- [Announcer] This program is made by MPT to enrich the diverse communities throughout our state, and is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Thank you.

(gentle guitar music) - Hi, I'm Pete Lesher, chief historian and ambassador at large of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and I love my job.

Being that guy means I get to meet some of the most wonderful people on the planet, all of whom share a deep connection to our beloved estuary.

You're about to meet two of those wonderful people, photographers, Dave Harp and Jay Fleming.

They've both dedicated their lives to documenting the ever-changing land and seascape of the Chesapeake Bay, the tributaries that flow into it, and the people who live and work on it.

And though they share this subject matter, their unique perspectives lead to very different results.

They each have their own vision of the Chesapeake.

(bright music) Dave Harp has crammed enough work into his career for three Lifetimes, beginning as a staff photographer for the Hagerstown Morning Herald, then photographer for the Baltimore Sun, and finally, as an independent photojournalist.

He also continues to contribute regularly to the Chesapeake Bay Journal, an independent environmental news source for the Chesapeake Region.

Dave, that's a lot.

(Dave laughs) What have I left out?

- I think you've hit the high spots, Pete.

(Pete laughs) Thank you.

- Before we get this conversation going, I'd like folks to get a look at you in your natural environment, out there on the water.

Here's an excerpt from "MPT Outdoors Maryland" from back in 2012.

Can we take a look at this?

- Let's take a look.

(bright music) Well, we can go up to Chicone Creek, - Right.

- And then I want to go up to Gales Creek, which is this beautiful little creek.

- [Narrator] It's early morning, (Dave continues faintly) and photographer David Hart is where he loves to be, (bright music continues) taking photos of the beauty in the marshes along the Chesapeake Bay.

(camera snaps) - Just being out in the marshes, watching the sunrise, (camera snaps) the whole smell of the marsh, being around these spartina grasses, I could go on and on.

It's just a beautiful place.

(birds chirping) It's threatened, and that's one of the things that keeps me going, (waves splashing) that I wanna say, you know, dammit, we need to do something about this.

We need to protect this.

(boat rumbling) Good.

This is perfect.

- Okay.

- See, the irises over here?

- [Narrator] David has been taking photographs of nature along the waterways of the Chesapeake Bay for most of his life.

(birds chirping) (camera snaps) - Well, I consider myself more of like an environmental photographer.

(bright music) It's that relationship between the human and nature, (camera snaps) between the great blue heron and its edge and the nests and where it lives.

(camera snaps) Watching a monarch butterfly, alight on seaside golden rod in September, (camera snaps) and the Tundra swan coming in on a snowy day.

I enjoy it, not just a picture of an animal, but what's that animal's relationship to where it's nesting?

Why is it there?

Is it threatened?

You know, there are all these questions that I ask.

I'm a journalist.

I just love the story.

That's the most important part to me, and how to and how to bring that back and show to people.

(camera snaps) (bright music) - [Narrator] David learned his trade at a young age from his father.

- My dad was an amateur photographer, but he was a newspaper editor.

He worked at the Hagerstown Morning Harold.

The day that President Kennedy was assassinated, I was a junior in high school and I walked down to the newspaper office, and I stayed there until the wee hours of the morning.

I've just never looked back.

Really, that was the day, and since then, I've always wanted to be a photographer.

(waves splashing) - Shall I?

- There you go, Tom.

- Hey.

- How you doing?

- Okay.

Heading up to Gales Creek?

- Yep.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Harp took his skills and love of journalism to the Baltimore Sun, where he met writer Tom Horton.

They published several books, all about the Chesapeake Bay and the edge of water and land.

- I think if you were to pluck out an essential theme for both of us since we started with the Bay, (birds chirping) 30 some years ago, it would be the edge.

- [Narrator] The edge, that meandering, jagged transition where water meets land, an organic zone filled with life and critical to the Chesapeake's health.

- This is where the stories were.

This is where people wanna live and where they wanna foul it.

This is where animals nest.

