4am Project

[darkemeralds]

I did it! Thanks to lamentables, I heard about the 4AM Project just a few days ago. You take pictures on April 4 at 4:00 a.m.

So avventura1234 and I set out at 3:40 this morning to the east side river district of Portland, under the ramps of the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges, and took some pictures.



1. avventura1234 and Bronze Vera


2. Eastbank Esplanade, which Bronze Vera guards


3. Under I-5, about 90 degrees to the right of the previous view


4. Montage Restaurant - a couple of minutes later, heading home.

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Yay! Those are great.
abrinsky protests that you've got a lot more light to play with than we had here :-)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

We didn't feel much like venturing to the darker realms. So, well-lighted public spot. And tripod with long exposure. They're all a couple of seconds, at least.

It was cold, it was wonderfully traffic-less, it was a little bit eerie (though not as quiet as I would have supposed--freeways never sleep), and this was just a really fun thing to do! So glad you put us on to it.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

It's good to share the fun.

Here in a quiet rural location 4am isn't appreciably different from 10pm through to 5pm. In a hypothetical kind of way, I'm wishing that we'd gone out on a expedition instead of just stepping outside the house.

I'm now wondering whether to branch out from the original project and do 5am on 5th May etc. Jan and Feb would probably be the hardest for us.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Brrrr!

I think there's something special about the four o'clock hour. Three o'clock is just "out really late." By 5:00, it's just morning. But 4:00! That's why there are the songs and stuff. It's the no-man's land of time.

[vampirefan.livejournal.com]

great pictures! i whimped out since i had 2 get up early this morning (9am - yes that's totally early on a weekend!)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

For all intents and purposes, I just stayed up. Took a nap from 1:00 to 3:30, then another longer one from about 7:00 (after processing my photos, uploading them, and obsessively watching the 4amproject slideshow for a while) till 11:00.

Good to break up the routine a little.

[lyr]

Nifty! I particularly like the second one.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's funny: you shoot what would have long ago been a whole roll, or two rolls, of film, and you think that is the one that's gonna be great, and this is the one I'll throw away, and then you get your pictures and you're totally wrong!

That second one surprised me.

[llaras.livejournal.com]

oh, is this the original montage? i ate there once. fabulous.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Yup, the original Montage.

Didn't you come with us that night after wa all went to see the Serenity pre-screening? I remember drinking straight whiskey there and being totally blown away by the movie.

[llaras.livejournal.com]

Nope. I first met you at the screening over in SE, off of 82nd. You brought me awesome groceries. Later we found out that Alan Tudyk was supposed to be there but had to go do Spamalot things.

I went to Montage probably, hmmm, 14 or so years ago. Went with a big group of friends. Had a spicy mac and cheese and a $1 beer. I'm so not a beer drinker, but it went well with the food and the company.

For some reason I thought it had closed a couple years ago. The owner was murdered? Maybe I'm thinking of a different place.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It looked pretty open at 4:00 a.m. Saturday--there were employees cleaning, and bikes parked out front, and lights on over the entrance. I mean, I think it was closed at 4:00 a.m., but it gave the appearance of having been open in recent hours.

They were famous for their mac and cheese, though I wasn't super impressed by it, and I once had alligator meat there, which was kind of tasty.

[llaras.livejournal.com]

That's right! I remember they had sort of a Cajun thing going, yeah? And I remember some kind of oyster thing too, like the waiters would scream out when someone ordered a certain dish.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It was that kind of place, yes. I remember noise and crowds.

Here's what they say about themselves on their website:

one of Portland's quirkiest Restaurants.

While dining on communal linen-covered tables, you can enjoy a wide variety of meals, from rock shrimp pesto linguini to alligator jambalaya! Try one of our homemade desserts and get your to go food wrapped in our signature foil masterpieces.

And they are, indeed, open till 4:00 a.m., so they would have just closed when I took that photograph.

[llaras.livejournal.com]

Oh! I got a swan or a duck or something for mine! I totally forgot about that! Heh.

[roseambr.livejournal.com]

Looks like great fun! Love the pictures, especially number two and four. Up here I would have had to go into town to see anything. It's just dark here at 4am. Unless there's a full moon you don't even get tree silhouettes. Nice job and I'll bet you nap again today!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Yep, plenty of light all the time in the city. It was fun to shake up the synapses a little by doing something so different (i.e., getting up at 3:30).

You're right, though--throws off the sleep patterns for a couple of days.

That fourth shot, of Montage Restaurant, is my favorite. It looks like an old movie set to me. That's a weird and interesting part of down anyway, down there under the bridge ramps.