My Favorite Images From 2007

Yep, the following retrospective of some of my favorite images and excerpts from the first full year of The Narrative Image pretty much means I didn’t manage to take any new pictures this week.

Snow Day – Mt. Tabor Park - January 16, 2007

“But snow days reveal that we like and need each other too. In many cases, just a few hours of freedom from work and the consequential forced isolation in a house or apartment results in the rare release of our inner children. Wide eyed and innocent again, kids of all ages bundle up and join together to play like dogs or otters in what seems to be a pure white blanket of redemption.”

Peace Rally & March - South Park Blocks, Downtown Portland - March 18, 2007

Over 10,000 concerned Oregonians marched in the streets of Portland to constructively express their opposition to the war. The following day, conservative media hosts chose to focus on the radical activities of a few black-clad, masked and anonymous anarchists who attempted to impose their agenda of chaos over the wishes of the march’s 90 co-sponsoring organizations. To witness the incredible disconnect between an event and the way it was covered by the media was to learn why it is so important to preserve independent news sources.

Painted Hills - Close to Mitchell, OR - May 25, 2007

“standing on a cusp of time
forwards and backwards bending out of sight
making as much sense as
a calendar to a mayfly”

Fishing for shad – Willamette River near Oregon City – June 14, 2007

“The flash of silver, the splash of their tails and the play of line all contribute to a sense of excitement and … familiarity… and perhaps some small consolation that I am at least, with the help of my friends, able to out-think shad.”

Water Rich - East Zigzag Mt. Approach to Burnt Lake - June 23, 2007

From early June to the middle of August, I seemed to be able to experience spring over and over again as more and more hiking options opened up at higher altitudes.

Mt. Hood Panorama – View from Bald Mountain – July 1, 2007

The sun’s slow migration to higher latitudes gradually encouraged Mt. Hood to push aside its winter blankets…

Avalanche Lilly – McNeil Point Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness – July 4, 2007

…so long stifled wildflowers might burst into bloom like fireworks…

Location, Location, Location. - McNeil Point Trail, Mt. Hood Wilderness – July 4, 2007

…and trickles of ice-water might bring abundant life to a landscape born of fire.

Pointy Plants – Smith & Bybee Lakes – August 9, 2007

By August, back in the Willamette Valley, the exuberance of early spring has long been waning and plant life begins to bow to the unrelenting summer sun. I’ve seen dandelions wither and twist like this in response to certain poisons, and I suspect a similar influence here. I know this is not a technically proficient photograph, yet the graceful, perhaps choreographed curves and postures of the thistle bring to mind a melancholic ballet of death or a wistful longing for life.

Shadows – Under the Fremont Bridge, Portland, OR – October 28, 2007

The cycle of the seasons may be the inspiration underlying our stories of life after death. In this accidental image of shadows cast by the long rays of a retreating sun, the presence of birds is implied, but not anywhere confirmed.

Night Birds Under a Full Moon – Seaside, OR – November 23, 2007

An icy wind blows inland off the ocean and two gulls hunker down for an uneasy night, one keeping an eye on the progress of the waves, and one pondering the activities of a colossal two legged primate with a tripod. They seem to be power napping at best. By morning they will look cold and gray and even a little bit stiff, but their associates will have been joining them through the night and by sunrise, they will, as part of a great chorus, squawk and squeal together in a ritual to greet another day.

The Japanese Garden @ Portland, Oregon

I should probably begin by telling you that about the only plant I’ve ever managed to successfully grow was a Chia Pet, so you can imagine that gardens and gardening are somewhat of an impenetrable mystery to me.



On the left is an example of Mt. Hood National Wilderness (From the Ramona Falls trail. See http://thenarrativeimage.blogspot.com/2007/05/ramona-falls-trail-super-sized-part-two.html). On the right is an example of Portland Oregon’s Japanese Garden. While I personally find both scenes beautiful, there are several aspects about the garden scene that show evidence of human tinkering. Some of the obvious signs are a human constructed concrete artifact, groomed bushes and trees, and a preponderance of plant varieties seemingly chosen for aesthetic purposes.