This is where oysters and crabs and fish live.

(boat rumbling) (birds chirping) If I can come back from a place (waves splashing) and show how or what it felt like to be there, instead of just what it looked like, then I've accomplished (camera snaps) what I've gone out to do.

(bright music) (camera snaps) - [Narrator] Whether viewers feel amazed, content, concerned, or delighted, David Harp's photographs offer a unique window into the Chesapeake landscape and way of life.

(bright music continues) (gentle music) - Dave, as we saw in that clip, your collaboration with writer Tom Horton was a match made in heaven.

What has that process been like?

- I met Tom around 1980, when we were both at the Baltimore Sun.

And I had a background, I was an English major in college, I had a background in journalism.

My dad was a newspaper editor, and we were assigned to do a story on Smith Island together.

And I'd never met him before that time.

- You were familiar with his work.

- We had just had a very comfortable relationship, from the very get-go, and we both had a passion for the Bay.

That led to other stories in the Sun, and the, you know, we'd go off and do our thing in the Bay and have a good time and bring back the stories, and the editors sometimes didn't even know where we were, but we came back with the goods.

And I guess the statute of limitations is over now.

(laughs) (Pete laughs) I left the Sun, actually, New Year's Eve, 1989, to start my own business, and we started, we continued to work together and we did stories for Smithsonian and Natural History and Coastal Living, and just a lot of different magazines on a regional, national level.

And then we started doing books.

And then the last 10 years, we've been doing films together, so almost 50 years of collaboration.

- Tom did books on his own, but there's something about this partnership that when the two of you work together, there's really a magic to it.

- Words are important to me, so the essays that he has contributed to our books and certainly is his writing for our films, it's just been magnificent.

- Getting out there on the water, you've talked about being fascinated by the edge, and what does that mean to you?

- Well, the edge of land and water, the edge of darkness.

I mean, everything about photography is about edges.

You know, the best light is early in the morning or in the evening.

But the edges of the Bay, I mean, we have this Chesapeake Bay that has a, I don't know, 10 or 12,000 miles of shoreline.

The beauty of the long shoreline, it just gives you many, many opportunities for the life that lives there.

The people wanna be there.

The animals wanna be there.

The flora, the magnificent marsh flowers.

And I'm a marsh rat.

I really enjoy being out in the marshes.

So those, all the rivers of the Bay, I think there're like 150 rivers and streams and creeks in the Bay, and, of course, countless number of marsh guts, and every one of them I look at as an opportunity.

- And that it's in that marsh that the edge is particularly indistinct, as it's such low, if you can call it, land that floods at high tide, that takes its nourishment from the waters and from the repeated flooding.

You've really explored that environment in a way that I haven't seen other people do.

- Well, I enjoy it.

There's a passion for it.

I enjoy getting out and doing it, and it's nice to be a photographer and be able to have that opportunity.

I just love being out when the mists are rising and the birds are flying and the tundra swans are coming in on the November Northwestern.

There's just, every edge is an opportunity for more photographs for me or more filming opportunities.

- You've described yourself as an environmental photographer, but anyone who looks at your work can see that you're an artist.

Is there a balance between that job of documenting, of telling the environmental story and making art out of it?

- Well, I appreciate your comments.

I always try to be artful into what I make photographs of, but in the end, it is the content, to me, that's really important.

It's telling a story.

It's taking a concept, like my work with the Bay Journal, I mean, some of the things that we do are everything from microplastics to a waterman dredging for oysters.

- You want people to get a message from what you're doing.

- Absolutely.

And I think the message that I'm always looking for is that it's a precious resource, and if we don't take care of it, we're gonna lose it.

And I've just, that's been my mantra from the very get-go.

- And along those lines, do you think your work has shaped people's perceptions of the Bay and the challenges that it's facing?

- I think it has.

I hope it has.

And lately, the films that we've been doing, and many of them, I think all of them, actually, have been here on Maryland Public Television.

One anecdote.

