WATERVIEWS is a collection of more than 80 color photographs taken along the waterways on the North Shore of Suffolk County, Long Island, NY. WATERVIEWS is not about geography or history; it is about color, form and art, and the mystique of nature as artist. Fran Zak, the photographer who took these pictures, has found some wonderful examples in her immediate surroundings. Fran lives in the village of Port Jefferson on the North Shore of Long Island. For many years, she has explored the immediate stretches of sea and shore, and the more secret inlets and ponds and marshlands from West Meadow Beach to Mt. Sinai Harbor.
She has walked on shells and stones that were here before human beings. She has paused for hours to study the local birds at dawn: the egrets and swans, the migrating geese, the busy ducks, and above all, the multitudes of sea gulls and sharp-eyed crows. These inlets, these water views are a veritable universe of life and color and form. It's no wonder that we are fascinated by these places, and love to walk there.
Fran Zak is not a scientist; she is an artist. Instinctively, she recognizes the art in nature. She captures it in her oil paintings, and now with her camera. She has an unerring eye for the meaningful picture and the shades of color. These are the skills one needs to appreciate WATERVIEWS, a truly excellent book. --Robert Douglas, Reviewer
Waterviews: From West Meadow Beach to Mt. Sinai Harbor
Is a Perfect Summertime Gift
By Liz Kaplan
Port Jefferson resident Fran Zak has put together a perfect book to
savor on a hot summer’s day – one that would be welcome in any home, and
especially so along the north shore of Long Island, where Zak puts her camera
to work. This collection of photographs of neighboring beaches, ponds, and the
Sound in early morning light or at sunset, in all seasons of the year, will
soothe a viewer’s frazzled spirit. We are there again – savoring the fading
light at dusk at West Meadow Beach; observing the white cranes on Flax Pond,
its grassy marshland home to sea and land animals at rest; taking delight in
children daring the tide to cover a sandbar on which they play; observing
fishermen in Frank Melville Park, hip-high in search of carp.
The book offers far more than photographs of beautiful waterviews.
Brief text provides welcome information – about the water but also about marine
and land animals that also caught her eye. Snapshots of wild iguanas, allow us
to observe these fascinating, elusive creatures at close range. The
accompanying text provides the reader with surprising information. One
example:
In the wild, iguanas generally live near
water, and are excellent swimmers. . . .Contrary to how they are sometimes portrayed in the movies, iguanas can
be tamed, and make gentle, amiable pets, and even companions. . . . One day we
were walking on the beach and met a young woman named Wendy. She told us she
frequently came to West Meadow Beach from the South Shore because her three
iguanas liked to swim in the Sound. She then proceeded to prove her point by
dropping the iguanas, one by one, into the sea where they frolicked around a
bit and then swam to shore.
Originally from Patchogue and now a 35-year resident of Port Jefferson,
Zak – a former teacher of writing at Stony Brook University – makes apparent
her love of words by including short poems by others to accompany her photos.
She also tips her hat to the work of plein air artists by including photographs
of Doug Reina and Jim Molloy, shown using paint and brush to put on canvas
their interpretations of the scenes she captures on film.
Waterviews: From West Meadow Beach to Mt.
Sinai Harbor is published by
The Vineyard Press in Port Jefferson. The soft-cover book lists for $24.95 and
is available online at www.zakstudios.net,
www.amazon.com,and at local bookstores.
I would have liked the author to provide a map so the reader can visit
and enjoy each waterview in person. That said, in this collection of
photographs, from Stony Brook Harbor to Mt. Sinai’s Cedar Beach, Zak has sought
and captured the essence of the beauty that keeps us feasting our eyes on the
waterviews so close to our homes and hearts.