It was a perfect Fourth of July evening and as I made several exposures of the local fireworks show I was particularly interested in including the oak tree and skiff. The little boat especially drew my attention in that I thought it was sort of sexy there in the warm, damp, deepening twilight…for no particular reason I fantasized a lover having rowed in from a boat to visit their paramour ashore. 

The next morning I reviewed the night’s catch and, lo and behold, discovered that there had been a couple huddled together on the outer ledges, unseen out there in the darkness.

The image instantly became metaphoric…it fully spoke to relationships, a subject never far from my mind. The physicality of the fireworks, the sensuality of the night, the skiff, the couple down on the rocks…it all became a representation of the thrall of courtship.