Pound Net I, VI and III were entered into the Arts Council of Carteret County's annual judged show Art From The Heart as a triptych, and the series has won an Award of Excellence!
The back story on the Pound Net series...
Last June, while driving north to Ocean City, Maryland for a commercial shoot for Johns Hopkins, I passed an area on the Chesapeake that had some of the most gorgeous pound net frames set up. I had to hustle to get to my shoot that afternoon, so I couldn't photograph the net frames. I'd have to wait until later. Timing aside, the harsh mid-day light and winds gusting to about 30 weren't exactly ideal conditions for working with a big and bulky large format camera.
The commissioned portrait for Johns Hopkins went quickly, and within an hour, I was back on the road headed south for home.
Initially, I had intended on camping in my car along the road on my drive home, parked near some location I had spotted on my drive up. The six hour drive each way with a photo shoot tossed in was probably going to be a tall order. As I turned toward home, this area on the Chesapeake was at the top of my list. I would rise before dawn, and photograph these pound net frames before the contrasty summer sunlight illuminated them, and the scene around them.
As luck would have it, I caught every stop light green, and arrived at my spot just as the sun was vanishing behind the horizon. Even better news was that the 30+ gusts had retired for the evening, and it was dead calm. Perfect.
The atmosphere before me as I set up my camera was one like I'd never seen before. The sticky summer evening had caused a haze so heavy, it was nearly impossible to differentiate the sea from the sky. Over the next hour, I made seven exposures of these pound net frames, creating delicate compositions of them in their stark environment. Working quickly, I captured my last composition as darkness set in, ending the long day.
A few months ago, I happened to drive past this area again, and upon looking at it, quickly realized that my hour one June evening after a very long day of travel and another photo shoot, was a special moment in time.