I showed the film to a group of people, "High Tide in Dorchester," about climate change and about the rising tides.

And this woman in the back said, "You're ruining our real estate values."

- It's your fault.

- It's my fault, yeah.

- Wow.

- So I think, if you look at all the work that we've done and of certainly the Bay Journal, all the work we do at the Bay Journal, there is an impact.

And I think that, again, it's a precious resource and there are a lot of moving parts, and we just really to pay attention.

- You've been at this for a long time.

What advice do you give to young photographers who share your passion?

- Well, I think the first thing, you know, get a camera and get comfortable with it.

I don't care what kind of camera it is.

It could be a cell phone.

But the most important thing to me is understand what you're photographing.

If you like motorcycles, study motorcycles.

In my case, you know, it's the Chesapeake Bay, and all the life that's in it, and so I've spent the last 50 years and had a lot of good tutors, a lot of people that, a lot of scientists and friends and other writers I've worked with, and especially with Tom, to develop that knowledge of the Bay.

And I think- - Witnessing change in the process.

- Well, yes.

But, you know, I would just tell a young photographer starting out, know your subject, and whatever that is, have a passion for it, hopefully.

Understand what it is and what the ramifications of it, and go for it, you know?

The other thing I always say is get up early and get out often.

- Mm-hmm.

You wanna be there at that moment.

- At the moment things are happening.

- And you can't anticipate when that moment is happening.

- No, and sometimes, that means getting up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning and driving and sitting and waiting for the sun to come up.

In my case, you know, in the Chesapeake Bay.

In fact, that's my favorite time of the day, is pre-dawn to just a little bit after, after sunrise, and I say to people, in the summer especially, eight o'clock in the morning, my day's over.

Go take a nap.

- Can you sort of sum up this vision that you have for the Chesapeake?

What should we be getting from your photography?

- I spent a lot of time, of course, the last 15, 20 years, I've lived in Dorchester County, and I have spent a lot of time witnessing fairly important changes and a lot of impact of climate change and environment, and I think it's important to me to keep going out there, to keep telling the story.

As the story changes, keep telling the story, the nuances of it.

- Because that story's evolving.

We're learning new things about the Bay.

We're learning new things, perhaps about threats to the Bay or changes that it might be going through.

- Yeah, I think, you know, what we talked, I just mentioned microplastics, it's in our bloodstream, you know?

And you look at the Bay now, you look at all of the... You can't go any place in a marsh anymore without finding a plastic water bottle floating around, and, of course, all that's decomposing and changing.

I think the rising sea level rise that's killing the marshes and creating, making the marshes migrate inland, the toxic pollution, the sort of the runoff from farms and the problems we have with nitrogen and phosphorus.

I think all of these things are things that there are solutions, but we have to keep looking for them, and there's this evolution of science and policy and all the things that need to come together to save the Chesapeake Bay.

- Despite all of that, when I look at your pho photography, when I look at your work, what I see is a beauty and appreciation of the creatures of these landscapes that I find inspiring, that hopefully motivates us to say that this is worth saving.

- Aldo Leopold in 1948 wrote a book called "A Sand County Almanac."

And in that book, in the preface to it, he said, "That land should be treated as a community that we're part of, and not a commodity that we buy and sell."

And that has been my north star.

That has, and I think, if we go back and think about those, you know, the land as part of a community, and I photographed everything from the microorganisms in a microscope to Mark Connolly dredging oysters in the Choptank River.

And I think it's all part of this wonderful web that we live in.

- You get out there early, you get out there often, so that you can have that moment.

Can you tell us about, have you ever experienced that one absolutely perfect moment out on the Bay?

- (laughs) You know, people ask me what's my favorite photograph that I've made?

And I always say "My next one."

And I might say the same thing about experiences, but I will tell you about, oh, one very recent one.

I'm working on a short film, which will hopefully be here in Maryland Public Television in a year or so, about the swallows massing on the, migrating on the upper Choptank River.

