ELEMENTS – July 2007

Photography Sara Gray

A collection of docks that dangles from Maine’s coastlines

For the majority of us who live in Maine, we feel an almost inexplicable connection to the water. We want to walk along its shores and bounce among the waves. We are a state with thousands of lakes and rivers, and a seemingly endless ocean coastline. For these reasons, if not others, docks could be considered the most elemental of Maine architectural features—they are the physical extension of our emotional connection to the water, as well as our anchor to the land

Docks allow us to float above the water, buoyed on the sounds of lapping waves and the gusts of cool breezes. Almost no sensation calls summer to mind more than the feeling of a gently swaying wooden dock. And how many of us can still recall the childhood feeling of well-worn planks beneath our feet as we ran to dive headlong into the icy blue water?

Docks are the scene of countless summery a ctivities, from boating and fishing to sunbathing and swimming. But as dusk comes on and the wind off the water takes on a slight chill, there is something wonderfully mysterious about the dock at night. As the weak evening light recedes into a fading glow, the surface of the water reflects abstract glints of light and shadow until, finally, you are left suspended above blackness.