Nautical Art from 2009 Cruise...

It has been a few months since I've posted to the FIREWATER IMAGES blog. Fire season has ended along with the passing of summer, an autumn, which distinctly has the feel of winter, has begun, and I've completed a month long cruise on my 30 sailboat. It is that cruise which has provided the images presented here.
I've been working in the FIREWATER blog and have posted the story of the cruise and many more photographs there. All told over 1,500 images were shot over the course of the month long cruise. About half of what I'd really like to have. The 12 part installments of the cruise used approximately a hundred of those photos. Here I offer the twelve photographic images, which through their composition, use of light, subject matter and energy, passed the test and can stand as independant photographs.
GULLS ON DOCK, NEWCASTLE ISLAND, NANAIMO B.C.
I was delighted to find this image in the camera. Of course I had taken a number of shots with this curious gull searching the docks. Patience paid off as the bird walked further onto the dock it's shadow appeared on the hull of CANNIBAR, the sailing vessel moored adjacent to us. The crisp lines of the vessels brightwork, white hull and triangle of blue water all add to the overall composition of this image.
If you've followed the FIREWATER blog and the cruise some of these images will be familiar but not this one entitled SUNSET OVER CANADIAN GULF ISLANDS. There was another photograph of this sunset with the Patos Lighthouse that I used in the story since it fit so well. Yet I knew this picture was special. It may be the best sunset shot I've had the pleasure of capturing. That warm, red glow almost kissing the water in the center of the image in the distance against a far island really makes this shot work.

This image SAILING THRU PEAVINE PASSAGE, SAN JUAN ISLANDS captured the feel of the late summer, early morning passage which we were making that day. There is a texture to the water, the mists, the landscapes and morning sunlight that inter-acts together rendering this image and setting it apart from the rest of the photographs of that day.


SCULPTED SANDSTONE OF PATOS ISLAND; again it is the textures that pull me into this photograph. Thousands of years in the making this twisted, contorted, scuplted rock is facinating subject material. Wind and waves over the course of time is the true artist here. I am fortunate enough just to have been there, seen it and taken the photograph.
The artwork of the Salish people has always facinated me. The recodring and telling of stories in such strong imagery...

TO BE CONTINUED SOON Saturday, 11.07.09 Foster

COASTAL & SHORELINES...

Experimenting with a new look to the pictures posted on FIREWATER IMAGES. The photos will most definitely view better slightly enlarged, which you can do by double left clicking on the photographs themselves.

We'll start this series of Coastal & Shoreline off with one of my favorites...

This image above, #1 of this series, is titled 'Roper Cove Mists'. Taken early one October morning from the foredeck of the sailing vessel Aquila while at anchor in Roper Creek Cove, Lake Roosevelt, WA. An over night had just passes and the eastern sky held promise of a clearing day.

Staying on Lake Roosevelt, that 130 mile long body of water behind the Grand Coulee Dam, this rendered image, #2, is 'San Poil Arm, Lake Roosevelt'. Rendered in a manner representing a water color painting this landscape is located where the Keller Ferry crosses southern Lake Roosevelt, allowing state highway 21 to span this expanse of water. The San Poil river enters the lake from the north (top) of this image.
Remaining on Lake Roosevelt a little longer, these next two rendered photographs (image #3 above & #4 below) have historic significance in that while it is common to see Hayes Island during seasonal draw-downs of the lake, it is very uncommon to see the top of Kettle Falls, a magnificent waterfalls spanning the upper Columbia River before the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam. There is still controversy between Colville & Spokane Tribes, the Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, the local communities, Washington State Fisheries and sportsman groups regarding the management of the lake. None of which will I delve into here.

As a final shoreline view of Lake Roosevelt I'll give you image #5, below, 'Passing Twilight Thunderstorm'.

Moving right out onto the 'big pond' (a cruising sailor's term for the Pacific Ocean) rendered image #6, below, is titled 'Mother, Mother Ocean'. All you Jimmy Buffett fans will know the tune.
And speaking of sailors, I threw in this one called 'Departing Smuggler's Cove' as image #7 below.

For image #8, below; I chosen 'Mount Baker, Rosario Strait' photograph taken from the eastern slope of Orcas Island in the San Juan Island group, Pacific NW. In this rendition I enjoy the soft pastels and rich, dark textures of the final image.

Sunrise breaking through a dense, multi-layer cloud cover in Desolation Sound, B.C. creates the stage of light for the passage of this fishing boat in photograph #9 entitled 'Kinghorn Island, Desolation Sound'.

