My Greatest Photography Adventure So Far!

If you follow my blogs you're probably aware of the relationship I've developed with Riley Starks and Judy Olsen, the proprietors of The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. Earlier this summer I was treating a friend to birthday dinner at The Willows when Riley popped into the dining room to invite me to document their next Chefs in Raingear event! We had talked about the possibility on a past visit so I was incredibly excited that it was actually going to happen.

Chefs in Raingear is a program designed to give chefs from around the Northwest the opportunity to learn about the historical practice of reefnet fishing by offering hands-on participation. The reefnetting method is the model of sustainable fishing as it is both gentle to the environment and to the salmon. Instead of using fuel to chase schools of fish, the boats and their nets are stationary (Riley's boats are even solar powered!) and the fishers stand on tall towers overlooking the water to search for salmon as they swim into the nets... no sonar equipment, just keen human eyes. As the fish approach the nets, the spotters shout "GO!" and the crew moves to action, quickly pulling the nets and spilling the live salmon into a netted well where they wait to be bled by pulling a gill. After this process, the fish are moved to a second well where they swim until dead. While doing my homework in preparation for this shoot, I learned that this gentle process of handling the salmon allows the dissipation of lactic acid built up during the struggle of being caught, resulting in a sweeter tasting flesh. A positive byproduct of this method is that any unwanted species are quickly returned to sea, which is not the case with modern fishing methods. I saw lots of happy flounder and jelly fish sent on their merry way : )

Solar panel on Riley's boat

On this day I was joined by a diverse group of individuals interested in learning about this unique method of fishing. The group was organized by Jennifer Hall of Slow Food USA including chefs from Bellingham (Mataio Gillis of Ciao Thyme ) Seattle (Zack Chamberlain of Taste) and Spokane (Peter Tobin of the Culinary Arts Program at Spokane Community College) as well as Spokane Journalist Kevin Taylor and wheat farmer Bryan Jones of Pioneer Stock Farm. The group stayed together at The Willows and when it was time to hit the water, was dispersed between a few fishing boats crewed by members of the Lummi Island Wild Co-op, while I got to travel between the boats documenting the action!

Riley transports the group from shore

Peter observes a few salmon being pulled in

Demonstrating how to pull a gill

Jennifer gives it a shot!

Success!

Mataio and Peter take their turnsA flounder goes back to sea... I think it was hard for some of the chefs to send back a perfectly yummy fish!

Watching a neighboring boat pull in a catch

Me onboard the reefnet boat

After several hours in the sun, Riley returned us to shore. Most of us only saw a few fish caught at a time during our stay on the boats, and of course as soon as we hit shore two boats pulled in 80 salmon between them! We were disappointed to hear we'd missed the excitement but were looking forward to getting back to the kitchen to start preparing the evening's meal.

The light was so beautiful I had to I stop for one last shot of the fleet on my way to the inn.

When I arrived in The Willows' kitchen, I was absolutely delighted to see it filled with such an array of beautiful fruits and veggies, nearly all of which were harvested earlier that day at Nettles Farm, the source of all produce served at The Willows. I love taking pictures of food so this felt a lot like my version of heaven!


Once the chefs were cleaned up and ready to start cooking, the peaceful kitchen took on a whole new vibe. It was so fun for me to watch and listen to their collaborative efforts while they created our incredible dinner.

The Willows' Craig Miller happily turned over his kitchen to the visitors and spent most of the evening with clipboard in hand, talking shop with fellow chefs.

Mataio demonstrates the power of an octopus' suckers! Yes, I ate octopus... which was quite a leap for a girl who has only recently started eating seafood after being a vegetarian for fourteen years! It was D E L I C I O U S.

We all made sure Craig understood how fortunate he was to work within view of such an amazingly beautiful scene! The photo below was shot from the deck of The Willows, but sunsets are also visible from the kitchen...

Sunset & moonrise over Rosario Strait

Once the dishes were complete, I made sure each plate got some attention from the lens before allowing them entrance to the dining room. I love it when food is so beautiful you almost feel it's a shame to eat it, but the scent of it leaves you no alternative but to stuff yourself silly! As with every other meal I've eaten at The Willows, every single bite was savored to the fullest...

My experience of documenting the Chefs in Raingear is my favorite adventure in photography so far and I'm so thankful to Riley & Judy for the opportunity to participate in such a cool program. I treasured every single second of my day on the island and you can bet I'll be returning to these pictures this winter when I'm missing the Northwest's beautiful summer days : )

You can read Jennifer Hall's account of the experience on her blog here and see additional photos I've taken at The Willows here.