Alex Landeen

  • Home
  • Landeen Photography
  • About
  • Contact

Perspective

August 31, 2016 by Alex Landeen 3 Comments

landeen_blog-9110
Kevin raises the outboard then lifts the oars and slides the blades into the water. I stand and straighten my shirt, turning to look at him. “Periscope up?” he asks, and I nod and slide under his right arm and pick my way into the back of the boat and onto the polling platform.

I like being up here. I like the advantageous perspective, how the glare runs just a little farther away toward the horizon like a pretty girl hiking up her skirt, just a little higher, just for me.

It reminds me of a scene in a movie called The Mothman Prophecies. Richard Gere is a reporter who is drawn to a small town in West Virginia to investigate some supernatural-ness. He learns of these strange beings known to some as Mothmen (it is unknown if there are Mothwomen), who, for unknown reasons, meddle occasionally in the realm of man by abstractly prophesying future events (usually bad) and generally creeping people out.

There is one scene in particular where Gere is talking to a writer who has published stories about these creatures. Gere asks the man how he can explain the fact that these creatures made predictions which later came true. He asks how it can be explained what they seem to know. Are they God? The author points to a tall building, and to a person hanging from a platform on the side, cleaning windows. He says, “if there was a car crash ten blocks away, that window cleaner could probably see it. That doesn’t mean that he is God, or even smarter than we are, but from where he’s sitting he can see a little farther down the road.”

When I stand on this polling platform I feel like that window cleaner, and it takes me back to my middle school days when I had a friend named Dane. He had a big tree in his backyard which we once climbed all the way to the top and I was able to see across the alley and neighbors to the next street where my house was. I had never seen the house from that angle. It looked strange and gave me a funny feeling like this was not actually my house, but one that looked like it, and if I were to stay up here enough I might see a kid that looked like me on a bike that looked like mine return home to parents that looked like my parents and to a dinner similar to what I would later find on my own plate. I felt like a multi-dimensional-tree climbing voyeur.

Whoever first said, “it’s all a matter of perspective” probably climbed trees as a child.

Cameron stands in the front of the boat and I look past him at sand and rocks and trees and water. I see a fish straight out in front of the boat, right where he is looking, but he doesn’t see it yet. In this moment I am the only person on the planet that knows that this fish exists. It is a secret, between me and the earth and it feels good, powerful. But like any good secret it wants to be told and soon Cameron is casting and from up high I watch the line lay out in the afternoon sun and wait for it to come tight. Because I am up next and as much as I like being on the polling platform, the casting deck is really where it’s at.

Filed Under: Fly Fishing, Photography Tagged With: beaverbash2016

« “I’m going to put it back for the next guy”
Texas water, Vermont Glass »

Comments

  1. Barry says

    August 31, 2016 at 5:48 pm

    What kind of boat?

    Reply
    • Alex Landeen says

      August 31, 2016 at 7:28 pm

      It’s a Polar Kraft, I know that. Kevin has had it for a while, I am unsure the model.

      Reply
  2. Arizona Wanderings says

    September 2, 2016 at 3:52 pm

    I like these words and photos.

    Ben

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

I WANT TO SEE POSTS ABOUT-

  • All Photography All Photography Related Posts
  • Firearms and LE Stuff All Firearms and Law Enforcement Related Posts
  • Fly Fishing Stuff All Fly Fishing Related Posts

Friends (Links in progress, drop me a line)

  • Ben Smith – AZ Wanderings
  • Cameron Mortensen – The Fiberglass Manifesto
  • Ivan Orsic – Yukon Goes Fishing
  • Jason Jones – AZ by the Fly
  • Jess McGlothlin – Fire Girl Photography
  • Jim Klug Photography
  • Kevin Morlock – Indigo Guide Service
  • Kyle Graf – Sleep When You're Dead
  • Louis Cahill – Gink and Gasoline
  • Matt Dunn – Fishbeer
  • Matt Jones Photography
  • Matt Smythe – Fishing Poet
  • Michael Gracie
  • Mike Sepelak – Mike's Gone Fishin'
  • Nate Taylor (Dirtbag)
  • Pete McDonald – Fishing Jones
  • Tosh Brown Photography

Archives

  • September 2018
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • March 2016
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • December 2013

Pages

  • About
  • Contact

Categories

  • Firearms
  • Fly Fishing
  • Opinions
  • Photography
  • Uncategorized
  • Video

Images and Words © 2025 · Alex Landeen

  • Home
  • Landeen Photography
  • About
  • Contact