The magic of ships inspires in the story of the photograph, Sails, by Ramona du Houx

Sails

With Sails I wanted to express how it feels to ride the wind.

On a bright day, last summer, I went to the Rockland Parade of Sails, to attempt to translate, with my art, the magic windjammers under full sail transmit. Walking towards the water’s edge I was immediately struck by that sense of awe as a schooner caught the wind and effortlessly sped by. Even though, on the shore all the ships were over a mile in the the distance a rush went through my being at the sight. Frantically, I switched my lens to a 85 – 200mm zoom, doing so my mind helped to calm me, telling me, “Don’t worry the show has just began, they’ll be doing this for sometime.”

Taking some deep breaths I noticed I wasn’t the only one under the mystic spell of the ships. A girl with a dragon tattoo just stared at them with her mouth open. Finally, she uttered,”radical.” An elderly couple squeezed their hands tighter as they both gazed out to sea and I wondered what timeless connection with these great vessels they both might be thinking about. A boy around ten years old tugged at this mother’s sleeve exploring her to get closer. She too was transfixed on the ships. I took my cue from the excited youth and started my trek on the stone causeway that led to a lighthouse a mile out in the harbor, where we all could get a better view.

I was torn between watching my step, as the rocks we walked upon were huge and had significant places one could easily get a foot stuck in or fall into, or viewing the ships. The balancing act aided my quest as I stopped periodically to take photos. Then it happened a ship turned into the shore and was coming straight at me. The sun streamed thru its sails and as the wind pick up it seemed to float on the water. At first I admonished myself for having such a long lens on the camera. Then I saw why I had the perfect lens. The sky was transitioning into a sunset as the sails caught the reflected light. For a moment I felt I was floating along with the ship, as my shutter clicked.

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