And there are thousands and thousands of these birds just flying and swirling around, dipping down and drinking the water and going back up.

And it's just a magnificent experience.

- All in concert.

- All in concert.

I don't know how they do it.

We're out in kayaks in the upper Choptank, and right after sunset, they go up in a very high swirl and in a matter, and we timed it, in a matter, at dusk, in a matter of minutes, they swirl down like a tornado into the marsh, and that's where they stay to protect themselves.

- Sheltering for the night.

- Sheltering for the night, and this was a full moon, and it glistening on the water.

And I might say, you know, I've had 100 experiences like that over the last 50 years, but that's the most recent, and I live for them.

(gentle guitar music) If you enjoy MPT programs that celebrate the Chesapeake Bay region and Maryland's great outdoors, please visit us online or call the number on your screen and become a member of Maryland Public Television.

And don't forget that when you donate you not only partner with us in producing great programs, you'll also receive a gift to thank you for your support.

Become an MPT sustainer with a contribution of $7 a month or a one time pledge of $84, and we█ll say thanks with this lovely Jay Fleming Note Card Set.

It features ten cards with envelopes that feature five of Jay's incredible photos.

If you want to explore more of Dave Harp and Jay Fleming's photography, get the Visions Collection.

Become a $15 sustainer, or make a one time gift of $180 and you'll receive Dave's book, “Choptank Odyssey” It explores the Choptank River from its beginnings at upstream springs and farm ditches to its broad estuary below Cambridge, Maryland.

With over 150 photos and seven essays, it's nature storytelling at its finest.

You'll also receive Jay Fleming's “Island Life”, a visual narrative of the environment, communities, and commercial fisheries of Smith Island, Maryland, and Tangier Island, Virginia, the last inhabited offshore islands in the Chesapeake Bay.

It's a magnificent, large format work that immerses you in a unique way of life that's at risk of disappearing.

That's not all.

You'll also receive two tickets to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michael's, Maryland.

It's a fun, interactive museum that will delight the entire family.

Need more tickets?

Go!

Ultimate.

The Ultimate Visions Collection includes four tickets to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum as well as “Choptank Odyssey,” “Island Life,” the Jay Fleming Notecard Set, and something very special.

This gorgeous 14 by 20 print of Thomas Point Light, signed by Jay.

We█ll send you all these wonderful thank you gifts when you join us as a $30 sustaining member, or with a one time pledge of $360.

You know, while we love sending thank you gifts, it doesn't matter how big or small your contribution to MPT is.

Every bit gives us the ability to bring you shows like “Visions of the Chesapeake.” So please pick up your phone or go online right now.

And thanks.

(gentle guitar music) - Jay Fleming specializes in photographing the Chesapeake Bay's watermen, wildlife, and a few issues affecting the region.

Born, raised, and residing in Annapolis, he spent his life on the water.

And if you have the pleasure of experiencing one of his books, it will strike you that this guy is as much of an artist as a documentarian.

It does take an artist's eye, doesn't it?

- I would say so, yeah.

Effective visual storytelling needs to be aesthetically pleasing as well.

Captivate people's attention, while documenting history and important events, that type of thing.

- Let's look at how you've been telling stories.

I know that "Outdoors Maryland" profiled you back in 2019.

Can we take a look at that clip?

- Yeah, let's check it out.

(camera snapping) (water splashing) Being on the water is my passion.

(birds calling) (camera snapping) And in the Chesapeake Bay, we're so fortunate to have this incredible resource right in our backyards.

(water splashing) And for me, the draw of the water is to always find something different.

So with the lighting conditions, the sea conditions, with the season, with what people are harvesting, (Jay speaking faintly) there's always something different for me to see on the water.

- [Narrator] As the sun sets off Hooper's Island on Maryland's eastern shore, the Bay appears a quiet expanse.

But documentary photographer Jay Fleming knows that these waters (birds calling) are teeming with life, history and stories to be told.

