Photographing bSide6 Monday, July 27, 2009

I got up before dawn Sunday morning to photograph bSide6, a new, seven-story building designed by Works Partnership, at the corner of East Burnside and SE Sixth (hence the name). The building has retail space on the bottom floor, but most of the space is designated as studio space for the city's creative community. bSide6 is brand new but, no thanks to the economy, I'm sure, it is about 2/3 vacant.

Unfortunately, the vacancies meant there were "For Lease" signs in the windows, and to my dismay a Jeep had parked in front of the building overnight. But the weather cooperated, as did the local crazies wandering the streets in the early morning hours.

One gentleman in particular stood out. Dressed in jeans and a tired white t-shirt and drinking God-knows-what from a reused Gatorade bottle, he paced around the intersection where I was working—thankfully not in front of the building—and up and down the surrounding streets. All the while, the overweight, 40-something, balding-with-a-ponytail guy kept saying in a character voice something to the effect of "Getthatcameraoutofhere" in such a hurry that he could hardly enunciate it, followed by some kind of surprised response: "What?" like he was having some kind of conflicted scenario playing over and over in his head.

It was loud enough that I could hear it across the street. Naturally, I ignored him and kept working while the light was good.

"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"
"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"
"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"

There were a handful of other people who passed through, most hanging around the bus shelter kitty-corner to my subject. Apart from the white t-shirt guy, though, none made any comment or asked me any questions other than what time it was. Meanwhile, the monologic call-and-answer continued:

"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"
"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"
"Getthatcameraoutofhere!"
"What?"

Finally, as I was packing up to leave, he approached me and, in a perfectly sane voice, asked "Excuse me, do you know what time it is?"

Come to think of it, I had my back to him the whole time this bipolar discussion was going on. Maybe it was just voices in my head.