After riding the ferries back and forth for 33 years you’d think I would be long over due in the normalizing department. It should be ho-hum by now, right?
One of my favourite images to photograph is a ferry worker on the deck, on guard, on the look out for trouble, ready to act if necessary. Their neon vests are such a vivid contrast to the soft grey blues of our waters and sky

I am still thrilled to get on the ferry … Every Time …
But this time, after that unspeakably horrible tragedy of the South Korean ferry killing the future of so many young lives that we’re brimming with possibilities, I am sobered. I’ve been lucky. Things can go wrong at any moment and this gives me pause.

This time I found myself checking out the life boats. Could this be the captain’s get away car? What a thought. I think and even now still believe that this could never happen here. But where is here? People everywhere can surprise us? I’m still going to count on the crew’s help if it comes to that.

I carry on photographing but find I have stopped here.

Capacity – 100 passengers … So I do the calculations in my head. Not very crowded, maybe 200 today? And there are about 8 – 10 life boats. I’m not going to go around the boat and count. I am going to get on with life on this ferry ride. It’s going on anyway regardless what happens, good or bad.

You know what I love about the ferry? People read. All ages. So many people are reading; newspapers, books, magazines and some kindle types of reading material. It feels like these books are the instruments of transitions from a quiet weekend in the country to back to work-work, or a winding down from something, like city life.

Along with the kids in full involved ‘kid-talk’ over a board game and the musical murmur of quiet conversations, it’s a kind of peaceful quiet, perfect for knitting and reading and thinking and sketching with a so- so cup of ferry coffee.