Portals…

On a recent trip to Mexico, the third attempt at this trip due to the pandemic, I started photographing portals, windows and doorways. The resort we were staying at provided plenty of portals. As I look at the portals I’ve tagged as my favorites, I’m noticing the elements that are common between them…the contrasts of textures, lighting, and colors within each image. And the similarities…the archways, the partial view of beyond, and the presence of a threshold.

I think it is those last two elements that caught my attention to these space. These portals are liminal spaces. There is the side I was standing on, and the other side. But only a partial view of the other side, enough to catch the eye. While these are portals and not doorways that one would walk through, some of the portals have “thresholds” that could easily be climbed over (but don’t do that here. Some of these have steep drops on the other side.

Maybe the attraction of portals with a partial view of beyond is the wondering about that beyond. What is going on beyond my view? Where does this beyond lead? There’s mystery and a sense of adventure in the little bit that is glimpsed. Which makes it all very liminal space, in-between space.

I’ve been in that space, liminal space, before. We all have, even if the word isn’t a familiar one. Liminal space and time are among other things, those spaces and times between before and after, between major events, and are often marked by a time of pondering, waiting, and discerning. These portals and this liminal time are pregnant with possibilities. It seems appropriate that this trip was taken in the midst of Advent as for those who observe the season of Advent, it is a time of waiting, watching, and possibilities.

These portals are scattered all over the resort. Turn a corner and there will be one straight ahead. Go down a stairway and a series of openings will offer views at different angles of the same structure or horizon. And maybe that’s what ultimately drew me to these portals…the surprises, the possibilities, the unknowns. As I contemplate a metaphorical portal, my mind’s eye also sees possibilities and unknowns, and I wonder what may be revealed if I were to climb through to the other side. Sometimes we create our own “thresholds” as a line to not cross. Maybe that threshold is our own fear, lack of confidence, or excuses we come up with. Why do we do that? The glimpses, the adventure and mystery beckon…come and see.

What portal are you looking through? Is the other side beckoning you to something new and exciting? Can you get over the “threshold” to go and explore beyond?