TRIPphotography story and photos by rick matthews Shooting the Breeze I
Seeing new people and places through a camera’s lens leads to unique exposures.
It’s the sixth day of my Newfoundland search for icebergs. Six days of horizontal rain, two-degree temperatures, 60-kilometre winds and thundering surf. In six days I have yet to unload a boat or camera.
The locals call it capelin weather; I call it hell. Yet as a drive into the town of Twillingate, I realize the spirit and warmth of the people in this small town are seeping into my bones. I’m absorbing their accepting “see what tomorrow will bring” attitude—something totally out of character for me. My serenity also stems from the knowledge that my local sanc-
tuary, the Internet café, had opened at 7 a.m. and my apple pie and hot coffee were waiting.
I had come to meet the locals while drying out cameras and body day after day here. They shared their stories with me, sto- ries about depleted fish stocks and how the young people were
still leaving, but also about how things were looking better for tourism with the whale watching and birds and so on. Over various cups of tea I was told the history of the area: about the heyday of the fishery when 100 schooners would crowd the tiny harbour to unload countless tons of cod; about the colourful house on the hill that was towed across the frozen bay by several hundred townsfolk, and of the polar bear who drifted into the harbour on the winter ice and wouldn’t leave.
Unable to paddle, I had to be creative. My routine changed. I’d get up before sunrise and drive around the back bays and fishing villages searching for icebergs and scenic backdrops. I set up boats and cameras and took shots around lobster pots, fishing stages, and boats—images that were not so much about kayaks and paddling but about weather, landscape and life on
ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 19
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