Photographer aims at vanishing fishing boats
Adams favors the drama of late summer skies reflected at water’s edge as a backdrop for his high-definition photos. Said Adams, “None of my images are taken straight from the eye of the camera. I take multiple shots of the same subject at different exposures and then blend them to get the one perfect shot.”
PAMELA BUSHNELL
News-Leader
John E. Adams explains that he was first drawn to the commercial fishing industry when he was 10 years old on a visit to Monterey Bay, Calif.“The fog, swells, sounds and smells of the kelp-filled cold pacific waters in a constant motion causing the dozens of wood hulled fishing boats to endlessly move up and down left an impression on me that never left,“ Adams said recently. That impression is now incorporated into his passions for photography and capturing the essence of a vanishing icon: wooden commercial fishing boats.
As a young man, Adams worked as a salmon fisherman and sea urchin diver in Northern California. He remembers when wooden fishing boats were bright and beautifully painted with bold accents and fishing was a local, often family business. Adams would go on to serve for 20 years in the Navy before arriving here in Florida in 2001. Now retired from the Navy, he lives in Yulee but works full-time in Brunswick, Ga., at Naval Criminal Investigative Services. Photography is his hobby – and his passion. In 2014 he published “Evanescent Trawlers of the South,” a collection of photos from his travels along 4,400 miles of coastline from South Carolina to Key West, then up along the west coast of Florida and into Alabama an Louisiana. The project was funded through an online campaign on the Kickstarter website. Photos from the 2014 project are available online at Adams’ website and also available in e-book and hardcover book formats.
Adams was shocked recently to receive feedback on a photo of a sinking trawler in Brunswick harbor he had posted online. He received an email from Juan Diaz, fire chief for the Mountain View California Fire Department, who remembered the trawler in the photo as the one that brought him and his family from Cuba to the United States during the 1980 Mariel Boatlift.
Said Diaz, “... In May 1980, after 20 years of my dad and mom trying to leave Cuba for the American Dream, we boarded SunHippie (the trawler). I was 15 years old ... You were where I ate for the first time in my life an apple and a piece of ham. You gave me my first Coca Cola drink, my first piece of gum ... It was on your deck where I felt freedom for the first time, as we were able to openly express our disapproval for the Castro regime. Remember? We were chanting USA USA USA si, Castro no!.. You floated us out of misery and into the American fresh air. You made my American Dream possible...” Diaz continued that he and his family used to visit the trawler in Key West from time to time until one year it was no longer there. He always wondered what had happened to her. “Thank you, ‘SunHippie,’ for shining a bright light in my life. May you rest in peace.”
Adams has launched another Kickstarter campaign to offset the cost of travel and photo shooting along the rest of the Gulf Coast, including 600 miles of Texas coastline, the part he was unable to complete on his first effort. He has already reached two-thirds of his fundraising goal for the trip, slated for August. His goal is to publish the second book in November 2017.
The new project is titled “An American Brushstroke – The Handcrafted Trawlers of the Gulf Coast.”
Donors can choose from an array of “packages” of complimentary gifts for their support, from free boat prints to real time updates on Adams’ travels to copies of the completed book. The fundraising campaign ends June 9. More information is available at www.kck.st/2qikOYk.
Adams also photographs fine cars, motorcycles, nature and other subjects. A collection of his work and copies of previous books are available at his website www.AdamsViews.net. He has canvas prints of his trawler images available for display at no charge to area businesses.