(boat rumbling) - My job takes me to so many different places, and photography is really the vehicle that gets me out and that drives me to these unique places that I would never otherwise have the opportunity to see.

So for me, it's a matter of getting out and exploring and doing something different every day.

That's what I love most about my job.

(crickets chirping) - Come on board, Cap.

- All right.

- Through my photography, I've developed a lot of friendships and a lot (people speaking faintly) of different relationships with the people that I've photographed, (people speaking faintly) and it's important for me to know people, to hear their stories and to understand them.

(boat rumbling) Before I publish images of them or before I even take pictures of them.

(camera snapping) (water splashing) - I like what he does, because he gives it a face of the job, and he portrays that in his portraits that we're a working class people, and this is a heritage.

I'm fifth generation that's worked on water, and he gets to show that, and he puts a face on it, and I love that.

(camera snaps) (birds calling) - Got out early.

We left the dock at 5:00 AM.

The light eventually came up, and we had some really nice dramatic clouds as a backdrop for the pound netting.

I appreciate you letting me come out.

- Oh, you're always welcome.

- It makes my job easy.

- I think you're welcome in the whole community, 'cause they love what you do and portraying our way of life, and that's what we need for people to see.

(birds calling) - [Narrator] For Fleming, photography is a way to capture and preserve the unique characters and environments of an aging and changing Chesapeake region, (boat rumbling) whether it's out on a boat or diving right in.

(camera snaps) - So I do a lot of underwater photography in the Chesapeake Bay.

These are actually two of my favorite images from the Tangier Sound area.

So a lot of people ask, like, how long it took to get that image?

Well, it took a long time to get there, but this image happened in like 1/250th of a second.

It's just a matter of being there at the right place at the right time.

Underwater photography is an incredibly valuable tool to show people what the bottom of the Bay looks like, show people who live in the Chesapeake Watershed, you know, what it looks like, where their crabs come from and where their fish comes from.

So maybe I'll pull up like a couple different pictures.

(printer buzzing) Right now, I'm kind of focusing on Tangier and Smith Island for my forthcoming book "Island Life."

You know, these islands have become not the ideal place to live, even for the watermen.

One area on Tangier Island (camera snaps) that I've taken pictures of, called the Uppards, is eroding at a rate of about 19 feet a year.

It's difficult sometimes to talk about the fate of the islands in the Chesapeake Bay, especially with the communities like Smith Island and Tangier, 'cause you know, I've really become close to a lot of people out there and, you know, really developed a love for the islands.

(camera snaps) You know, it is important to look into the future (waves splashing) and to figure out how these communities can sustain themselves.

You know, in 100, 200 years, you know, all that we might have to remember these islands are photography and stories, and, you know, narrative from the people who live out there.

(bright music) The connection that I build with people through the photography is, (camera snaps) that's the most satisfying part of my job.

(bright music continues) (camera snapping) (gentle music) - Watching that clip and looking at your work, what strikes me is how connected you are, whether to a person, a creature, a place, an inanimate object.

Where does that come from?

- Well, for me, I like to immerse myself into what I'm shooting.

So fully immerse myself, whether I'm underwater with the crabs and the fish or immersing myself into a community, I feel like it's very important to spend time kind of studying what you're shooting, to most effectively portray it and effectively tell that story.

Photographing a crab, I'd like to get underwater or, you know, on the boat I like to be part of what I'm shooting.

So that involves a lot of time.

It's more than just showing up with a camera and getting a couple pictures.

Sometimes, you know, with these communities that I've documented specifically for my books, you know, I've kind of immersed myself in those communities for years.

- You are really connected.

- So- - You make those connections with people.

- Yeah, connecting with the people and, you know, almost going into the photo shoot or the concept, not intending to get the photo that day, but just, you know, learning about what I'm shooting.

- And they open up to you?

- Definitely.

And when people understand what you're doing and understand that you're not just, you know, I'm not, like, news necessarily.

I'm really creating a historical documentation that will far outlive me.

In that clip, we saw you in a wetsuit.

