Brian Libby
@brianlibby.bsky.social
Portland, Oregon architecture & arts journalist (Metropolis, Dwell, Oregon ArtsWatch, NY Times) • keen photographer and experimental filmmaker • fond of film noir, college football, cats, British panel shows, tennis, jazz, espresso, Columbo, democracy
Tree shadows on our garage door this afternoon…
February 11, 2026 at 5:53 AM
Tree shadows on our garage door this afternoon…
This, I believe, is my grandpa's graduation photo from that same year.
February 10, 2026 at 6:25 PM
This, I believe, is my grandpa's graduation photo from that same year.
This is so cool! An archival photo from 1939 by the great Dorothea Lange, taken in my grandfather's hometown of Independence, Oregon the same year he graduated from high school.
February 10, 2026 at 6:23 PM
This is so cool! An archival photo from 1939 by the great Dorothea Lange, taken in my grandfather's hometown of Independence, Oregon the same year he graduated from high school.
I made that trip with @valarie.bsky.social about 15 years ago and we had a great time, be it breakfast at Tweed's cafe or staring at Snoqualmie Falls.
February 8, 2026 at 4:57 AM
I made that trip with @valarie.bsky.social about 15 years ago and we had a great time, be it breakfast at Tweed's cafe or staring at Snoqualmie Falls.
I really love it, and was similarly won over across the course of the film. And coincidentally, I just received a book about the production in today’s mail. Are you a fan of any other particular Reichardt films? I especially love First Cow and Old Joy.
February 7, 2026 at 9:24 PM
I really love it, and was similarly won over across the course of the film. And coincidentally, I just received a book about the production in today’s mail. Are you a fan of any other particular Reichardt films? I especially love First Cow and Old Joy.
Eva also has a new show opening this month at Modernism West in San Francisco, called Relics of Beauty. modernisminc.com/exhibitions/...
February 5, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Eva also has a new show opening this month at Modernism West in San Francisco, called Relics of Beauty. modernisminc.com/exhibitions/...
I am excited to have acquired a wonderful collage by Portland artist Eva Lake. Part of her 2025 Gestures series, it combines a 1938 photo of Japanese Ikebana with a shot of swinging-sixties English fashion model Penelope Tree's hand.
February 5, 2026 at 5:59 PM
I am excited to have acquired a wonderful collage by Portland artist Eva Lake. Part of her 2025 Gestures series, it combines a 1938 photo of Japanese Ikebana with a shot of swinging-sixties English fashion model Penelope Tree's hand.
Ordering girl scout cookies this week has me recalling David Letterman’s top 10 least popular Pepperidge Farm cookies, most of which I could still recite to @valarie.bsky.social this evening, 35 years later.
February 5, 2026 at 5:51 AM
Ordering girl scout cookies this week has me recalling David Letterman’s top 10 least popular Pepperidge Farm cookies, most of which I could still recite to @valarie.bsky.social this evening, 35 years later.
It’s been fun rewatching The Maltese Falcon over dinner the past couple nights. Must be my third or fourth go round. Not a perfect film: The Sam Spade/Brigid O'Shaughnessy relationship is a head-scratcher. But Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are ceaselessly good company.
February 3, 2026 at 2:47 AM
It’s been fun rewatching The Maltese Falcon over dinner the past couple nights. Must be my third or fourth go round. Not a perfect film: The Sam Spade/Brigid O'Shaughnessy relationship is a head-scratcher. But Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre are ceaselessly good company.
After listening to Blood & Chocolate on my walk as a prep, I enjoyed reading this. Coincidentally, I'd just been looking at pics from a 2005 Edinburgh trip with @valarie.bsky.social. What I enjoyed most is how you articulated a bittersweet sensation about the passage of time I was already feeling.
February 2, 2026 at 11:25 PM
After listening to Blood & Chocolate on my walk as a prep, I enjoyed reading this. Coincidentally, I'd just been looking at pics from a 2005 Edinburgh trip with @valarie.bsky.social. What I enjoyed most is how you articulated a bittersweet sensation about the passage of time I was already feeling.
Another major fave.
February 2, 2026 at 5:15 AM
Another major fave.
And my hotel-room view was stellar.
February 2, 2026 at 5:13 AM
And my hotel-room view was stellar.
Even a park bandshell was designed by Frank Gehry.
February 2, 2026 at 5:10 AM
Even a park bandshell was designed by Frank Gehry.
Especially these babies.
