burns character sitting behind a nice dark mahogany desk with a little counter in font of him that increases incrementally by $18.65 every time some poor sap like myself clicks confirm ticket order.  Oh and one last gripe, the $2.50 fast ticket charge seems a little extreme, considering I chose to print the tickets myself. Yup, I got charged to print them myself…. Maybe I should invoice them for the ink that I used to have them printed.

I had an entertaining conversation with my brother last night. The question was: Top 3 people you would like to meet in an airport bar? Why an airport bar? Because that is the one place you are most likely to meet them. My airport run-in is limited to just one. Bill Nye the Science Guy. Anyway, click on comment below this post and let me know your top five.  My only rule… they must be alive; can’t buy Elvis a beer before a flight at PDX.

1. Bill Self; University of Kansas, Mens Basketball Coach

2. Don and or Mike; Don & Mike Show, WJFK

3. Mike Rowe; Dirty Jobs, Discovery Channel

Saturday we went to the Garlic Festival in….. Well, I don’t remember the name of the town.  Let’s just say it’s a small enough town to have THE Garlic Festival. The photo of the guy making pottery is from it. He actually destroyed this pot about 10 seconds later.  Patrick Swayze was sitting behind him and mud went everywhere. Ghost for anyone who didn’t get that. The little girl is Ryann. Her mom, Steph, was pregnant with her at our wedding. Sunday we packed up the cooler with some beer and parked by the airport to watch the Blue Angels perform. I wish it wasn’t raining, but oh well. They are tough to shoot! I probably took 30 different shots; these two seemed to be the best of the best.

Beginning about fifteen minutes after sunset there is a 10-15 minute gap when you get twilight. After this short window the sky will fill in black and photograph at the same exposure as the infrastructure around it. As I have said before, I love color contrast, so this is my time to shoot. I purchased my tripod yesterday and briefly made it outside during a commercial break to try it out. I caught the last part of twilight, so I set my exposure to 8 sec and took this. Imagine what this could look like with the beach or the city scape in the frame.

I saw this caboose sitting by itself on an abandon railway on the edge of town this morning. I meant to get to it with the sunset lighting it this evening, but I was unable to get there in time. I LOVED trains when I was little and the caboose was the best part. It let you know the show was over. I looked it up on the Internet just prior to typing this and found out that they were used for long freight lines, but now most trains are regional so they have become extinct. In this case it has become a canvas for some rising Portland artist. I walked around to the other side to get a shot with the west hills in the back ground, but apparently graffiti artist only like their work to face roads.

I have wanted to visit Full Sail Brewery since I moved here 4 years ago. You drive right by it on Hwy 84… This was my weekend! The tour was free and you get a free pint glass when you finish. What a deal! I found out some interesting facts. For instance, I didn’t know Full Sail produces about half of Henry Weinhard’s Beer. They currently produce 250,000 barrels a year.  After some lunch and a taster of the beer we went to the water’s edge and I took a few shots with my new 100-300mm lens. As I was shooting tons of thick smoke settled into the gorge and the town. I guess a forest fire caught up river and the wind was pushing it our direction. I was a little disappointed because I wanted the background of the gorge to be clear, but the more I look at the shot the more I like it with the blue haze.