I was born on January 3, 1954, at 9.10 pm, at the Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, walking distance from Hyannis Harbor and Lewis bay.
I was destined for the sea, salt and swells. They are in my head, heart, veins. I am aquatic.
As fate would have its kind way, I happily spent my childhood and adolescence, constantly surrounded by water, sharing time with Nantucket Sound, Cape Cod Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Sand. Surf. Sun.
My first out-of-the-country trip and experience were, in 1975, as a galley hand, cooking and cleaning for 600 Merchant Marine cadets and officers, of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, under the leadership of Rear Admiral, USMS, Lee Harrington (my uncle), enjoying a semester-at-sea, onboard the USTS Bay State III, sailing out of Buzzards Bay to Dublin, Ireland, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
It was my first, real, up-front, personal glimpse of the wild, untamed, powerful, enchanting sea and all its glory
She is fierce, raw, unpredictable. I was hooked for life.
Over the next 3 decades, moving from river to river, pond to pond, lake to lake, ocean to ocean, I photographed all over the world, for countless commercial, advertising, stock, and editorial clients.
But none of them, even closely, captured my heart, like Star Clippers-a fleet of the largest, rigged, passenger sailing ships in the world. Again, it was the magnetism and mystery of the sea itself that stirred my aquatic sensitivities and sensibilities and brought me to her to the bowsprit.
Star Clippers was magnificent. The sea was magnificent. The travel experience was magnificent. The photography was magnificent.
For well over 10 years, I worked hand-in-hand, creative brief to the creative brief, with then, Marketing Director, Mark Carlson, to create some pretty damn remarkable and memorable photography, of the ship’s itineraries and intimacies.
Together, co-collaborators, Mark and I, logged thousands of nautical miles, in ports-of-call, all over the world.
We photographed travel landmarks, monuments, and destinations, passenger lifestyle, food, aerials, product shots of ship-at-sea, company staff, architectural interiors, you name it.
We crushed it. It was a hell of a ride and run.
My relationship with Mark and Star Clippers was, indeed, one of the most unforgettable, extraordinary, significant experiences of my commercial career.
There are over a dozen production crew, models, friends, colleagues, right here, even on this feed, that shared some of this Star Clipper magic with me, Mark, and the open seas.
“My soul is full of longing
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.”― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Don’t, at all, be surprised, if soon, over the next year, you see a Chapter II, in this same story with me, Mark, and the great oceans of the deep. Oh yeah, baby. The sea calls once more. Stay tuned.
Click.
Jack
