The womb

December 10, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Once my sea sickness had disappeared, I found sleeping on a fishing boat to be very comfortable. A little bit too comfortable, in fact… ‘Tuesday 13th November 58°57.195N/6°59.510W Course – 228° Moderate-rough Rain 09:00 – The battery on my phone died – It’s taken me nearly half an hour to figure out whether it’s Monday, or still Tuesday… I’m not sure if it’s an advantage or a disadvantage, I suppose it depends on how you look at it? But sleeping […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analog, analogue, film, fishing boat, trawler, trawlermen

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

December 9, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

This journal entry was made halfway through my outing on the Reul na Mara; We’d come back to Scrabster harbour to shelter from the storm which had chased us all the way from Orkney, a maritime rollercoaster ride that lasted 10-hours. Ross’ approach and entry into a turbulent and blindingly dark Scrabster harbour was an impressive display of boat handling and a testament to his 36-years experience at sea – he made it look as easy as negotiating a shopping […]

Categories: photojournalism • Tags: 1600, 35mm, analogue, black and white, crewmen, fishermen, fishing boat, Ilford hp5 400, pushed film, scotland, trawlermen

Sleep when you can

December 7, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Some more meanderings from my recent trip with the crew on the fishing trawler, Reul na Mara, in the North Atlantic. ‘8th November 2018.  59°56.220N/6°44.813W Course 268°  Sea state – moderate to rough 00.20 – Trawler life is linear; there’s no set time of day when anything in particular happens, it’s merely, ‘Fish, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.’. Clock time is irrelevant, breakfast, lunch and supper are events rather than times of the day. Any sleep pattern I did have, we left […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism, Uncategorized • Tags: 35mm, analogue, scotland, trawler, trawlermen

Sea state – moderate

December 5, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

For two weeks in November, I joined the fishing vessel, Ruel na Mara and her crew, working about 100km northwest off the Outer Hebrides. I don’t wish to romanticise something that these men do for work, all year round, but for me, it was an incredible experience. “A proper adventure”, as a friend dubbed it – two weeks on a 24 metre, wooden-hulled trawler, with two Scotsmen and four Filipinos somewhere in North Atlantic, wearing the same underwear for days […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, 6x7, analogue, black and white, colour, film photography, fishermen, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, Olympus mju II, personal project, portrait, scotland, trawlermen

Go West…

November 16, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I’ve just returned from a two week trip with the Inverness  registered fishing boat, Reul na Mara. Most of the fortnight was spent in the North Atlantic, off the NW of the Outer Hebrides. I’ll be publishing photos as they are developed and scanned, and sharing diary entries of this, the first of a few trips in the project, over the next few months. I haven’t done a technical type article for a while, so I thought it would be […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analog, analogue, nikon f100, scotland, trawlermen

Six by Seven

February 16, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

All images – Pentax 67II/105mm/Kodak Portra 800 film

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 6x7cm, pentax 67, trawlermen

54.26° N, 4.68° W

February 13, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

These are the last images from ‘Holmtown’ that I’ll be sharing, for now; I’ve got to the point where I need to collate everything I have and get it all into some order. Also, there are dozens of faces I want to photograph in and around the harbour and breakwater area of Peel, some of them who are involved in the fishing industry on the Isle of Man but don’t necessarily go out to sea. Since I started this project, […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: colour, film camera, film photography, isle of man, kodak, peel, personal project, trawlermen

Holmtown

February 1, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

A few people have asked why I’ve titled my latest project, ‘Holmtown’? Well, for this longterm photo-essay, I’m documenting the lives of fishermen from my hometown of Peel, on the Isle of Man – Peel, which until the 17th century was called Holmtown. I was going to call it ‘Holmtown Boys’, however, a very good friend of mine pointed out that it sounds like a 90’s boy band – and it does. This leads me to another common question regarding […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analogue, fishermen, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak ektar 100, peel, trawlermen

Coffee, Cigarette, Repeat…

January 11, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I was talking to a good friend last week, over a few beers we got onto the subject of my fishing boat project. He told me that only two types of fishermen exist – some men are born to it and have never done anything differently, and there are men that do it because they can’t do anything else. I had to disagree. There’s a working rhythm on a scallop dredger that appeals to my sense of order; it’s an […]

Categories: photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analogue, isle of man, scallops, trawlermen

Dooinney-marrey

December 22, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

‘No person was allowed to whistle on board the boat, as it would attract the attention of the Dooinney-marrey (merman), who would be sure to send more wind than was required. No person was allowed to speak of dogs, cats, rabbits, horses or mice. A horse-shoe was nailed in some place in every boat, that of a stallion being considered the best’ – Manx fisherman’s superstition. Anyone unfamiliar with the Isle of Man, might look at it on a map, […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, film photography, I shoot film, isle of man, personal project, phil kneen, trawlermen