RETROSPECTS 2024 - #2 - MARITIME SUBJECTS

Port of Newport, Oregon during the Blue Hour

Already in my childhood I was fascinated by anything that had to do with boats, harbors, and coastal life. Maybe no surprise for a guy who grew up in a hilly and wooded area… Well, I still get a kick out of it and whenever there is a chance to shoot in an harbor, I have no problems to find something to aim my lens at.

The Port of Newport, Oregon was the perfect playground at different times of the day. I focussed mostly on details during the days with an overcast. Going out for dinner during the blue hour to a seafood restaurant right at the harbor provided other opportunities and walking back to the car long after sunset wasn’t without charm either.

Containers full of crabs shortly after unloaded from a boat

Maritime details are a great subject for a day with an overcast sky

The port at night with hardly any wind blowing from the Pacific Ocean

NIGHT SHOT AT THE PORT

Port of Newport, Oregon, March 29, 2024

This photo is from the same night as yesterday’s sunset image, except it was shot after dinner. Ports and harbors had always a great fascination for me and I love to watch the business around ships, boats, or on the docks.

I guess it helped a little bit having a bottle of wine with our seafood dinner to handhold the camera and make a sharp picture at 1/13 of a second 😉.  And this still required an ISO setting of 12800. A few years ago this was unthinkable with any previous camera I owned, but the technology for noise reduction we have at our hands today, while shooting and in post process, is just amazing.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 62mm, 1/13 s, f/4, ISO 12,800

DIGGIN’ FOR AN OLD STORY ABOUT LIGHT…

Lobster boat leaving harbor at sunrise ------   

Commitments kept me grounded today, at least photographically seen, but there is always the chance to go into the photo library and dig out an image that has not seen the light of the day yet. I have created a book about the coast of Maine some time ago, sure sign that I’m in love with this area, and I like to return to the photos I made in 2013 at the Atlantic coast of the United States.

I can ensure you this is not just nostalgic thoughts of an aging man. It was the incredible light Joan and I have experienced during early morning and late afternoon hours that made us fell in love with Maine. Well, Joan may add that 50% was the limitless availability of fresh lobster and I have a hard time to argue about that…😉

Back to the light, I think during our visit in Maine it was the first time that I started really to understand what the term “quality of light” means. The photo above is not in my “coffee-table book” (Deutsch: Bildband), but if there is ever a second edition, I will consider this picture. Light as seen makes story telling a breeze…

TUGBOAT SUSAN L

Tugboat SUSAN L, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

We saw the tow and tugboats in the warm light of the late afternoon sun while driving over one of the bridges that cross the Sturgeon Bay Canal and we rushed down to the pier immediately. I reminded myself of a quote by famous photographer Jay Maisel, I found in his book IT’S NOT ABOUT THE F-STOP some time ago: “Never go back. Shoot it now. When you come back, it will always be different.”

I think that was such a moment. It was our last day in Door County, Wisconsin, and who knows when we will be there the next time. The boats might be gone or replaced by new boring models. I’m sure the setting sun hits them from that angle only during a short time of the year. There are many variables that come together for this photo. I’m glad we stopped.