Alexandra de Steiguer
Photography

Since as long as I can remember, my preference has been for the company of the natural world over what man has created. This is where I find peace, inner strength and wonder. Simple moments there are often the most special - wind in the trees, light playing across the water. I often feel moved to point out these moments to whomever might halt their busy minds for a minute, just look, and hopefully feel. To some extent, photography has been a mode of self-expression that enables me to further share these experiences; to portray what I find sacred.

For many years now, during the long winter months, I forego my tiny solar powered, timberframe home in the woods of New Hampshire and work as caretaker on the Isles of Shoals, 9 miles off the coast of New Hampshire. The solitude and beauty of the islands is especially appealing to me, with its rocky, windswept, sometimes harsh environment where nature and its forces dominate. There, the rule that man is only as significant as any other living inhabitant is more apparent. I am drawn to places that speak of this. They are getting increasingly hard to find in this crowded, hectic, modern "safe" environment in which most of us live.
For many years, I also worked aboard traditionally rigged sailing vessels (tall ships) engaged in research and sailing school programs. Most of the nautical works were taken aboard Ernestina, built in 1894 and a former Gloucester fishing schooner and arctic research vessel. During one of our trips, she was caught in the hurricane of 1991, which has become popularly known as "The Perfect Storm". At the time, we were about 300 miles offshore, headed for Bermuda and then transatlantic to islands off the coast of Africa. We spent difficult, sea tossed days trying to skirt the worst of the hurricane while repairing nearly everything that could break or break down, including rigging, navigation systems and our main engine. The camera does not capture well the reality of the sea at its worst, so I have no images of the storm itself except those that exist in my mind. Instead, I offer those of a calmer nature which I believe hearken back to a time of greater simplicity and greater courage.