In the Days of Sail...

Like a vision out of time, tall-masted boats set sail out of Lunenburg Harbour, bound for the inland waters of the Great Lakes. The majesty of such a sight is breathtaking, reeling one back to days of old when the port of Lunenburg was regularly littered with linen and mast, providing safe anchorage for fishermen, rum-runners and privateers alike. Known for its storied history of wooden ship building, the town is home port for two of these beautiful vessels, the Picton Castle, a three-masted barque used for deep-sea sail training, and the renowned schooner,  Bluenose II, itself an icon of Canadian national identity. The third boat in this particular parade of sails is the Pride of Baltimore II, an American top-sail schooner in the "Baltimore Clipper" style that has been a frequent visitor to harbour. 

Together they embarked to summer on the Great Lakes and participate in the annual Tall Ships Challenge.  

(please click on images for an enlarged gallery showing)

The Pride of Baltimore II, Bluenose II and Picton Castle head out to sea. 

Thomas Frellick adjusts the rigging on the Bluenose II while she is still in port. 

The Pride of Baltimore II blasts port and starboard cannons to mark her departure. 

The Pride of Baltimore II heads out from Lunenburg ahead of the Picton Castle. 

A sailboat from the Nova Scotia Sea School trails after the Pride of Baltimore II. 

The Picton castle unfurls her sails as she head out of Lunenburg Harbour. 

The Pride of Baltimore gets out ahead of the Bluenose II. 

The Pride of Baltimore II

Crew members wave goodbye from the bow of the Bluenose II. 

The Pride of Baltimore II

The Picton Castle

The beautiful backlit profile of the Pride of Baltimore II.

The Picton Castle

Thomas Frellick gazes out towards the great Atlantic as the Bluenose II heads out to sea. 

The Pride of Baltimore II

The Bluenose II

The Pride of Baltimore II

The Picton Castle

The Bluenose II

The Bluenose II follows after the Pride of Baltimore II. 

Three ships sailing unfurled and free

shifting time through the mind

on this black & white sea.

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2019

All Rights Reserved

Black & White Sea

This set of images has been sitting in my draft folder waiting for words for some time now. I keep trying to write dark and stormy poetry to accompany them and it just doesn't work. But i've grown tired of the struggle and feel that perhaps these images should simply just speak for themselves. So here they are anyway...silent frames from a foggy Risser's Beach morning...

(click on images for an enlarged gallery view)

Risser's Rocks

Returning once again to one of the closer local beaches, i spend about an hour kicking around the rock outcroppings and the tidal pools they form at Risser's Beach. Just a quick stop on my way home from Saturday marketing. That is the most wonderous part about living around here. I don't need to plan special outings to faraway sites to find this kind of naturally beauty. I am living right in the heart of it. 

(please click on images for an enlarged gallery view)

In the Stone Age Days of Whaling

Periwinkle Parade

Pock Rock

Life Line

The Serpent's Skin

Bride of the Sea

The Leviathan's Eye

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2019

All Rights Reserved

iNova

I've been a bit behind on my postings lately. Sorry about that. I do have a couple sitting in the wings, photos uploaded, but waiting to add a few words before presenting. Still, i wanted to get something out there in the blogosphere and it occurred to me that i haven't done an iPhoto post in some time. That's right, i'm still not doing iPhonography the "right" way. I've had an instagram account for some time now, but must admit my failure of getting into the swing of it. I still have yet to post a single image there. So instead of uploading cellphone photos immediately to the web as so many do, my iPhotos have a tendency to linger on my phone for weeks, months even, before i finally get around to uploading them to my computer and editing them for public viewing.
I am still not exactly sure what makes a certain subject or moment more suitable for iPhonography than my dedicated digital cameras. Sometimes it is simply a matter of the cellphone being the only camera at hand, but this is certainly not my only raison d'etre. There are times when i could have just as easily shot an image with my DSLR or mirrorless camera, but felt more inclined to capture the image with my cellphone. For me these are a specific type of imagery that i make specifically for internet consumption (i have never attempted to print any of my iPhotos, though i do know that a decent print of reasonable size can be had from these files if i wished). Is it a certain kind of light, colour relationship or graphic composition that says "iPhone me!"? I really don't know. But at times when i have felt this way i also tried taking the same image with my expensive DSLR only to find that in the end i preferred what i captured on the phone much more.
These are, for me, the polaroids of the 21st century, but still i feel no urgency to reveal them to the public immediately. And so i have dubbed them "Insta-nots" rather than Instagrams.
My wife Veronica takes the opposite approach. She began some time ago doing a picture-a-day on Instagram and though she has fallen off and back on that wagon numerous times i do admire her discipline and dedication to the project. But personally i like to let these images percolate and simmer for a while, maybe even ferment in the bottle for a bit before i bring them to the light of day. I have adopted one of her elements for this format though, that of naming each image, sometimes in a clever or punning way, sometimes perhaps not, but trying to involving the application of some kind of wordsmithing nonetheless. I am not sure why i feel more obligated to do this with my Insta-nots than with my other work, but it does add a bit of fun and challenge to the mix.
So these are a collection of my favorite iPhotos that i've made since arriving in Nova Scotia last fall. Though i have posted a few of these on my Facebook page during this period, the majority of these are getting their first viewing here and now. I hope you enjoy them.

All Bottled Up

Afternoon Bowl of Delight

Oceanic Pictographs

Fruit of the Land

Foam Tide Sea

Drumlin

Seaweed Sea

Tulip Droop

Jolly Roger

Hip by the Sea

Point of View

Surf and Turf

Love 69

For the Love of Peppers

Forgotten Strawberries

At the Heart of it All

Prop Dreams

Preparing the Feast

Face to Face

Two Faces of Eve

A Frosty Vista

Lady Psychine

Box O' Bones

 Chilly Skully 

(Primarily) Frozen

Sun on a Cold Wet Deck

Berried Treasure

This is It

A Lichen to a Rock

Baroque Bananas

Occult Smiles

Frosty Refraction

Reclining with Death

The Cotton Candy Sky

Props to the Sun

Wasp Shadow

Vasey Sunset 

All Photos ©David Sorcher 2019