I took these from the deck of the Bainbridge Island Ferry on Saturday. The heat of the day only made the sight of the floating snowy mountain that much stranger. Exactly a week before I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn't brought a parka. A week later I was out on the deck in bare arms, bare head, and bare legs, acquiring the makings of a Pacific Northwest sunburn.
Once the ferry pulled out into Puget Sound, dozens of people raised cellphones and cameras south-ward toward the mountain. The mountain, bay, and boat collectively cried, Beauty! Purity! Look at me! I suspect there are fifty concurrent versions of the top shot, none of which say very much about the photographer. But a sight like that is hard to resist, even if you know it's sentimental, even if you know that the perfected version can be found on the rack at the downtown Walgreen's. Nearer to Seattle, the signs of industry came into view: lifts, ships, cranes, containers. By then everyone had turned away from the mountain, looking ahead to the skyscrapers, the piers, the Space Needle. No one around me lifted her camera. A puppy shook terribly at the blast of the horn. Later, when I showed the second shot to Mark, he said, that's the one.
6 comments:
an exquisite image, and an exquisite line: "A puppy shook terribly at the blast of the horn." ...so great
Thank you, Bill!
I love how the mountain looks identical in both shots.
& yes: that shaking puppy.
One of the best compliments I ever got was when I was having a big, long, windy orgy of staring at Mt. Rainier from the prow of the ferry. I snapped out of it enough to offer to get out of the way of the view, the women with the camera smiled and said, "You're part of it." That's probably part of why I have such an irrational conviction that it's a lesbian mountain.
Thank you, dear E.
And Susan--from here on out it's a lesbian mountain to me as well.
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