First, I’ll set the scene, then I’ll tie it to the theme. Labor Day Weekend in 2020 was a scary time. No covid vaccinations existed until December that year. Even getting a test for covid required a doctor’s visit before you could travel. Skip got a reservation long before the pandemic for a small group of friends to go to Rapids Camp, a well-known fishing lodge in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed. It was originally an off-base recreation facility for the U.S. Air Force’s King Salmon Air Station. With motorboats and floatplanes, prime fishing is always close that time of year.

With a lot of help we all arrived and were eager to fish the next morning. We are set to fly to another part of the watershed, entering the plane as the sun rose over the hills across the waters I saw this compelling view. I was wearing a GoPro camera and snapped this still photo in wide-angle view. The parabolic horizon accentuates the feeling of being on a globe, Planet Earth, staring at another globe 93 million miles away.

With no internet and spotty cell service fishing, food, and friendship dominated our week. I like the sunlight reflecting off the waters and highlighting the line of outboard motors in the fishing boats tapering toward the sunrise. The wing of the floatplane helps tell the story. Skip, true to his reputation, hooked the biggest and most trout, landing the only two trout over 30 inches and dozens more near that size.

The Group Show “Earth” is currently at TAG Gallery. The Opening Reception is April 25, 5pm-8pm, the same time as the PHOTOGRAPHY UNVEILED exhibit.

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@UCLA Anderson

@UCLA

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