Catch o' t'Day. GX1, Leitz Telyt-V 280mm.

The lobstermen hard at work in their sturdy boats form one of the icons of the Maine coast. I thought that I would try to catch the "decisive moment"of lobster fishing: the instant when the trap is dragged to the side of the boat and one can see the critters flailing around in the trap. I caught such moments, but this image with the attendant and ever-hopeful gulls swirling around the boat spoiling for a free lunch, made for a better image. And there's a representative lobstah still in the trap! The lobster-catching ritual goes like this: lobster boat chortles along until the fisherman sees his designated colors on the float. Cut the engine to idle, bring the helm hard to starboard - since the boats all seem to be right-hand-drive, - reach for a boat hook and snag the float. Then, start hauling until the trap breaks the surface to see what's inside. If there's a catch, then haul the trap over the gunwale and start pulling the lobsters out and plopping them in a bucket of seawater. The undersized ones have to go back over the side. I forget what the cutoff point is… All of this done, throw the trap overboard, get the boat going straight ahead again and feed out the line until the colored float is all that remains. Repeat until all the traps have been visited for the day. And this is on a beautiful summer day with the surface like a millpond. Imagine what that's like in January with a howling, freezing gale, and the boat bouncing around like a cork. Not a profession for the faint-of-heart, and hence the price of lobster...