THE FLORIDA KEYS

When I set out for the Florida Keys with my assistant, Shirley Ann Lewis, the plan was simple: to photograph fishermen. What I found, especially in Marathon, was not only faces shaped by the sea but also the heart of a community that still lives by it.

Marathon, often called the fishing village of the Keys, remains grounded in traditions that predate the island chain’s transformation into a tourist haven. While Key West is known for its pastel charm and festival-like atmosphere, Marathon tells another story—one of work, endurance, and quiet perseverance. Here, life is measured by tides, weather, and catch rather than cruise ship schedules or sunset rituals.

Walking the docks and meeting the residents, I was struck by their openness. The men and women of Marathon bore the unmistakable marks of their labor: sun-scorched skin, calloused hands, and expressions etched by wind and salt. Yet behind these outward signs of hardship, I found humor, kindness, and resilience. Approaching strangers with my camera, I was met not with resistance but with trust—an exchange that transformed portrait-making into a shared act of recognition.

As a portrait photographer whose work is rooted in anthropology, I am drawn to the ways labor, culture, and identity converge. In Marathon, those connections were undeniable. The community’s story is not one of spectacle but of survival, of heritage passed down through generations, and of dignity maintained in the face of hardship.

This collection is, above all, a tribute—to the fishermen of Marathon, to their families, and to the spirit of a village that sustains the Keys from behind the scenes. Through these portraits, I hope to honor not just their likeness but their endurance, their generosity, and their essential role in shaping the true life of the Florida Keys.