Ashore, for a moment.

The photo is already on your phone.

You do not need a dramatic sea or an expensive camera. You need a clear photograph of the right boat, with enough room around her to make a good picture.

Give it a little room.

A tall sail, a long hull and an open horizon each ask for a different shape. Start with the picture, then the place it will live.

For the person who would rather be sailing.

The useful clue is not that they like boats. It is which boat, which water and which days they talk about afterwards.

Get her good side.

A motorboat portrait lives in the line of the hull, the shape of the windows and the space around the bow. Start with those details.

The shape of a wake

Why the water behind a boat can make the picture.

Why we keep portraits of our boats

A particular hull, a familiar place and the memories they carry.