Boats and Stages

Boats and Stages

Today I am starting another Boats and Stages series. I have been photographing boats since getting my first 35 mm camera in 1970 and have a large collection of boat images. I've shared many photos of boats in the 10 years I've been sharing my Photo of the Day and hope I don't duplicate too many in this current series. If you search my Blog for "boats", you will see all the boat images I've shared since 2006.

On an island with 29,000 km of coastline, boats are an integral part of the culture and are used for work, recreation and everything else in between. Newfoundland and Labrador was settled by people who decided to stay for the fishing. Communities sprung up all over the province and, until recently, most of them depended on fish for their survival. Like other places in the world, fish stocks are dwindling and many communities here are dying as a result. People have moved to mainland Canada to find work and eventually, in many cases, their families move as well. As a result, the face of this province is changing and I continue to photograph boats everywhere I go. Eventually the photos will be historically important because they document how boats and their uses have changed over the years.

The first photo was taken in Conception Bay late one evening and I liked how the sailboat sailed silently past us heading across the bay. I really liked the two boats, one leaned against the other, in Hibb's Cove. A few squid fishing boats in Holyrood looked peaceful in the fading light of a warm summer evening.

Photos of the Day are for sale as:

• Stock Photographs
• Photographic Prints and Enlargements
• Slide Shows
• Wallpapers/Screensavers