Portland is a challenging city to take a nice "cityscape" of. The problem is not getting a good elevated position near the city. Portland is surrounded by hills. No, the problem is all the trees. There are very few unobstructed sight lines. And then there is Vista Bridge.
I soon realised that the location of Vista Bridge would be my best bet for a decent shot of Portland but the sightlines are still fairly restricted. Also, on my large format camera I don't currently have a "long" lens. What to do with the rest of the frame? I decided that the city in the midst of this forest was like an oasis of light. The highway leading into it was dark, of course, but with a long shutter opening and a few passing cars I was able to visualise it as a river of light flowing into the brilliant city skyline.
You see, a good picture is made in that period of time between noticing something and tripping the shutter. That is when your brain needs to be working. There is a little that you can do after the picture is made but you can't change the important things like where you pointed the camera, whether you used a long or short exposure and when you tripped the shutter.
Ultimately, this is why large format cameras take better pictures. Your brain is a limited resource. If you spread that thinking around two or three pictures in an evening you might take some very good ones. If you took 300 that night how much did you think about any of them?
