going to sea with fishermen

L

le vrai rdu

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I wrote to the fishing "syndicate" of france and they are okay to send me on a trawler for two days to 1 month

As a student I can't leave for a month (further more I don't know many about sea an how my body will react :D) so I agreed to go there for 5 days :D

Imho it will be some kind of 25 to 40 meters boat like the ones I pictured in a shipyard :

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boats big enought to go to hight sea (some are going from french brittany to ireland ) and small enought to move a lot in the waves :D waoooo seems it won't be easy for my stomac but anyways, you earn nothing without trying :D


I bought ressently some minolta SRTs (3 of them) plus a minolta SR7 and many lenses (28 mm 35 mm 50 mm 55 mm 58 mm 100mm ) plus a minolta autocord

I plan to take the bessa R with the 21 mm (the 35 and 50 are nice too but quite a long minimum focus range for such a small boat)

It should be an interesting trip (I also want to see how I can stand it :D)
 
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oh boy my friend! may i make 1 small suggestion. start working those sea legs as soon as possible!

i have sailed most of my life but was totally unprepared for how those boats roll around out there. when they are dropping nets or pulling them in they don't have the pleasure of staying in the gap between swells and man oh man they roll!

it took me about a month of shooting on a commercial trawler before i could even stand up without clutching something!

get your hands on a Nikonos if you can.

can't wait to see some of it!
 
I will seal my SRTs :D I opened them a lot to clean them and know how to CLA them a bit, sealing them is not so hard. COnsidrerd the price, I don't care if some of them come back dead, that's why I bring a lot of them :D

some filter on the lenses, and gaffer too :D

yep, it is said to be quite rought as a work :D and I know it won't be leisure time :D
 
I once owned a fishing boat, now I'm part of a syndicate, good luck with your voyage, saltwater can play havoc with cameras, take care enjoy and keep tight ahold of your gear
 
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I've had the same plan, to shoot daily life on the fishing boat, for a long time now. Sadly I haven't found a boat that would take me in. Contacts are everything but with that project I have none, yet.

I will be extra-interested hearing your experience when you return (and seeing your work, of course).
Good luck! :)
 
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Hahaha, amuse toi-bien et tombe pas a l'eau...Oublie pas de partager les resultats! Sounds like it could be a lot of fun!

(Have fun and don't fall over board...Don't forget to share the results)
 
tom.w.bn said:
As you write this I think about photos of Jean Gaumy. Wow. What a personal challange.
Click to expand...

My thought, too. Take a look at Gaumy's "Men At Sea" (oddly enough, I saw a copy on the remainder table at the University Bookstore in Seattle the other day). Besides some really compelling pictures, in the narrative that accompanies them he discusses the technical challenges of photographing on the deck in heavy seas. He shot a lot of TMZ over the years, as a lot of the action took place at night.

Buy a ton of Dramamine, and pop them like M&M's.
 
Don't forget that barf is hard to clean out of a camera! Good luck and I can't wait to see the images from your trip!
 
Like the man said - take a Nikonos with the 35 and 80mm lenses. (The rest are for UW water and don't focus on land at less than f8.) It will take only one spray of saltwater catching you unawares to kill an unprotected camera no matter how much you tape it up. Fresh water will dry without much trace, but saltwater will start the corrosion process immediately in places you never see, shortening a camera's life dramatically. A nice Nikonos III with the 35mm will put you back all of $150 and a Sekonic Auto-Lumi meter in housing another $25. They don't even have to be perfectly waterproof to 100m. At the very least you could consider a set of those EWA-Marine underwater protection bags with water tight seal. Saltwater drenched cameras are not good for the heart. Believe me!

- Børre
 
I have always wanted to do this. I have a very good friend who works on a fishing boat and have asked him 1003232343 times to allow me to come. Apparently his captain did not want me to come because they are not exactly honest about the fishing regulations... oh well\

In Cape Cod (on the ocean in MA), I use an Olympus Stylus Epic on my family's sailboat as well as on my Boston Whaler (and Kayaks, dinghies, etc). It has never failed me despite being dunked, splashed, etc.
 
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Watch your footing on the ship and have fun. Also never throw up into the wind and I mean never.

Bob
 
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