Tag: Penobscot Marine Museum

Penobscot Marine Museum online photo archive expands

Circa-1905 image of the steamer Verona being launched into the Penobscot River, photographed by Preston Williams. From the MacEwen Photo Collection at Penobscot Marine Museum

Photographer "Red" Boutilier captured the converted fishing trawler Natalie Todd being rechristened for use as a passenger-carrying windjammer in this image from the Boutilier Collection at Penobscot Marine Museum. Monhegan Harbor, with the northern end of Manana Island in the background. From Penobscot Marine Museum's David J. Lindsay Photo Collection

Our pal Bob Holtzman has been in touch to say that the Penobscot Marine Museum at Searsport, Maine, USA has added new collections to its online photo archive that bring the database up to more than 50,000 images. The material is available free at www.PenobscotMarineMuseum.org.

One of the new collections is that of well-known Maine photographer Everett ‘Red’ Boutilier, who captured the Maine waterfront from the 1950s until shortly before his death in 2003. His work was published in Downeast, National Fisherman, Sail, Yachting, Soundings and other magazines and newspapers.

Boats, fishing, and shipyard scenes from Maine’s midcoast area dominate the more than 20,000 photos in his collection, whose acquisition by the museum was made possible by a gift from another frequent publisher of Boutilier’s work, the magazine Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors.

Two other newly-added collections with strong maritime content are:

  • the MacEwen Collection, which includes the work of amateur photographer Preston Williams, who shot early 20th-century scenes of the waterfront at the Maine commercial centre of Bangor
  • the Lindsay Collection of photographs by David J Lindsay, whose work boats and shipyards, mostly in Lincoln County, Maine, but also in Massachusetts and Vermont

Thanks Bob!

Michael Kahn’s marine photos on show at Penobscot Marine Museum

Michael Kahn brings an element of abstraction to the windjammer exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum

Michael Kahn brings an element of abstraction to the windjammer exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum Michael Kahn brings an element of abstraction to the windjammer exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum Michael Kahn brings an element of abstraction to the windjammer exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum

Michael Kahn brings an element of abstraction to the windjammer exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum

Michael Kahn’s stylish black and white marine photography is on show at the Penobscot Marine Museum until the 24th August

This striking shot is one of a collection of beautiful and smoothly textured photos by Michael Kahn currently on show at the Penobscot Marine Museum as part of its continuing exhibition Earning their keep: Maine’s windjammers.

Kahn, you won’t be surprised to learn, is captivated by boats. ‘Seldom in man’s history have we created something as beautiful and as functional as the  sailboat,’ he is reported to have said. ‘These boats symbolize more than just basic transportation. They represent the ability of man to work with nature. To harness the power of the wind and endure the strength of the sea is an awesome achievement.’

If you’re wondering about the rich texture of the image above, I gather it’s a Kahn  trademark and that his images are hand-processed gelatin silver prints. I think this man’s eye is just as impressive – see how the dinghy is moored to the sailing ship’s dophin striker, and how it’s partly framed by the bowsprit – and having clocked that, notice the delicious reflection on the water.

The museum’s press officer, who happens to be my friend Bob Holtzman, adds that Kahn’s work has appeared in a wide variety of magazines ranging from Cruising World and Family Circle to the New York Times. His work even made an appearance in the James Bond movie Die Another Day.

For more information, see the museum’s website. A book of Michael’s photos is also available from Amazon: The Spirit of Sailing: A Celebration of Sea and Sail.

PS Have you used the little logos below yet? They allow you to share this post via Twitter or Facebook, save the link in Google or your own web browser, and finally you can email the link to a friend. Handy, I’d say…