Christian Johnston
Shamar Hill
By Edmund DeMarche
It started with a stroll along the shores of Floyd Bennett Field in south Brooklyn.
Shamar Hill and Christian Johnston noticed a scraggly-looking man shucking clams next to his fishing pole. When they approached him, they noticed he had a total of three teeth. Like a fish, they were hooked.
Over drinks at a coffee shop in the Village, Hill and Johnston couldn’t stop talking about the man they met off the mossy coast of Floyd Bennett.
They decided to begin an art project. They would interview and take photographs of fishermen that flocked to the southern tip of Brooklyn, areas like Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett and Steeplechase Pier off Coney Island. The next summer, they combined their talents and documented some of these wonderful creatures: the south Brooklyn fishermen.
The game plan was simple: Johnston, a skilled photographer would take the pictures while Hill, a writer, would pen stories about these men.
They eventually used these pictures at Gallery Three at A.R.T., in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. They named the exhibit, “Fishermen of Sheepshead Bay.”
“Here are fishermen surrounded by an asphalt jungle and they’re finding an escape,” said Johnston, 47, a freelance photographer for the New York Post. “Being an urban fisherman is an art form.”
During the summer of 2007, the two met about 20 times in four months. They met in the evenings around 4 p.m., just when the sun began to dim. Occasionally the two would meet in the morning.
A man fishing is difficult to approach. So Johnston, a seasoned fisherman who would go for croakers, spots and tailor blues when he lived in Chesapeake, Va. and Hill would pass by their subject a couple of times and gauge his vibe. If the person seemed approachable, the two would strike up a conversation. Otherwise, they would leave the man alone.
“People you’d see on the street and would never imagine fishing were out there,” said Hill. “No matter what culture, every fisherman has one goal—to catch a fish.”
When a fisherman agreed to be photographed, Hill would help Johnston assemble the photography equipment that included a beauty dish and strobe light.
“When you look into a person’s eye while they do this ancient thing—to fish—there’s a deep connection,” said Hill, a writer who taught literature for CUNY and the New School. “You get such a sense of land and water. It’s kind of nurturing to your soul.”
Hill remembers a married couple, Danny and Anna. They were engaging and spoke about work problems and Anna’s failing vision that left her blind for a few months.
“We must have used three rolls of film on them,” said Hill. “All of the problems they were going through and yet I got a sense of peace and comfort from them. There’s something comforting when you’re out on the water.”
Since south Brooklyn is a bastion of cultures, they photographed Bengalese, Turkish, Chinese and Italian fishermen. Russians in the area were hard sells and often denied the two a photo op.
“I think there was a language barrier,” said Johnston, a self-proclaimed people watcher. “Next time, we are going to bring an interpreter.”
Hill says fishing brings him to the realization of our humanity. He spoke with one man who runs a fishing boat out of Sheepshead Bay. The man used to work an important Wall Street job, but hung up his suitcase for a tackle box and owns a boat out of the Bay. Like many in the Bay, he has come on hard times but doesn’t regret being out on the ocean and spending more time with his family.
Johnston moved from his apartment in Midtown to Sheepshead Bay because he was drawn to the water. He says it’s a lot more peaceful than the city. Hill lives in Inwood, in upper Manhattan.
On Friday, Sept. 26, Hill and Johnston are set to remove pictures from their photo exhibit at Gallery Three at A.R.T.
Although they did not sell any photos, they were emboldened by an opening night that held 100 guests. The two hope to obtain funding to expand on their work to “Fishermen in the United States,” and eventually, “Fishermen of the World.”
Hill and Johnston received a $4,000 check from the Brooklyn Arts Council, and intend on raising money, somewhere in the $200,000 range, to expand the exhibit.