Do you prefer working on the water or under the water?

And how do these different angles complement each other?

- Well, I'll work wherever I have to work to get the picture.

(Pete laughs) And I've done a lot of crazy stuff to get pictures.

I mean, pound netting on Hooper's Island, for instance, I jumped into the pound net with a wetsuit on- - Yeah.

- With my underwater housing, and got shots of the watermen as they're dipping the menhaden out of the pound net.

My wetsuit was never the same.

I had to get, you know, throw it out, essentially, after it stunk of menhaden.

(Pete laughs) But, you know, getting that angle and thinking about how you're gonna approach your subject, for a photographer to become a effective visual storyteller, I think you have to find these unique approaches.

- I'm amazed by the clarity that you get in those situations when you're looking at, this is murky water and these watermen are stirring it up.

- The time of year is incredibly important for shooting underwater in Chesapeake Bay.

Typically in the fall, like mid-October to early December is when we have clear water, and also in the spring when there's a lack of that algae.

- Right.

- There's like a turnover time between the summer algae and the winter algae.

So, unfortunately, it's not warm.

(laughs) You know, rarely is the Chesapeake Bay warm when the water's clear, but like I said, you gotta do what you gotta do.

- You are out there in every condition that the watermen are out there.

- I go out in the winter, go out there during snowstorms.

Some of the roughest times that I've been out was in like February off of Tangier Island, dredging for oysters.

It's, you know, sometimes those rougher situations tell the story better.

You know, it's not always like a clear bluebird day that's slick cam where, you know, you're oyster dredging.

It's like, those pictures that show the conditions that the watermen have to go out and build the value for what they're doing and what their- - Ice built up in their beards.

- Yeah, yeah.

I have a picture of a waterman on Tillman Island, whose basically face is covered in ice.

And I was right there, too.

Just nobody took my picture, thankfully.

I was probably shivering (Pete laughs) and that day, the boat almost sunk.

The captain told me that he's never seen anybody get off a boat so quick.

And we got back to the dock, I like leaped off the boat.

So (laughs) yeah, I mean, it's a fun job, but sometimes you gotta put yourself out there.

- Jay, you're that rare photographer who's a successful entrepreneur while doing exactly what his heart desires.

How'd you get here?

- Well, it didn't come easy.

I grew up in, I guess you could say, a photographer's family.

My dad was a photographer.

He shot for National Geographic for about 25 years, published books, did all that.

I mean, it sounds like a incredible, like, way to make a living, but it comes with challenges.

So my mother growing up tried to push me away from that, 'cause she saw those challenges that my dad had.

But, you know, I gravitated towards what I wanted to do, and I had a lot of jobs in marketing and I worked in fisheries for the state of Maryland and also for the National Park Service in Yellowstone, so I feel like when I was ready to branch off on my own, I combined all the skills that I learned previously with the photography, the marketing, the fishing, and I was able to kind of fully make a living, just from photography, starting in 2015.

So I'd always been, photography had always been a job.

I would do like art festivals and shows and that was never a way to make a full-time living.

But in 2015, I stopped working for the state of Maryland, the seafood marketing job.

- Okay.

- And then in 2016, I published "Working the Water," and I don't think I've stopped working since 2015.

It's a full-time job.

You know, when you work for yourself, you want to be busy, and you're, you know, working seven days a week sometimes.

- The book's really attracted a lot of attention.

- The book's really, when I published that first book, "Working the Water," I think that's when everything just kind of shot off.

You had already been teaching at that point the photography workshops that you conduct.

- Yeah.

- Who goes to them?

And what do the students want to know there?

- So I started doing workshops in 2014.

I really didn't even know what a workshop was until I started doing them.

I had a photographer from Arlington, Virginia, randomly called me and asked me if I did workshops, and I basically asked her, like, "What's a workshop?"

(Pete laughs) And she said, "Well, you know, you would take us out and kind of show us some places that you shoot and give us tips along the way in composition, camera settings, that kind of stuff."

