Just a touch of Light
I know I have said and written about this many, many times in the past but it is worth repeating. Not because you all don’t understand it but because just like me we often get distracted and conveniently forget about it. What am I talking about? Light, Baby! It’s all about light. And when you are desperate or fighting bad luck or bad weather we all tend to forget all things important. We are so happy just to be out taking pictures we tend to ignore small things like the quality of the light. We are photographing. At Last!!! Don’t bother me about the light. I’ve got pictures to take!!!
This is exactly what happened when Brenda and I were out photographing along the Maine coast last month. We were having no luck with the weather or the light but the subjects we found were great. This didn’t stop us from taking lots of really mediocre pictures though. We blasted away all the while trying to turn down that little voice in our heads telling us that the photography was pretty stinky.
And finally, late in the afternoon at the little harbor town of Corea after a day of heavy overcast and driving rain squalls the sun came out on the horizon and lit up the boats in the harbor. What a difference. We had just enough of our brains left to anticipate the breaking sun and move around to the west side of the harbor to get the best light. And those were the best outside shots we got that trip. Five days on the Maine coast and we got 5 minutes of light. Such is the Lobstering Life.
Those Beautiful Little Boats
The lobster boat is a great example of form following function. They are crafted for a specific job, and that job dictates the size, the shape, and hardware on the boat. But what is harder to describe is why some of the boats, especially the wooden ones, have such beautiful lines and shapes. Last time we were in Maine David found someone, another colorful Maine character, to help us understand the whys and hows of the Lobster boat.
Meet Doug; he is one of a dying breed. A builder of wooden lobster boats. He selects and cuts the timber, designs the hull, fashions the ribs, shapes the transom, builds the engines, installs the electrical system, the whole ball of wax. Doug turns out to be another one of those generous souls who invited us into his workshop, took us to his house to see his boat (lovingly named “Brenda” by the way) and his studio – actually a basement “man cave” as the spray paint on the door clearly warns.
Doug was nice enough to talk us through his process of building a wooden lobster boat. Perhaps talking to us offered a respite from the tedious winter job of sanding the hull of the boat up in the yard. Hard to fathom why else he would take hours out of his day to talk to a couple of strangers the wind blew in!
In the photos below you can see his scale 1:1 model that he carves, then drafts. He will begin building another boat this Spring and we will be back haunting his shop and bringing you photos of the process and stories of Doug. Another Maine character in the Lobstering Life!
