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International Space Station in Flight  -  Believe it or not, but you can actually spot the ISS with the naked eye. It can also be photographed.

Though I may be guilty of an interest in sentimental pictorialism, I have to say that I enjoy looking at Gustave LeGray's 19th century photographs of sailing ships. In our day and age, I'd argue, things like the ISS and space shuttle are equivalent to the schooners and clippers of yore. One day, I imagine, things that look like the ISS will sail back and forth along solar orbits, carrying explorers and colonists to worlds far and wide. In fact, it's probably better to think of the ISS as a prototype interplanetary ship than a 'station' or 'base', as spacecraft in the future will probably be modular and designed to 'cycle' around the solar system.

This is fitting, in a way, because the ISS, with its solar panels and trusses, almost mimics the windjammers of old. Perhaps, one day, people will look back at photos of the ISS in the same way that I look at old, silvery photos of sloops and cutters?

For this shoot, I tried to capture the notion that the ISS was a sailing ship on a sea of black. Rather than fretting about creating a detailed image (which is really beyond my equipment, anyways), I embraced the vastness that surrounds the ship and made it a distinct part of the pictures. The vessel is in a great, hostile void... it is large, but far away, an outpost of humanity in an endless ocean. It is a speck of white in the deep, unending black.

James Dinnerville  

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