The Puget Sound in December can be a quiet and lonely place. It’s grey. It’s dark. It’s wet. But there is a strange romanticism found here. The deck lights reflect in long streaks on the deck plates or the clouds reflect in the random pools of water. I can almost see Humphrey Bogart embracing Lauren Bacall along the railing, perhaps in the fog.

I found this image on the Kingston ferry as I was crossing early on a Saturday morning to collect my son coming home from college ‘back east’ on the Empire Builder. I like the texture in the slats of the bench, the soft grey of the ferry deck and the distant railing running toward a vanishing point at the bow. No lovers strolling to enjoy the maritime scent. No one photographing their friends against the Cascade Mountain range. It’s quite a contrast from the summer tourist months.

Photographed with a Mamiya C330 twin lens reflex camera fitted with a 80mm f/2.8 lens. Shot at f/5.6 at 1/30 second on Kodak Plus-X film. Processed in Acufine for 3 1/4 minutes.

Tags: medium format, Mamiya TLR, Washington, monochrome