Looking For Details In Oregon's Charleston harbor

There was an incoming storm, and a big one. The sea was quite rough, dangerously so, which meant that there were plenty of boats moored in Charleston Harbor instead of out fishing. Charleston is the least populated (Pop. 795 in 2017) community in Oregon's Coos Bay Area, but is nonetheless home to a large commercial fishing fleet. So, when my friend and I were out photographing in the drizzle which foretold of the coming storm, there were plenty of boats around from which we could photograph small details, which always intrigue me. Details like this roll of chain on one of the decks.

“Chains” © Howard Grill

Because of the storm there were plenty of fisherman around the docks instead of at sea, and we struck up a conversation with this fellow because we were curious about the water being pumped out of the hold of his boat. We asked him about it, and you could feel his pride when he told us that he had 15,000 pounds of crabs in the hold and that he was one of the very few people that pumped oxygenated seawater into and out of the hold. He told us that the crabs ‘loved it’. He was waiting to sell the entire boatload to buyers in Beijing, with plans to ship the crabs by air.

I post this happy fellow’s photo here not because it’s a great photo…..it’s not. There are poles growing out of his head etc. I post it because I find it very difficult to ever ask a stranger if I can take their photo. But I did ask him once we got to talking, and he was happy to say yes. I do think the photo transmits some of the pride he had about his boat and about how good he was at his profession.

© Howard Grill

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