The Colors of Lobstering
July 20th, 2010When I first started out as a Pro (or trying to earn money to be a Pro) I decided to concentrate my photography on three areas- wildflowers, forests and harbors. There wasn’t much fore thought into this decision, there was no market analysis or saleability review on my part nor did I look into the future and try to predict where these three areas of concentration might lead me. I just know I loved wildflowers, forests and harbors, it was that simple.
It was a good decision. In all of my photography and in all of my books I have included lots of photos of wildflowers and forests and I am still drawn to them and enjoy photographing them. Harbors though, while I still love to wander around in them, have never been a big seller for me. I use photos of harbors in my introductory shows but I don’t think I have ever sold one (probably because I have never sent them out to be considered for sale!). So why is it that I keep taking pictures of harbors? I think it is the colors.
No matter the time of year or business of the harbor there are always bright colors to be found. You can go on the drabbest of winter days or the rainiest of summer days and there are colors every where in a harbor. This is in contrast to most other outdoor subjects that have definite times of the year when they are prime and other times of the year when they are nonexistent. Try photographing wildflowers in November or forests in the heat of summer and you will soon be craving the bright, eternal colors of harbors.
Finally, after 25 years as a professional photographer, I have a project, The Lobstering Life, that will actually pay me to photograph the colors of the harbor. This book will not only be full of colorful lobstering gear but also full of colorful lobstermen but that is for a different post. Today I am happy to wallow in the bright and sometimes bizarre colors found in the harbors of the Gulf of Maine. Hope you enjoy them too!

My new book is out!
So how do you go about photographing a running stallion? Before I tell you the hows lets review the wheres, whats and whys. Last week (early June) I was employed by a thoroughbred horse farm, Pin Oak Stud, in Kentucky bluegrass country to provide all the photographic images they would need for all their advertising in the near future.

While I am shooting I don’t have the foggiest idea of what I am getting. At 6 frames a second the action is too fast for me to be able to tell if one frame is better than any other. When the horse leaves the shooting zone of nice light I stop, reposition myself and wait to do it all over again. This pause also allows the buffer, which fills up after each burst, to empty and my head to clear and stay in the game. Six or seven laps around the paddock and the horse is done and I have shot 250 to 350 images.
to review the pictures she eliminated all but 5 or 6 shots for each horse. There were many pictures that I thought were beautiful that were never seriously considered because of a flaw I never saw. Oh, well, such is life photographing on assignment.
This is the first posting of several I will share telling what it is like to photograph on assignment, under pressure to produce. As a teaser I will include some of my favorite images. I will put more up this weekend.
This is because it has been my experience that in popular tourist spots the locals become jaded and adversely affected by the throngs of strangers. but if you get away from the touristy areas you get to see the ‘real’ people and more importantly experience the ‘real’ people.
I would always sit and watch, try to compliment them, just hang out before I started taking pictures. And I never took any pictures unless I had permission to do so. The more time you spend with your subject the less aware and self conscious the person is going to be and thus your images will be more personal and thus more powerful and intimate.

I call this picture ‘Wrinkled Butts.’ Look closely, you’ll get it.
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.
T
This image reminds me of the scene in the movie, The Sound of Music, where the Mother Superior is singing “Climb Every Mountain.” Okay, a bit of an obscure reference but I am sticking with it. It was a beautiful situation and the kind woman was a wonderful, dear soul.