New Work: Portland Style for the Willamette Week - Sellwood (plus outtakes!)

Once again, I shot some style for the Willamette Week. This one was a bit of a challenge, which I didn't think it would be! Sellwood: I have memories of it being a little funky neighborhood in SE Portland. Seeing it with the eyes of a street fashion photographer and not having spent much time there in the past 4 years or so was interesting as it turns out it's mostly white people in puffy jackets. Not that I have anything against puffy jackets... okay, yes, I take it back, I have something against puffy jackets (sorry!) they're just not very interesting stylistically. Which is fine if your primary goal is to be warm and you're not concerned with fashion. Heck, I have a puffy jacket that I bought while freezing my ass off in Russia, and it's damn warm, but I try not to wear it in public because it's just not stylish (and we're not in northern Russia here, people, it's not that cold 99% of the time). And as for Sellwood being predominantly white... well, I wouldn't want to live there though I'm sure many people love it, I just prefer a bit more diversity in my neighborhood because I believe diversity in race and income leads to greater creativity, more mixing of ideas, and compassion for all the people in the world who don't look, act or dress like you.

At any rate, it took me a couple of hours, but I did find some people who were rockin' their own styles and pulled together some cool outfits for the day (I'm still wishing the dude with winged shoes, sideways haircut and purple button down shirt had not been too hungry to have his photo taken). 

PS. You'll notice down there one woman who totally pulled off a puffy vest. I loved her outfit! A stylish take on the puffy jacket. And if someone can stylishly accessorize around a puffy jacket, I'd totally shoot that!