The high-rise buildings that have sprouted up in the South Waterfront area have always seemed a bit out of place to me. The tall steel and glass structures don't seem to match what springs to mind when I think of places people might live in Portland.

I mean sure, it's green, but it's just so tall and glassy and modern...

And yet, these last few weeks as I pass by the development on my commute, I find that the collection of buildings, together with the tram are, in their own way, beautiful. It doesn't seem like they fit with the landscape, until you realize that the landscape isn't what they're supposed to fit.

They fit in with the sky and the river. Even on the greyest of days, in the least interesting mid-day light, the glass buildings make shimmers from the river reach up toward the sky, as silver light from above trickles down toward the water. Each building is different, and each alone might be an ugly tower, but collectively and from nearly any angle, they form a cohesive work of art.

And when it's not the greyest of days. When it's, say, near sunset, and I find myself in slowing traffic as I exit I-5 to navigate the maze of turns that form the approach to the Ross Island Bridge, those tall glassy modern buildings reflect simultaneously silver and the hues of the darkening sky.

Today's traffic was slow enough that I was able to take these shots out my driver's side window, occasionally taking my foot off the brake to inch forward in line for the bridge.