Working Waterfront, Photographic Portraits

Working Waterfront, Photographic Portraits focuses on local shoreside workers and their jobs: from fish cutter to purveyor, from welder to auctioneer, from lumper to inspector, as well as fishermen. Each person, each job, is vital to the daily operation of supplying seafood to market. All photographs were taken by Phillip Mello, mostly using a Mamiya RZ 67 camera with Kodak BW400cn Professional film. They are part of a project he began early in 2008 and which continues today: to photograph the local fishing industry through the people who work in it. Mr. Mello knows these people and this place well, having worked on the waterfront for over thirty-four years, currently as plant manager at Bergie's Seafood. His photographs benefit from this closeness, and we are fortunate to have had these doors opened.

This exhibit exists in two separate locations: on the third level of the New Bedford Whaling Museum and in the Research Library Window Gallery on Purchase Street.

Reproductions of his photographs are available through the Whaling Museum's photography department by contacting photoresearch@
whalingmuseum.org. Proceeds from their sale will be split evenly between the Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Port Society.

"Voices From the Port"

A series of short radio pieces based on oral histories collected as part of the Working Waterfront Documentation project. These programs, produced by the Working Waterfront Festival with the help of Naomi Arenberg, have aired on WBSM (1420AM).

1. Changes in Technology: The commercial fishing industry has seen incredible changes in technology, especially with regard to navigation.