The 100 Day Project #31

Returning Tides

West Penobscot Bay, Maine, 2025

The 100 Day Project, Day 31

I photograph a lot of water. I grew up canoeing and tubing on the Illinois River as it wraps around Siloam Springs, Arkansas. In high school and college in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the Pacific Ocean to escape to. For years I lived in landlocked states — Arizona, Nebraska — and felt the absence of it in ways I couldn't quite name. Now I live minutes from the beaches of Lake Ontario. The water always finds me, or I find my way back to it.

This image was made on the ferry crossing from Rockland, Maine to Vinalhaven — where West Penobscot Bay meets the North Atlantic. A long shutter speed, the camera held steady as the water smoothes, waves softened into layers of blue and pale light.

Maybe this will be the summer I finally take the sailing class I’ve wanted to take for years.

One of the quiet intentions behind my participation in The 100 Day Project was to reconnect with my practice as a printer. For years I have been a photographer. But printing is where the photograph becomes an artwork, where the image finds its final form. Each day of this project I sit with my images, select the one that speaks to me in that moment, and print it. It’s an intentional pause in my day to prioritize the work. To tell the story behind each image. It has been one of the most grounding things I have done in years.

Today's print is on Hahnemühle Cold Press Bright paper — a matte surface that has transformed the blues of this image into stunning pastels, almost watercolor-like. It is positively stunning.

These prints will eventually be available for sale through my website. More on that soon!

About the 100 Day Project: A global creative challenge where thousands of artists share a piece of their practice every single day for 100 days. I'm joining creatives around the world, and I'm excited to bring you along. Each day I'll be sharing one of my photos — some recent, some old, and some from my current project — along with the story behind it: where I was, who I was with, and why I love it.