So I took 'em to Smith Island in 2015 and basically showed them around Smith Island.

Smith Island was the perfect place to start doing the workshops, because you had the wildlife, you've got the nesting pelicans there, you've got the watermen there, and you've got the community there to photograph as well.

And also the community became part of the workshops, so the community supported me in doing the workshops.

So the workshop showed me how I could have the community benefit from my photography as well.

So I was hiring people, you know, I was renting places on the island to stay.

There are no hotels on the island- - No.

- So basically renting people's houses.

I was hiring people to cook for us, you know, traditional Smith Island food, like crab cakes, rockfish, all kinds of great stuff.

And then I was also hiring people to do like cake making demos in their homes.

- Which clearly builds a lot of connections for you.

- Definitely.

Definitely.

And, you know, it allows me to give back to the community, so it's not just me coming in and, you know, taking pictures as if these people on the island are an exhibit.

It's a way of me becoming involved with the community.

- Your students are hiring these services on the island.

- Exactly, and I'm just the facilitator, and with the workshops, I started out of a little boat, a 16-foot skiff, and then I realized I needed more capacity because people wanted to come.

- That could also be a little rough out in the Bay.

- Well, it can, but Smith Island's a great spot, because there's so many, like, inland inner waterways.

So even if it's blowing 25 or 30 out on the Bay or Tangier Sound, I can always go in these creeks, or guts as they call them on Smith Island, and find protected water, right?

So Smith was the perfect spot to do these.

And the second year, I, you know, increased my capacity a little bit, but it wasn't until I had this boat rebuilt in Crisfield that I was able to increase my capacity to what it is today, and really, you know, fully make a business out of it.

- And you've done very well with this.

We've talked about your books.

You've done two so far, "Working the Water" and "Island Life."

- Yeah.

- These are both Herculean efforts.

Tell us a little bit about what goes into making a book like this, and what do you want me, what do you want people to take away with them?

- "Working the Water," for instance, that was a three-year project.

Started in 2012, right on the Choptank River, on Broad Creek, photographing the hand-tongers.

I always tell people that I shot 330,000 pictures for that book.

Thank goodness for digital cameras.

I had pretty bad ratio about 1 to 1,000, and there were about 300 images published.

So, you know, it's not only a lot of work capturing those images and putting yourself out there, but culling through those images and picking the images that most effectively tell that story.

So "Working the Water" is what I would like to describe as a visual narrative of the Chesapeake Bay seafood industry, commercial fishing, the seafood in the water.

So like I mentioned, getting in the water with the crabs.

I actually went swimming with snapping turtles 'cause there's a small snapping turtle fishery in the Chesapeake Bay.

Went into pound nets to photograph the fish in the nets before they were harvested.

So creating a full look at the supply chain and showing people even what the bottom of the Bay looks like, too.

- You are so motivated to do this.

Tell us a little bit about what... You've got a rise early to get up with, to go out with the watermen.

- Yeah.

- What gets you up in the middle of the night to get that perfect shot?

- Well, I love being on the water, and I think, you know, even before I was taking pictures, I was out fishing.

As soon as I got my driver's license, I was all over the state, fishing.

So, you know, my motivation is to be out on the water.

I love seeing the sun come up.

I love capturing beautiful light.

So it's all, you know, my motivation is I'm still highly motivated to get out there and I'm not gonna stop until that's done, and I don't see that going away anytime soon.

So there's so much for me to explore with the camera.

I kind of describe to people, my motivation is like the camera is the vehicle that just gets me out there.

So the camera drives me to go, 'cause I, you know, it's how I make a living, but I would be out there, regardless.

All right.

Here's a question that I've asked Dave Harp, too.

Have you ever experienced one perfect moment on the Bay?

- Absolutely.

Many perfect moments, but... - Pick one for us.

- Pick one.

Well, I would say, it's the photograph of the Last House on Holland Island.

