Portland Bathrooms With Reed

At around twenty-six hours of driving on the road trip clock, Reed and I made it to Portland, Oregon back in October of 2018. It was one of the main stops on our absolutely massive and epic road trip spanning five states and about 3,400 miles. It felt like the longest stretch was from Eureka, California to Portland, Oregon. We decided to take the coastal route for about half of Oregon's length. When you think of Route 101 down here in Los Angeles, you think of 4 lanes on each side, dead stop traffic even at 2A.M. and motorcycles zooming by you in the middle of the lanes. When you take the same freeway up in Oregon; it is one lane going either direction, with a guard rail on the west side of the road and forty-five miles per hour speed limits. Quite a difference to say the least, but it was well worth it.

As we pulled in to Portland a day early with no place to stay, Reed pulled up her phone and booked a last minute hotel room in Downtown Portland. It was a cheap room because it was booked through HotelsTonight. Normally when we would do that, Reed and I would never expect much from the room; for some reason every time we used that app my mind immediately envisioned a Motel 6 room in the middle of Oklahoma, Kentucky or some other questionable state. This was vastly different than what I had pictured in my mind as we pulled up to the hotel. I suppose my mind was changed when there was a no-option, valet only parking as a whopping $30 per day. I guess since the glass is always half full, there were at least unlimited in and outs.

As Reed and I got settled into our room for the night we knew that we needed to take full advantage of the bathroom the following morning. It was definitely not on the docket that evening seeing as we had just traveled thousands of miles in the last couple days and we were both mentally and physically drained. Of course the only cure for fatigue in Portland is not rest, it is strip clubs! Reed and I got ready and headed out for the night to go see some of our friends and give them a lot of money. The most satisfying thing about the clubs in Portland is their adherence to the Portland liquor laws. In Portland, if an establishment sells open alcohol, they absolutely must have a full menu of food; per the Oregon State Liquor Board. This works out favorably for patrons of the clubs. It becomes a one stop shop! You have the pleasure of watching beautiful ladies perform while you chow down on some of the best food out there. One of my favorites in Portland is Lucky Devil. I have a lot of friends that work at that location and their chicken strips, fries and ranch always hits the late night spot after a couple of beverages. Reed and I started out at Lucky Devil and then ventured over to their sister club Devil's Point. It was so amazing to run into all of our Portland friends like Radeo, Vincent, Toxic and Elle. After a few hours out and the sun potentially coming up soon, Reed and I called it a night and set our alarms for early in the morning so we could use and shoot the hotel room before our absurdly early 10A.M. check-out time.

The buzzing of our alarms woke us up the following morning and we were greeted by some beautiful soft sunlight coming through the fifth story windows with an equally profound wake up call from the hangovers we would be nursing for the rest of the morning and afternoon. As we slowly crawled out of bed and tried to start our day we came up with a plan. Well, it was the normal plan. Her task; get ready to shoot. My task; a coffee run. As I haphazardly threw on my clothes and stumbled out the door I remember standing in the elevator and leaning my head against the wall waiting for it to descend to the ground floor. As the doors opened, I pulled myself together, took a deep breath and walked out into the brisk and windy city. As I walked down the block to what was rated one of the best coffee shops of the area I took in the crisp Pacific Northwest air accompanied by some cigarette smoke. I kept looking up at the skies, so blue and clean sprinkled with fluffy clouds. A few minutes later with two nitro cold brews in my already frigid hands I began my several block walk back to the hotel room.

By the time I arrived, my coffee was basically empty, which is not hard to do when their two options for sizes are 8oz. and 12oz. At around the same time Reed had finished getting ready. If my memory serves me correctly, it was quickly encroaching on 9A.M. which meant that we only had a brief moment to shoot before we had to pack up all of our things and ship out of the hotel room before check-out. The key spot to shoot in the room; the bathroom. I always rather fancy a good granite counter top and a mirror with embedded lights around the border. It makes for a perfectly balanced light source that just makes the subject absolutely glow. Needless to say, I was smitten about the setting, the light, well basically everything except the hangover still resonating and thumping in my mind.

With a quick ten minutes we shot this look, wrapped up, packed up our bags and shipped out to our next hotel; The Jupiter Next. Enjoy!

- AW Media

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/m2iy6md4jwdnp36/AABYsHD74H8wlUWha96UyBLEa?dl=0