the essence of an edge: matthew turley for maine tourism
“We were trying to capture the essence of the place,” explains photographer Matthew Turley of his recent work shooting stills for Maine Tourism. Essence may be a singular noun, but what Turley’s photos of the northeastern-most tip of the country reveal is that the quintessential nature of a place is found in its multitudes. A wild mix of elements at the edge of the continent—of landscapes, foods, trades, cultures, ecologies, and lives lived—is what makes Maine inimitable.
To best experience and document what Maine has to offer, Turley spent two weeks traveling along its rugged coastlines and into the densely forested interior. Turley’s invitation into the project was made by the director/DP pair, Renan Ozturk and Anson Fogel, from Camp Four Collective – and the two crews worked in close collaboration to expertly image Maine’s scale and specificities. “The most exciting part of the project was that the shot-list was so varied with so many different stories to tell,” says Turley.
With camera in tow, Turley mountain biked, camped, and hiked through the state, visiting the wooded beaches of Acadia National Park, the foothills of Mount Katahdin, and the quaint, tourism-driven town of Camden. The crew also spent a day at documenting a local lobstering operation as they placed and collected traps, visited the studio of a wooden canoe paddle craftsman, experienced the local terroir at a rural farm-to-table restaurant, and witnessed the fine handwork of Indigenous beadworkers.
“One of the things I love about photography is that it gives me a glimpse into other people’s lives and passions,” he shares. “It was incredible to see people who are so dedicated and working really hard in their industries—and all in the context of Maine, a place I’d always wanted to visit.”
For those who haven’t visited, Maine holds a mythic quality in the imagination. It’s a storied place of geographic and atmospheric intensity, remote and sparsely populated, and often portrayed in film and literature as mercurial, tempestuous, romantic. Turley’s photographs don’t dispel these assumptions, but do act as a portal offering a more expansive view of Maine. The Maine that is lived in, by residents or visitors, beautiful in the accumulation of its variety. There is no one word, story, or picture that can justly sum it up. See more of Matthew’s images of Maine here.