A line cast, a hope followedWednesday, March 02, 2005
I am contemplating a photo on my desk that I asked a friend to take while we walked around downtown Puerto Vallarta about two years ago. I've had this photo on my desk since he developed it and put it in a frame for me as a gift. All this time, what I have liked about the picture was the color and lighting. The photo is taken looking up a stairwell that leads from a heavy carved wood outside door into what is likely a boarding house. The stairs are faced in decorated tiles the color of green lentils, and the walls are a bright lime green.
What I am noticing right now for the first time is how the stairs wrap around to the right leading into the unknown, ending out of sight of the camera lens. I am thinking how often I step into a situation and can only clearly see the way to the first landing. From there, it is obvious the stairs continue, but whether they are chipped and broken, whether it is dark or light at the top, whether I will like the place they lead is completely obscured. The picture didn't capture the source of the bird song at the top of the stairs, nor the cooler temperature inside the stairwell vs the sidewalk outside, the things that would have drawn me in to climb up.
It seems very easy now to have forgotten those things.
What I am noticing right now for the first time is how the stairs wrap around to the right leading into the unknown, ending out of sight of the camera lens. I am thinking how often I step into a situation and can only clearly see the way to the first landing. From there, it is obvious the stairs continue, but whether they are chipped and broken, whether it is dark or light at the top, whether I will like the place they lead is completely obscured. The picture didn't capture the source of the bird song at the top of the stairs, nor the cooler temperature inside the stairwell vs the sidewalk outside, the things that would have drawn me in to climb up.
It seems very easy now to have forgotten those things.
