It’s been a while. So, sue me.

I could lie and say I was busy, but I won’t. I’ll tell you the truth: the weather was too darn miserable.

This set of pictures, this whole one-lens-no-cropping-no-Photoshop experiment, requires me to walk around the city. I’m mostly cold-proof but I just couldn’t bring myself to hang around outside. Nobody else was around anyway. They were all scurrying to and fro.

In the future, I’ll try and stick closer to my once-a-week goal.

Anyway, now the weather’s getting better and there’s more to see on the streets of my dear old town. I hope you like what I saw.

– TROY.

It’s been a while since I did this. It shows. I’m out of practice.

In fact, I haven’t gone out on a 5@50 hunt since before we had any serious snow. It was way back at the beginning of January that I last roamed the streets of Portland (my hometown) looking to make five pictures with my trusty 50mm lens.

I admit, these photos are not my best work. But I’m committed to posting whatever I come up with — no crazy cropping, Photoshop tricks or pictures taken over several different days — just five pictures at 50mm.

That’s a challenge, but challenging myself is the point.

I give you  five more pictures from the streets of Portland taken on Friday Jan. 2 with my 50mm lens. It’s a test of my skills. If all goes well, I’ll be publishing a new set of five pictures taken with the same lens every week with no crazy cropping or Photoshop trickery.

The weather was warm, for January, and quite sunny. The streets were not empty. Folks seemed to be in good spirits. I easily struck up conversations with Kelsey and Heather.

I’ve been trying to walk pretty much the same beat since I started this. It hasn’t gotten boring yet. I figure, if I take the same walk over the course of many weeks, I’ll really start to notice what it is I’m looking at.

Incidentally, I know Glad Swope. He’s a musician and quite a character.

Here I go again.

These are five more pictures from the streets of Portland taken on Tuesday Dec. 2 with my 50mm lens. It’s a project I started a few weeks ago as a test of my skills. If all goes well, I’ll be publishing a new set of five pictures taken with the same lens every week with no cropping or Photoshop trickery.

This week it was quite cold. Most Portlanders were scurrying to their destinations. I didn’t see anyone hanging about until I met Helen. She was just finishing up a Christmas decoration project. She was friendly.

Sometimes it’s hard to approach strangers on the street. You have to get a decent photo and then get their names. There’s lot’s of great shooters out there, but to do this job you also have to be friendly enough to make people feel vaguely comfortable giving you their names for a photo project they’ve never heard of before.

Here in Portland, I also have to include my now well-worn paragraph about how I work for the BDN, yes, but this is my hometown and I work here. I live here and cover it for that paper “up north.” My business card usually helps make me seem legit.

The other pictures I came up with this week were much easier. The stairs, the watches and the blue sky with buildings and wires were free for the taking.

The man walking by the window was a gift. I turned. I saw it, focused, snapped. Then he was gone. It takes all kinds.

– TROY.