My brother is here from Iran and he’s here to stay. He was away from the States for 17 years and this is it. This is a big change, I know because I did it too. I have no idea what’s going through his mind. As today was day 1, I took him around town and we ran what felt like a million errands. He was excited and nervous about so many things. I would say he’s still a bit confused and misses Iran more that I ever did…
After a long day of running around, meeting a couple family members, and stuffing on good ol’ American cheeseburgers he went out to the patio and started up his hookah. He looked like he was deep in thought so I brought out my camera thinking he’d tell me to put it away but he didn’t care… So I took a few more.
Everyone, Bijan Benjamin Abbassi is back home.
Bijan read poetry to me. It was beautiful. I had missed old Persian literature.
On to the next poem.
Proud Iranian.
On July 25th I had the opportunity to spend some time with Morty (Morten) Gaskill, Ocracoke’s youngest commercial fisherman. He was 8 years old when he first got his commercial fishing license and he is now 17.
Morty was supposed to show me around Ocracoke island while I took shots of resting areas, traffic congestion, tourists on bikes, No Trespassing signs, and shots in that nature.
But it rained. It rained almost all day and there weren’t many people on bikes or in cars, so I asked if he could take me on his boat and show me how he fished. He was happy to be on his boat and away doing what he loved to do, plus he later told me that he was getting a head start on his next day of work. It was a win-win situation and neither one of us had to wait around for the rain to stop.
Below are a few portraits of Morty in his boat. I enjoyed his company greatly, and I hope you enjoy the photographs.
Tell me what you think!
Morty beside his Wall of Fame.
Sheepshead fish we found in an abandoned net.
The front and back of his fishing boat.
Crabs. He threw it back in the water because it wasn’t full enough.
This fish was some sort of pest. We threw him back in the water too.
Relaxing on the boat. Enjoying the quiet.
Taking in the last few minutes before it was time to go.