Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

It’s been said a many times that “pictures are worth a thousand words” and I have no reason to doubt that. I remember as a child looking at the old black and white pictures my parents had and listening to the descriptions of what the pictures were. Later looking at photos in history and sports books I tried to imagine what was going on when they were taken. Recently I’ve been looking at pictures of days gone by that were taken in Waldport, Yachats, Florence and the surrounding areas and the pictures are fascinating. To imagine what these places were like back in the early 1900’s is an exercise in using your imagination to its fullest extent. You can almost put yourself into one of the old vehicles they used back then, or the boats they used, but it’s kind of tough to imagine wearing some of the clothes but that was then and they were definitely dressed for the times.

Of course over the span of time pictures have changed radically. Black and white photos are rarely seen these days except in galleries or Museums or artists collections. Today pictures are accessible instantly via thanks to Digital cameras, the internet, cell phones and I-Phones but the end result is still that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I kind of like to think that pictures open up a new chapter in your book of life every time you look at one and remember it. That certainly happened to me recently. I just had a birthday and there were photos taken and posted on several internet sites including Facebook. Suddenly there was a flurry of messages from people I hadn’t seen in years who were commenting on the pictures. Some were flattering comments, but mostly funny since the pictures were taken in the party mode. Then a picture appeared on Facebook that really got the comments going even more. It was a picture from 1975 of me and four other guys in a rock and roll band. We were standing in the temporarily empty lion compound at a zoo. It was kind of a rock filled cave and there we were standing there being ever so cool in our rock and roll clothes, hair and jewelry. A true album cover type photo and when it hit the Facebook airwaves people who had known all of us were commenting on the look since many of those same people had never seen any of us in the 70’s rock look. I mean, I don’t resemble that guy posing in the picture nor does Geno who posted the picture. That was before we became today’s older men with less hair and more weight! But wow, the memories, as the commercial says they are “priceless’!

Even though I was, and still am laughing at some of the comments, I think once again about the old photos I’ve seen of my relatives, friends and acquaintances taken when they were younger. It’s nice to see how they’ve changed and gone from one look to another. It’s those changes that again call on the imagination to mentally fill in the times between now and then. Pull out some old pictures or go visit somewhere that has old pictures of the past and enjoy putting your spin on what you see, after all “a picture is worth a thousand words”.

To reach Rick Schultze email: yarick@pioneer.net