February 2, 2026 at 5:09 AM
Especially these babies.
I was there to report on the Greenbuild green building conference and had only been to the city for 48 brief hours in 1993. Having lived in NYC, I had under-appreciated how great Chicago’s architecture is.
February 2, 2026 at 5:09 AM
I was there to report on the Greenbuild green building conference and had only been to the city for 48 brief hours in 1993. Having lived in NYC, I had under-appreciated how great Chicago’s architecture is.
Going through a batch of 2007 photos taken in Chicago that I have not seen in many years. How did I forget about these?
February 2, 2026 at 5:06 AM
Going through a batch of 2007 photos taken in Chicago that I have not seen in many years. How did I forget about these?
Enjoyed the 1953 Swedish film Hidden in the Fog, via Criterion Channel’s Nordic Noir series. It has a mesmerizing beginning, as a wife walks down a flight of stairs in darkness and shoots her husband before he says a word. Eventually it becomes more like an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit.
January 31, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Enjoyed the 1953 Swedish film Hidden in the Fog, via Criterion Channel’s Nordic Noir series. It has a mesmerizing beginning, as a wife walks down a flight of stairs in darkness and shoots her husband before he says a word. Eventually it becomes more like an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit.
Tokyo's Shinjuku district, 2006. This is another photo I didn't pay too much attention to when I originally took it. But Shinjuku is such an incredibly dense cluster of bars, eateries and shops. Plus I love all the oranges and reds in this pic.
January 30, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Tokyo's Shinjuku district, 2006. This is another photo I didn't pay too much attention to when I originally took it. But Shinjuku is such an incredibly dense cluster of bars, eateries and shops. Plus I love all the oranges and reds in this pic.
Going through my photo archives the past several days, my favorite moments are not revisiting favorites, but when I see with fresh eyes a shot I'd never much paid attention to before. This one was taken in Kyoto in 2006.
January 29, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Going through my photo archives the past several days, my favorite moments are not revisiting favorites, but when I see with fresh eyes a shot I'd never much paid attention to before. This one was taken in Kyoto in 2006.
Getting rid of that BMW was not only wise. Not doing so would have been ludicrous given the repair bills. And yet it still kind of haunts me, as if I reached some kind of peak from 1999 to 2006 when I drove that car.
January 28, 2026 at 5:42 PM
Getting rid of that BMW was not only wise. Not doing so would have been ludicrous given the repair bills. And yet it still kind of haunts me, as if I reached some kind of peak from 1999 to 2006 when I drove that car.
Even if I could afford to buy an Iso Grifo, I wouldn't. It would feel too ostentatious and attention-seeking. But something about certain European cars of this era makes me swoon. It also makes me miss the one car I've owned that came close: a 1983 BMW — an absolute money-pit but it looked great.
January 28, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Even if I could afford to buy an Iso Grifo, I wouldn't. It would feel too ostentatious and attention-seeking. But something about certain European cars of this era makes me swoon. It also makes me miss the one car I've owned that came close: a 1983 BMW — an absolute money-pit but it looked great.
I don't think I've ever posted images of a car here before, but the other day I came across a make & model I'd never heard of, the Iso Grifo, manufactured in Italy in the 1960s, and I have kept the browser tab open ever since, just so I can look at it.
January 28, 2026 at 5:38 PM
I don't think I've ever posted images of a car here before, but the other day I came across a make & model I'd never heard of, the Iso Grifo, manufactured in Italy in the 1960s, and I have kept the browser tab open ever since, just so I can look at it.
Perusing photos from a memorable afternoon I spent in 2005 watching Portland bands Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, The Decemberists, The Thermals, Quasi and Lifesavas record live at an abandoned house, for a film series called “Burn to Shine.”
January 26, 2026 at 4:45 AM
Perusing photos from a memorable afternoon I spent in 2005 watching Portland bands Sleater-Kinney, The Shins, The Decemberists, The Thermals, Quasi and Lifesavas record live at an abandoned house, for a film series called “Burn to Shine.”
I played Thundercat’s 2013 album Apocalypse for the first time in a while, intending to read a book as I listened. It’s what I do most nights. But there was no way. This record is so good it demands and deserves my full attention.
January 22, 2026 at 4:40 AM
I played Thundercat’s 2013 album Apocalypse for the first time in a while, intending to read a book as I listened. It’s what I do most nights. But there was no way. This record is so good it demands and deserves my full attention.