I actually may have seen Dave Harp's picture in a book or online somewhere, and I decided, like, I needed to go out there, because that house was gonna fall in the water very soon.

And this was before I had a boat.

This was before I had a lot of connections with watermen, who now I could just call somebody to take me out there or go out on my own, but I went out with a couple friends.

We took kayaks out there.

So we paddled from Bishop's Head all the way south to Holland Island in early April.

- You gotta watch your weather to do that.

- Yeah, and the intention was to camp out on Holland Island, and we got there.

It was beautiful.

Like, I said, slick cam, which is, you know how everybody describes flat calm weather down there.

We paddled out there.

It was like 13 miles.

Got there, and the house just kind of appeared on the horizon.

Like, it looked like a mirage.

And we got closer to the house and I was able to get like a really low angle, because I was in the kayak and I put my camera right to the surface of the water and captured the image of the house and then the kind of the abstract reflection as if the house was almost melting in the water.

Like, you know, it was kind of a metaphor for what was gonna happen.

- Which is not too far from what did happen, only what, weeks later?

- Six months later.

- Okay.

- So the house fell in October of 2010.

I wish I went out there in October to document that, but at that point I kind of had a real job so I couldn't just, you know, get up and go.

But that picture probably is one of the most important pictures in my book "Island Life," which was published 11 years later.

So at that point in time, I was working on "Island Life," and I didn't even know it.

- You captured that moment in time.

- Yeah, and never to be taken again.

I am just looking forward to what you are doing next.

- Absolutely.

Me, too.

I mean, a photographer's only as good as their next picture, so I'm constantly, you know, I look back on my work a lot, but I'm constantly looking forward as to, you know, what I can document next.

(gentle guitar music) - Well, there you have it, two amazing photographers, Dave Harp and Jay Fleming.

Looking at the Bay through their eyes reveals a world few of us will be able to experience.

But don't despair.

Get out there, open your eyes and see your very own vision of the Chesapeake.

(bright music) If you enjoy MPT programs that celebrate the Chesapeake Bay region and Maryland's great outdoors, please visit us online or call the number on your screen and become a member of Maryland Public Television.

And don't forget that when you donate you not only partner with us in producing great programs, you'll also receive a gift to thank you for your support.

Become an MPT sustainer with a contribution of $7 a month or a one time pledge of $84, and we█ll say thanks with this lovely Jay Fleming Note Card Set.

It features ten cards with envelopes that feature five of Jay's incredible photos.

If you want to explore more of Dave Harp and Jay Fleming's photography, get the Visions Collection.

Become a $15 sustainer, or make a one time gift of $180 and you'll receive Dave's book, “Choptank Odyssey” It explores the Choptank River from its beginnings at upstream springs and farm ditches to its broad estuary below Cambridge, Maryland.

With over 150 photos and seven essays, it's nature storytelling at its finest.

You'll also receive Jay Fleming's “Island Life”, a visual narrative of the environment, communities, and commercial fisheries of Smith Island, Maryland, and Tangier Island, Virginia, the last inhabited offshore islands in the Chesapeake Bay.

It's a magnificent, large format work that immerses you in a unique way of life that's at risk of disappearing.

That's not all.

You'll also receive two tickets to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michael's, Maryland.

It's a fun, interactive museum that will delight the entire family.

Need more tickets?

Go!

Ultimate.

The Ultimate Visions Collection includes four tickets to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum as well as “Choptank Odyssey,” “Island Life,” the Jay Fleming Notecard Set, and something very special.

This gorgeous 14 by 20 print of Thomas Point Light, signed by Jay.

We█ll send you all these wonderful thank you gifts when you join us as a $30 sustaining member, or with a one time pledge of $360.

You know, while we love sending thank you gifts, it doesn't matter how big or small your contribution to MPT is.

Every bit gives us the ability to bring you shows like “Visions of the Chesapeake.” So please pick up your phone or go online right now.

And thanks.

(gentle guitar music) (gentle guitar music continues) (bright music)