East Bank Esplanade - Location Guide

Mar 7

Updated March, 2025

Location Guide For Photo Sessions at the East Bank Esplanade in Portland Oregon

Are you looking for a location for your family photos that has some urban elements, Portland backdrop, the river, bridges, and nature? All within a short walk from parking and easy to drive to? Then, you will love the East Bank Esplanade in Portland.This is one of my absolute favorite locations for family photo sessions in Portland, and I’m always encouraging clients to visit at least once for their family photos.

The East Bank Esplanade is actually a 1.5 mile long stretch on the East side of the Willamette River from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge. You can actually cross the Willamette River on the Steel Bridge and head over to the parks on the West side of the river on one circuit.

In this comprehensive location guide I’ll share my favorite features of the East Bank Esplanade, special considerations if you are considering a photography session there, as well as seasonal information.

Table Of Contents
Access & Logistics
Seasonal Considerations
Favorite features of EAST BANK ESPLANADE
Tips For Photo Sessions At EAST BANK ESPLANADE

Access & Logistics

Address: 1945 SE Water Ave, Portland, OR 97214

Parking: There’s lots of street parking and Parking Kitty App paid parking within walking distance

Accessibility: The main path is flat and paved with great accessibility

Hours: Open 24 hours

Seasonal Considerations

son and daughter looking at mom laughing during fall family photo session with orange and yellow leaves by omni in Portland Oregon

Winter: This is a beautiful location for morning or evening photos, and winter evenings are early which may better align with any toddler bedtimes at your house…and mornings are a bit later, which may align with teenagers who want to sleep in a bit. It’s easy to get around this location regardless of the season.

Spring: Some of the plants in the area will have beautiful spring blooms, which are a treat.

Summer: This is a great location for an early morning family session, or evening session as the sun is setting over the west hills. You can quickly get from the car to the locations and there’s often a nice summer breeze here.This is a great location for an early morning session, or evening session as the sun is setting over the west hills. You can quickly get from the car to the locations and there’s often a nice summer breeze here.

Fall: This location has one of my favorite fall tree walkways where there are beautiful yellow leaves mirrored down a lovely cement pathway, and as a bonus you an get fall leaves in your photos, but also other urban and city backdrops making for a very diverse photo gallery.

Favorite Features of the East Bank Esplanade

The east bank esplanade is one of my favorite locations in Portland just because of the vast variety of backdrops in one place, AND that your kids have room to explore, roam, and have fun. There are colorful urban backdrops, the city viewed across the river, some green areas, Portland’s bridges, and docks down to the riverfront just to name a few of the options within a short distance. In addition, only about 2 blocks away is a great colorful urban art installation that makes for really fun and interesting photos too!

Tips about having a photo session at the East Bank Esplanade:

Be prepared to park in a paid lot using the parking kitty app.

We’ll do a bit of walking and exploring to checkout a few different backdrops, as well as head down to the river via one of the river access docks in the area. The majority of the walking is on flat level land, but the river access docks are on a gradient. We do need to watch for fast moving bikes in the area as it’s close to / on a wide bike path by OMSI. The East Bank Esplanade is actually one of the top rated family bike paths in Portland per PDXParents Magazine.
There is a great red building here that I love to include in photos, so keep that in mind when selecting your outfits.
On an overcast day we have lots of flexibility of when to schedule your photo session, but if it’s a sunny day we do need to be within an hour or so of sunrise and one-two hours of sunset depending on the season.