Title: “Nora-W”, Tilghman Island

Title: “Geese in Flight”

Title: “Skipjacks, Race to the Finish Line”

Title: “Bushel Basket Tops”

Title: “Oyster Shells”

Title: The Ida May

Title: Sails of the Ida May

Title: “Nora-W”, 
Tilghman Island

Sharon and I decided to take a day trip to “Tilghman Island”, one hot summer day, and boy am I glad we did. The bright sun and the triangular composition in repetition created a great recipe for black and white silver images. At the dock, in the unloading area, for crab boats was a nice tight triangular composition that only lasted for about 1 minute before history changed. We originally set up for my 8x10 camera and I usually have my Hasselblad camera loaded and ready to go, I’m glad I did! I saw on my peripheral view the image coming together as one of the crab boats was inching forward with the current. I picked up the 2 Ľ camera focused and shot…

Title: “Geese in Flight”

“Geese in Flight” was taken at dusk one fall afternoon in October in “Black Water Reserve” on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. What a great tranquil location…

Title: “Skipjacks, Race to the Finish Line” 2005 Races

I keep telling people the Chesapeake Bay is a Romantic and Poetic place… Just look at this image of four Skipjacks silhouetted in the morning sun of “The Chesapeake Bay,” need I say more! This image was taken off the shores of Deal Island, Maryland.

Title: “Bushel Basket Tops”

Negative number 810-1 is an image of bushel basket tops stacked in a barn just waiting
for the return of the next crabbing season.

Title: “Oyster Shells”

The photograph was taken with a 4x5 view camera in St. Michaels Maryland. I was walking the shore line of Edge Creek one September day in 2001 and come upon a pile of old discarded oyster shells and immediately became interested in its composition of Rhythm. The way each shell was pointing to each other, and most importantly the way its composition keep the center of interest moving within itself never leading your interest out of the frame. Little vignettes of life are just that “Life” and to recognize and behold in your own minds eye allows one to take the time “Too Smell the Roses”. In this case the fruits of the Chesapeake Bay. 

Title: The Ida May

If you are lucky enough to have seen “The Ida May” at sea, you can always tell. Just look for the patches on her sails. I was lucky enough in the summer of 2005 to photograph her under full sail off of “Shark Fin Shoals” near Deal Island, Maryland. The sun and the clouds were just perfect. The sun was just wrapping around her sails along with Mother Nature supplying a great dramatic sky. 

Title: Sails of the Ida May

Sails of the “Ida May” boy, you can say that again! Making up the displacement area of one sail was, approximant, twenty patches. But hey, I guess what ever it takes… They were in the race all day and did a fine job, 2004 Deal Island Skipjack Races. The “Ida May” belongs to Gordon and Elbert Gladden. Gordon told me that his Dad Elbert Senior had 12 different Skipjack’s and one of them was the “Dewey” a Skipjack he bought in 1940. The “Dewey” was anchored in Baltimore harbor at one time for the use of the “Sea Scouts” and his Dad paid a total of one hundred dollars for the boat, great history.

Looking through my lens I saw a wonderful diagonal along with opposing diagonals. The Sun was shining its ray’s of light straight through, and at the same time, wrapping its light around the sail. The sails themselves had only to be printed along with the bow. The abstract on the theme and the higher contrast control of the black and white tell you a little, just a little, of the boats history.