Gifts of the Sea | Inside Yankee
From the day I first came to Yankee, back in 1979, I have seen thousands of photographs of New England. This region teems with photographers telling stories with their cameras. It’s not simply what they see; it’s also how they see. But in all my years here, I have never been so surprised, so astonished, […]
From the day I first came to Yankee, back in 1979, I have seen thousands of photographs of New England. This region teems with photographers telling stories with their cameras. It’s not simply what they see; it’s also how they see. But in all my years here, I have never been so surprised, so astonished, as when I saw the work of a Maine fisherman named Joel Woods (“A Hard Life Made Beautiful,”).
I hadn’t heard of Joel until I received an email from the fine travel writer Malerie Yolen-Cohen; “I’ve never seen such stunning commerical-fishing photos,” she wrote. I searched online and found his website. Whatever I had been planning to do for the next hour vanished as I clicked through image after image, each eliciting the same response: How did he get that?
I wrote Joel immediately. Days passed without a reply—which wasn’t surprising. When you fish for a living many miles offshore, you can’t simply check your messages, and you aren’t in a position to answer as quickly as politeness dictates. Finally, he replied, and soon I went to see him in Rockport, Maine. This is something to know: He’s based in the same town as the Maine Media Workshops and College, where for years the best photographers in the world have been coming to teach seminars. Yet few, if any, are familiar with his work. Outside of his Facebook friends, nearly all of whom know him from his lobstering and deep-sea-trawling life, he remains virtually unknown.
I hope what you see in our pages will change that. Joel tells everyone he is a fisherman, not an artist. He works at sea, often in harsh, bitter cold, his hands covered in grease or slime or blood. But since the day he picked up a camera, he’s found an opening into a world few have seen. And he’s also found an opening into himself.
Beyond Joel’s photos, you’ll discover other gifts from the sea in this issue. We ponder whether the time is ripe for Maine seaweed to become the next “in” food (“Seaweed Dreaming,”). Plus, we fill your plate with recipes showcasing what may be the most succulent seafood of all: the sea scallop (“Sunken Treasure,”).
In these days of darkness and blustery winds, it’s a good time to think of the men and women tossing about on a winter ocean to bring us the seafood we take for granted—and of one fisherman in particular who finds a way to tug off his gloves, grab a camera, and freeze for all time a sliver of what his world looks like. And how he sees it.
Mel Allen, Editor editor@YankeeMagazine.com
PS: Keep an eye out for Joel’s appearance on Weekends with Yankee, a new series from WGBH premiering in April on public television stations nationwide (check local listings).
Mel Allen
Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.
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