Over several years I’ve had a slow evolution in regard to how I photograph boats. Specifically boats that come in and out of the Port of Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand. These are mostly fishing boats but there are few others sometimes. My initial approach was just to record them as they came in and out. The Grey River flows into the Tasman Sea which is a notoriously wild stretch of water. Negotiating the river bar to come into the port can be a real test for skippers. Anyway, I started with just photographing them, mostly from the end of one of two breakwaters where I looked down on them as they came into the river. My first photos concentrated on the main body of the boat and I didn’t bother much about including masts, aerials or stabilisers. Later I concluded that those parts were a part of the character of a boat so I made more effort to include them. I often looked for the drama in bar crossings and that became the focus. A bit of drama was a high point. Then I began to see the boats as objects of art and the canvas could include the environment around them – the sea, waves, the river, the sky, the sea birds, etc. Taking that a step further I began to look at the works of artists who years ago painted ships – the tall sailing ships, the ocean liners, even ships of war. I’m at the stage of incorporating where I can some of the principles they applied to their work. I’ve been studying them for that purpose. I don’t expect it to lead to a dramatic change in how I do my boat photography but maybe a subtle shift as I learn to apply those principles. Some who regularly follow my photos may detect a change already in some of my recent images. I mentioned earlier that I started photographing them from the breakwaters where I looked down; nowadays I more often photograph incoming boats from a wave trap in the river. There I can be almost at wave level and at some part of the journey the boats can seem to be coming straight at me. I also tend to include more of the peripheral scene such as the sea and waves. More often now the boat is a part of the scene, not the whole scene. It’s been a slow evolution but I feel I am reaching a point where I can begin to give true artistic expression when I photograph the boats. I had that in mind when I photographed the boat I’ll add as a recent example in this post.