Just for the purpose of comparison, this corn is an example of a garden designed for the efficient production of a food crop. Curiously, I find this scene aesthetically pleasing also, but did not find any growing at the Japanese gardens.

It is tempting to get carried away and insinuate that the designed gardens are easy to recognize because of their obvious order.

But in the biggest garden of all, we often see that order and disorder go hand in hand. Great swaths of habitable ecosystem are swept away in the blink of an eye. A new niche is provided for some other opportunistic species (and if there are any favorites, it would appear to be the beetle family).

Japanese Garden - Portland, Oregon - Admission gate

After paying eight bucks to get in, I walk past the guardian lions and take a look at the Welcome Brochure I’ve been handed. The brochure informs me that, “Eastern symbolism challenges the visitor to reflect and be open to varying interpretations of sights and sounds.” Keeping this in mind, I take a second look at the guardian lion, and as the brochure suggests, I try to take a moment to feel the Garden’s mood of peace and harmony. The lion’s expression seems none too peaceful and I imagine it softly growling at me, “Stay on the path or this globe I’m standing on might as well be your left testicle.”

Japanese Garden -Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

It’s an overcast day so I set the White Balance on the Rebel to the cloud symbol. This may have been a mistake because later I will see that most of the pictures have an artificial looking warm yellow-green tint.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - The Natural Garden

See what I mean?

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

I thought the red in this tree would make a good complement to the predominate greens everywhere else. While I was trying to make the picture, I was also thinking that it would be nice (though not possible) to sit under this shaded canopy for awhile with a quality beer or two, watching the endless line of tourists stopping to pose on the moon bridge to have their portraits captured.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Authentic Moon Bridge

Here I try desperately to get some believable green colors, but end up using Photoshop’s watercolor filter instead.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

The water in the pools was muddy and unsettled. It provided good cover for the Koi until they neared the surface. At first, only a slow moving golden glow would diffuse through the suspended silt, like a distant lantern in the fog.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Strolling Pond Garden

I spent some time just watching the primitive looking fish moving in their world of water, patrolling the bank in front of the visitor benches just in case some of the bipeds proved to be illiterate (Please don't feed the Koi! - Throwing coins prohibited!) with a pocketful of crumbs. I thought about surfaces and boundaries, ripples and reflections, all between worlds and points of view.

Japanese Garden - Portland Oregon - Sand and Stone Garden

Maybe the attraction of gardens is that it gives us the illusion of control and a chance to feel like co-creators – super-hero sidekicks – helping to order and direct various manifestations of life.

For more information about the Japanese Garden, visit their website at: www.japanesegarden.com

PDX PEACE MARCH REVISTED

I got some feedback from Pax (who I presume is an anarchist) regarding my post titled “PDX Peace March Spin”. Pax evidently wants to explain why some anarchists don’t support our troops and pointed me towards some anarchist literature available on the internet.

As best as I can determine, anarchists (at least some anarchists) condemn soldiers for placing themselves at the disposal of ‘the state’. They blame soldiers for following orders instead of their “own guiding ethics” – for being part “marionette”. In short, it seems that anarchists don’t distinguish between the soldier and the state – that is, they seem to hold individual soldiers responsible for the political/policy decisions of their commander-in-chief. (Do anarchists vote?)

I’m not sure that this particular line of reasoning is a fair or complete characterization of soldiers or the ‘state’. For me, what an individual soldier does is a sacred thing. To paraphrase, there is no greater way to show love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

As paradoxical as it must seem to anarchists, long periods of stability and peace correlate very well with the golden ages of dominant world empires. (Does PAX ROMANA ring a bell?) Is peace ever a possibility without a really big stick to back it up?

While reviewing anarchist literature, I noticed that a popular format for writing appeared to be something called a ‘Zine’. Many of these were rich with hand drawn images, and it struck me that these are essentially ideal ‘narrative images’. So what happened is, I was inspired to write my own ‘zine’. (It was fun but really hard and kind of explains why it’s taken me so long to post). The title of my “zine” is:

American Fascist Troops & Police:

Keeping Anarchists Safe and Free for Over 200 Years