“I always try to capture a sense of place for the locations I am photographing, and for me, the majority of my work happens to be on Chesapeake Bay, where I was born and raised,” photographer Jay Fleming says.
His career documenting fishing started in 2011, working for a lake trout removal program at Yellowstone National Park. He spent two years doing that.
“When I came back to the East Coast, I sought out opportunities to document commercial fishing,” he says. “That led to a job promoting the state of Maryland’s seafood. I was able to get my foot in the door and develop connections with the fishermen who have pound nets, gill-netters, people harvesting oysters, the oyster-shucking houses and the crabbing industry.”
Photographer Jay Fleming sets up a classic lapstrake hull for his ongoing boat bow series.
Fleming’s first bow photograph was a bit of an accident. “I was experimenting, putting the camera really low to the water to see how the images would turn out. I was on an assignment, photographing a lapstrake sailing dingy in Mantoloking, New Jersey, for a boating magazine.”
He has gone on to photograph boat bows throughout the world including Chesapeake Bay, Cuba and Peru, the Galapagos, Maine and Canada.
“The images are more art than photojournalism,” Fleming says. “It’s all about color, shape, texture and the lines. They can appeal to people throughout the world, regardless of where the boat is from.”
To see more of Fleming’s work, visit jayflemingphotography.com.
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