Fishing in Valdez: The people, the fish and the boat.

Alaska, Landscapes, Photography, Portraits, Travel

Here are two images of life on the water in Valdez. The first image I believe is a combination of family and friends that work together commercial fishing Silver Salmon. Trollers go out in smaller skiffs deploying nets before they are winched back in. It’s hard work, and despite the apparent calm in the fishermen there is noticeable tension in their postures.

Please click on the images to view full size.

Next, a fishing boat sits in the shade as the light falls on the hill behind. The boat had overnighted in Sawmill Bay, sometimes it’s easier to find calm water to sleep on then sail back to the harbor. Even though in this case Sawmill Bay is only 15 miles outside Valdez.

Fishy Inspiration

Alaska, Arts, Photography, Portraits

Artists find inspiration from many venues. Other art, personal visions, but most often from the world around them. Henry David Thoreau wrote about the trails he frequented, Warhol made designs from unavoidable pop culture and Bradford Washburn photographed the mountains he loved so much. It’s easy to tell where my cousin Iris Sutton gets her inspiration. Her large scale paintings with vivid colors of Alaska landscapes, animals and mushing culture hark to the raw beauty and grandeur of Alaska. A finisher of the Yukon Quest, she was chosen in 2012 to make the poster artwork.

Fish, long a common theme for Alaska art, surfaced in one of her recent paintings. A subject I also look to for inspiration, as well as sustenance. Here is Iris with her painting of salmon hanging, and a picture of salmon hanging before the smoking process.