Featured POE (Photographers of Etsy) Artists - Theme of the week: boats

This is the first installment of a weekly series on my blog. I have enjoyed being a member of the Etsy POE team so much, and I want to highlight some of the amazing talent from POE members. Each week, I will assemble a group of photos from POE artists, with the theme changing weekly. For those of you familiar with Etsy, it will be like a treasury, but smaller. I will include my thoughts on each photo, and then ask each photographer to comment on their own work as well. I hope you enjoy this beautiful work by some of the most talented photographers out there.

POE boats:

Help thy brother's boat ashore, and lo! thine own has reached the shore. Hindu proverb


This first photograph is by JudiFitzPatrick. You may find her etsy shop here: http://www.judifitzpatrick.etsy.com/ . I was drawn to this photo for several reasons. The colorful boats against the almost black water was the first thing I noticed. Also, the angles of the boats made this a very interesting photograph. I also love the colors of the boats together. The water is almost glass-like, making it a very peaceful scene.

Judi's thoughts about her photograph: Being a pisces I am always drawn to the water, so I am always visiting places to photograph with water in them. As for why I was drawn to this scene - the bright colors of the boats, the overcast sky making the water appear black, and the contrast between these was one reason. Another was the random direction the boats were heading - it seemed more interesting than those where they are lined up side-by-side like little soldiers. Nothing very deep (no pun intended.) Just seemed like a pretty and peaceful image.

This second photo is by mystiqueisland. I was struck by the way my eyes were drawn up from the bottom of the photograph to the top - up to the beautiful sky. I also think the contrast between the angular lines of the boats and the whispy clouds makes this a really beautiful photograph. You may find mystiqueisland's shop here: http://www.mystiqueisland.etsy.com/

mystiqueisland's thoughts on her work: I was in love at that time with the boats. As you know, that kind of boat is rarely seen. It's a hundred-year-old boat. The boats were HUGE, as you can see in my other boats' shot http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13626234, you will see on the second boat, a man was standing there, he is so tiny, isn't he? And at that time also I saw the clouds were beautiful, it looks like water.

This final photograph is from ArtyAllsorts (etsy store: http://www.artyallsorts.etsy.com/). I was amazed at how the boats seem to be suspended almost in air, the water is so clear. It also looks so peaceful and warm - definitely somewhere I would love to visit.

ArtyAllsorts' thoughts on her photo: It was a tiny little cove over on the far side of Zante from where we were staying. Our waiter (who was a keen photographer too) marked a map for us of some pretty places and this was one of them. He didn't warn us about the very steep, twisty and narrow road though so it was a complete relief to hubby once we got to the bottom and could breathe normally again!I think there were only 4 or 5 boats in the cove, 2 Greek fishermen tidying away their nets and us. We walked along the quayside and took photos of the anemones and starfish in the water but it was only as we were walking back, that I saw the 'picture'. I only took the one shot like this, the others focussed on the individual boats and details but this is definitely the most spectacular of them all.

Thank you, Judi, mystiqueisland and ArtyAllsorts for your participation! You are all so very talented!