Winter has snuck up on us again. Not that we don’t usually get a November snowfall, but they normally are as fleeting as a Victoria winter. Let’s see if this stuff can stick around and get us out on the trails soon. That said, you couldn’t ask for better light and a better day for kayaking in New Brunswick. The kayaks aren’t away yet and they add a dash of colour to this first scene of winter. Crisp and clear and shot with a 55 micro Nikon lens on a D700 just to blend the old and new. I like leaving the camera beside the office computer- if anything catches my eye out on the St. John River, I just grab and go. Takes away from the office drudge and keeps my eyes open as well.

Theodore Williston is ready for winter: his shed is full of cut and split wood, the lobster traps are ready for the spring opening. I went up to Theodore’s this weekend to talk to him a bit about how fishing is different now than when he started out some seventy years ago. That was when fisherman navigated with a compass and watch and the only electronics aboard might be a radio to pick up a local station. And the boats were smaller than today. The one below is one of the ones that survived the Escuminac Disaster in 1959 that took 22 boats down and claimed the lives of 35 fishermen. Without modern systems of weather forecasting and communications the fishermen had no idea that an out-of-season hurricane was bearing down on them.

Sometimes when things slow down my cameras tend to hide in the camera case- hibernation for sure. But lately, before they go to sleep entirely, I’ve decided to pull out the old D700, add a 55 Nikor micro lens to it- the old manual focus lens, and just have it at hand for whenever the mood hits. So this means whenever some great light drives into the house or something usual takes on an unusual look- a rose wilting for example. All to say, this helps keep me sharp and the cameras in shape and it is fun.

It’s getting near winter here in New Brunswick and I was just browsing through some photos I had taken of Theodore Williston last winter at his home on Miramichi Bay. Brrrrrr it was cold. Theordore  and his sons were the first people I photographed for the book Miramichi: River of Character and it was there attitude out on the wide-open frozen expanse of the Bay that got me going on the book. Great guys all and with a no nonsense approach to work- just get out and get the job done: no complaining. I’m hoping to visit them soon and do some sound recording so that, along with my brother Bruce, we can do a web-presentation of their lives as fishermen. Nice to have cameras and batteries now that seem to take the 20 degree below weather in stride- now, if only I could.

Gordon Cox was one of the first people to greet our small band fresh from our zodiac landing at Brake’s Cove off of the Ocean Nova. Brake’s Cove was an outport along Newfoundland’s western shore, and there are still a few summer homes there, but most of the residents have moved to nearby Cox’s Cove.