The Narrative Image

Mr. ‘T’ travels the world. Armed with a sophisticated, lightweight point and shoot, he documents his travels in the tradition of the best travel photographers. By that I mean, when you look at Mr. ‘T’s travel photos, they provoke a profound sense of wanderlust. Sometimes it makes me jealous. Why am I not disciplined enough to earmark money for travel? Why don’t I go to more beautiful, exotic places?   But then Mr. ‘T’ mused, “ Someday I’d like to photograph Portland a bit like I was a tourist.” That’s when I was reminded that I actually live in a beautiful, exotic place, and the only reason I don’t notice is because I see it every day. So we agreed to meet after work and try to view our city as if we were visitors. This is what the south portion of downtown Portland looks like from a vantage point high in Big Pink, the U.S. Bancorp tower. A similar view can be attained by visiting Portland City Grill on the 30 th floor. I know this sounds stupid, but fo...

The other day at work, a colleague described me as a pessimist (I remember thinking, “No good can come from this!) Turns out, there’s some people who see the glass as half full, some who see it as half empty, and then evidently there’s my case where not only is the glass completely empty…the faucet isn’t working either. But my immediate response was to deny it. I tried to argue that I’m among the first to look for the humor in particular situations. It was then I learned that gallows humor, “…finding irony or comedy in serious matters such as death,” is kind of an acquired taste. But – but – I stuttered, what about my constant search for and appreciation of creation’s beauty as documented in these blog entries? Doesn’t that reflect some small measure of optimism? Even as I said it, I completely expected that it wouldn’t save me from a futile life as a cynical pathetic wallflower. So I thought I’d take another stab at inspirational, perhaps even optimistic ‘free verse’ to exerci...