Fishing Shacks at Willard Beach Buy Prints on Etsy
This is possibly the greatest photo I've ever taken of my home town. This is Fisherman's Point at Willard Beach in South Portland, Maine. Tragically, these shacks were washed away in a storm in January. As an icon of the town, we can only hope they will be rebuilt. I have a special connection to Willard Beach - not only was it the beach I frequented in my childhood, but I was a lifeguard at Willard during my high school years.
This view point is from Old Settlers Cemetery by SMCC at the north end of the beach. I took about 50 photos before getting the timing right and capturing the light of Portland Head reflecting on the calm waters of the beach. The sky was ablaze with hues of magenta and violet. This sunset had me running for spot-to-spot around Spring Point to find the best vantage point of the colorful sky. This was the first landscape I photographed that evening and my instincts to capture this point was spot on.
I'll miss these shacks. But perhaps the sun hasn't set on them for the last time. Thanks to the volunteer work by SMRT, an architecture and engineering firm in Portland, the community has a set of architectural drawings which could be used by to rebuild the fishing shacks. This work was done in 2022 with the concern that they could be lost in a storm.
