by Carol
"What is more beautiful than a sea of water with a number of white winged boats skirting its surface? Poetry and beauty contesting with the wind and the waves?"
George Matthew Adams
Ya gotta just laugh! My first night home from a dream photography trip to France, and what pictures am I processing? Boats from Entretat! Boats, boats and more boats! My photography friends here got a good laugh. "You found boats in France? - OF COURSE YOU DID!"
Did I save for three years, and travel all the way to Europe to photograph boats? Of course not! But they draw my eye no matter where I am.. They are one of my vary favorite subjects.The beautiful beaches, the calm water reflections, the light blues and sandy tans; to me they mean summer, sun, cool water. I love the creative names, the bright colors, the scrappy sailors, the idea of adventure. And I love the vastness of the water views, whether lake or ocean.
I used to sit on my Dad's lap and "help" drive our little motor boat in Canada. At 10 years old or so, I was allowed to drive it by myself. And in recent years, Dad had a little put-put for me to play with while he was in the big boat.
I just look at them and I can feel the cool air blowing through my hair on a hot day. I can see the white wake out behind,(and remember begging to waterski when we got back). I can hear the flags flapping, see the other boaters waving. Even the hours spent at anchor while the family fished allowed me a close look at whatever shoreline we were near. We might see beavers, snakes,dragon flies, pollywogs. We even had a mink living in the shoreline near our cabin. Maybe the memories are why I love them so much.
On the way to France, I daydreamed about maybe spending a summer taking courses in Paris one day. When I got there, Paris was spectacularly beautiful. But - when I got to Giverny and later to the coast, I was at home. I guess you can take the girl out of the country (literally!) but you can't take the country out of the girl!
"What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous."
Thomas Merton
What's your favorite subject?
