Seattle-Bainbridge Island Ferry

Author's Comments

The photograph everyone wants is the skyline pulling away from you as the ferry leaves Coleman Dock. That one is fine. Make it. But the better image comes on the return trip, late afternoon in summer or early fall, when you are riding back from Bainbridge with the city ahead and the light behind you. The eastern upper deck. That is where to stand. What makes this crossing worth a photographer's attention is not the skyline alone, and not Rainier alone, though Rainier on a clear day is the kind of apparition that stops conversation on the deck. It is the layering. Olympic range to the west, water in the middle, city rising in the foreground, and the mountain holding the entire southern horizon at a scale that does not fit in any single frame. You have to choose. A long lens compresses Rainier against the buildings and makes the photograph that does not look real. A wider lens lets the Sound breathe. Thirty-five minutes is not very long. The light changes as you move, and so does the angle on everything, which means the composition you saw at minute ten is not available at minute twenty. I have learned to commit early and shoot through the crossing rather than wait for the perfect moment that the ferry's own motion will take from you. Walk-on from Bainbridge is free. Time the return for the hour before sunset. If the mountain is out, you will know within a minute of leaving the dock whether you have the photograph or not.

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