The image of 'Moonlight Sail' represents that juncture of photograph and digital darkroom. It is a highly rendered image but finally after many tried and much contemplation I truly enjoy the final product. As in any form of art some things flow quickly and easily, some things take much longer and somethings, try as we might are never meant to be.

Leaving the coastal waterscapes behind for the end of this posting in the final image, #11 below; we change locations to a small inland pond, Cochran Lake, where the trout fishing is good and the neighborhood usually quiet. There's a certain magic in the air of this piece of photo-art. I hope you agree...

Foster

P.S. Speaking of moonlight sailing; here's a link to a profile I keep on Cruising World's Community Site. The link will take you to a video vignette of sailing in the moonlight which won Cruising Worlds Autumn 2008 video contest.

http://forums.cruisingworld.com/videos/viewVideo.php?video_id=280&title=AQUILA__Rising_of_the_Moon___

Nautical Art - part 1

I am a sailor. Having been born on the biggest island of the U.S. eastern seaboard seems to have deposited a certain amount of 'salt' in my blood. While I have lived in the dry areas of Texas, Colorado, & Arizona there was always an underlying call to the water. To quote a favorite character, "There is nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." And that is the point of focus with the visual journey forthcoming - a passion for all things nautical.
















"The Adventuress" above, is image #1 in this series. It was nothing short of delightful to cross paths with the 136 foot, gaff rigged, schooner Adventuress as she ghosted across Haro Straits between the western shores of Canada & the U.S.A. Built in 1913, and recently restored, she is listed as a National Historic Landmark (see link below).









The photograph above; "Trawler", image #2, has been in my collection many years. Taken in 1999, on a foggy day, during a late September cruise through British Columbia's Desolation Sound, it has ghosted back & forth through both my basement darkroom and my digital darkroom. I was never satisfied with the results, until recently that is. This, the final edition of the rendering process of this photo, has finally captured the image my eye 'saw' on the misty day of the photograph. This may be the longest period of time I have had an image on the drafting table. And in the end - I really enjoy the results. See link below for Desolation Sound.











Image #3 entitled "Pilothouse" is a photographed created in 2001. Anchored in a cove off the norwest shore of Matia Island in the Pacific NW San Juan Islands this home-built, wooden classic caught my eye as the afternoon summer sun settled over Sucia Island (in the background). It's one of those shots I wish I knew who the owner is so I could give him or her a copy. See link below for Matia Island State Park.






There are times when the world is yours...
When a single breath fills your existence. A time when the whisper of wavelets curling on a clean, gravel shoal is your sound track. I love those moments and so does the subject on this beach on the west side of Clark Island in the San Juan Island group. Photo #4, above, is titled "Beach Time".


Photograph #5 is titled after the name of the sailing vessel, "Grace". Owned and piloted by my dear friend Marjean, the SV Grace is a 1965 Islander seen here motorsailing her way across the Strait of Georgia north of Nanamio B.C. I recall that when this photo came out of the can I danced around delighted in how that magical light had been captured on film. Now having undergone scanning and a very light rendering there is an even greater feel of the mysteries of crossing a large body of water on a small boat.






"Into the Mists" above, rendered photograph #6 is another of those rare shots that happen if you are in the right place at the right time and ready to engage a camera. This vessel was crossing my path as I solo sailed across the sometimes notorious Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we came close to crossing the skipper of this boat turned parallel to my course and soon vanished into the mists. With nearly 20 miles of open water in front of us not to mention a busy shipping traffic lane, I wondered if he was lost, or disoriented. Not once did I hear a fog horn from this vessel.







A visual break from the vessels, this landscape, above, on the southern point of Clark Island with Lummi Island in looming dark in the background and Mount Baker and the Cascade Range in the left quarter of the photo. Represents a classic San Juan Island view. It is #7 of this series.


I'll close this series with a piece entitled "Gull in Flight". A photograph taken from the deck of a good friend's custom pilothouse motorsailor Chak Chak. On an early spring cruise several years ago.

So ends the first series of Nautical Art on the Firewater Images site. Hope you enjoyed the show and will check in later for more.
Foster

The sailing vessel Adventuress:
http://www.soundexp.org/index.php?page=history

Desolation Sound B.C. Canada:
http://www.google.com/archivesearch?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS245US245&q=desolation+sound&um=1&ie=UTF-8&scoring=t&ei=G-bKScO5IYKOsQPq9NmgCg&sa=X&oi=timeline_result&resnum=10&ct=title
Matia Island State Park:
http://www.stateparks.com/matia_island.html

Clark Island State Park:
http://www.stateparks.com/clark_island.html

Strait of Georgia:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/230264/Strait-of-Georgia