Some iron ore engulfed within the earth is extracted, then smelted.  Some of the resulting steel is sent to shipyards where it is fabricated into hulls of ships. 

 

Sometimes ships run aground. Time passes.  Particles of what were once hulls are transmigrated back into the earth.

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The subject of this series of images, which I have entitled Metamorphosis, is about weathered man-made objects degrading slowly over decades, contrasted against a backdrop of natural rock formations which are breaking down into sand over millions of years.

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On November 5, 1948, the D.T. Sheridan, a 110 foot steel-hulled ship, ran aground in dense fog at Lobster Point, Monhegan Island, Maine.  Some 67 years later, I was exploring the remains of the wreckage on the rock-strewn shore of Lobster Point.  I found a mass of rusted steel, some parts remarkably intact, others scattered on the beach.  But in some areas the only residue is rust-colored sand.

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The photographs are not about the shipwreck per se.  What I found captivating about the remains of the wreckage were the textures and the many shart-edged shapes of the man-made rusted, weathered detritus juxtaposed against the natural rock formations, rounded and worn smooth by millenia of ocean waves pounding the shore, slowly grinding and polishing each rock against the next.

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