Jay Fleming’s Island Life releases this October

Fleming’s second book documents the Chesapeake’s Smith and Tangier Islands

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The environment, culture, and economies of the Smith Island, Maryland and Tangier Island, Virginia—the Chesapeake Bay’s last two inhabited offshore islands—are intimately documented through the lens and dedication of Annapolis-based photographer Jay Fleming in his second book, Island Life, set to be released on October 28, 2021.

Island Life is equal parts informative and aesthetically pleasing as it reveals the beauty and perils of a life dependent upon the rhythms of the tide and the harvests of the Chesapeake Bay.

Fleming’s attention to Smith and Tangier heightened after covering the Chesapeake’s seafood industry in his 2016 book, Working the Water. Countless trips to these remote islands over the next five years immersed Fleming into the island way of life. Fleming’s photographs capture the ways these tight-knit communities continue to be shaped by centuries of isolation from the mainland. The photographs encompass everything from the islands commercial fisheries and changing landscapes, to the people carrying forward long-standing traditions that have sustained the communities for two centuries.

Smith and Tangier Islands were initially settled as remote farming communities in the early 1800’s. When the Chesapeake’s oyster fishery grew by the middle of the century, the islands populations increased. The islands became a perfect place for watermen to access the productive oyster and crabbing grounds in Tangier Sound and the mainstream of the bay.

In modern times, working the water has become less dependable as the economy and environment changed, causing many island families to abandon their ancestral homes for life on the mainland. Island Life captures a moment in time for the islands’ and the remaining residents—many of whom can trace their lineage to the islands’ original British settlers—as they stand strong in the face of an uncertain future.

“Island Life comes at a pivotal time for Smith and Tangier,” says Fleming. “I have seen remarkable changes to the islands’ landscape and communities since my first trip there in 2009. Cemeteries are washing into the water, acres of marshland are disappearing, and the populations are in decline. I felt a sense of urgency to document the islands’ iconic working waterfronts, as the very forces that sustain them also threaten to take them away.”

Island Life includes 280-pages of photographs as Fleming shares an intimate understanding of island life through the relationships he has built with Smith and Tangier’s islanders over more than a decade. For more information and to order Island Life, visit JayFlemingPhotography.com.

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For updates on Island Life and Fleming’s other work, visit jayflemingphotography.com or follow his social media pages:

www.facebook.com/JayFlemingPhoto
www.instagram.com/JayFlemingPhotography

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Island Life blurbs:

Photographer Jay Fleming will release his second book, Island Life, in October 2021. Through photographs and narrative, Fleming tells the stories of Tangier and Smith Island, the last two inhabited offshore islands in the Chesapeake Bay, and the resilient watermen and their families that call the islands home.

Island Life explores the island environments and the seasonal Chesapeake harvests that provide the rhythm for community life, documenting the tenacity and determination of the Smith and Tangier islanders who honor their traditions while facing an uncertain future.

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Jay Fleming’s second book, Island Life, is a visual narrative of the environment, communities and commercial fisheries of Smith Island, Maryland and Tangier Island, Virginia—the last inhabited offshore islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Although less than 15 miles of water separate Smith and Tangier from the mainland, centuries of isolation have preserved the unique way of life of these island communities, making them feel worlds apart from the life most of us know.

Since his first trip to the islands in 2009, Fleming has seen remarkable changes to the islands’ landscape and communities. Cemeteries are washing into the water, acres of marshland are disappearing and the populations are in decline. Fleming felt a sense of urgency to document the islands’ iconic working waterfronts, as the very forces that sustain them also threaten to take them away.

Equal parts informative and aesthetically pleasing, Island Life reveals the beauty and the perils of a life dependent upon the rhythms of the tide and the harvest of the Chesapeake Bay.

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Jay Fleming biography:

Jay Fleming is a photographer and writer who documents the complex interactions between humans and their natural environment. Born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland, Jay grew up with an affinity for the water. He discovered his passion for photography at the age of 13, after inheriting his father’s hand-me-down Nikon film camera.

After graduating from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2009, Jay spent four years working in the field of fisheries, first for the state of Maryland and later for the National Parks Service in Yellowstone National Park. Jay then worked in the seafood industry, dedicating his time to promoting sustainable fisheries and the consumption of locally sourced seafood. In 2015, Jay turned his attention to photography full time, leading to the publication of his first book, Working the Water, in 2016. Since then, Jay has spent his career chronicling the unique people and places of the Chesapeake Bay. Jay also leads photography workshops to Smith, Tangier and other coastal communities to share the treasures of these locations with fellow photographers.