Rowing Home the Schoof-Stuff

Reacting against the theatrical, sentimental photogaphs made by his contemporaries, Peter Henry Emerson pursued a direct and more naturalistic form of photography. He discovered his subjects in familiar scenes from everyday life and captured them on film. This image was included among the 40 prints illustrating Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads, one of many books Emerson published on the marsh dwellers of East Anglia. In this photograph the word "schoof" refers to the sheaf of marsh plants that have been harvested to be dried and stored at home.

A horizontally oriented platinum print in muted tones depicts a man with light skin rowing a boat across calm water. Wearing a dark hat and jacket, he sits behind a bundle of harvested reeds. Long oars stretch across the glassy surface, which reflects the boat and figure. In the background, a low horizon is lined with silhouetted trees and buildings beneath a hazy, overcast sky.

Rowing Home the Schoof-Stuff

1886

Peter Henry Emerson, Sampson Low, Marston, Seale and Riverton

(British, 1856–1936), (with T.F. Goodall)

England

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