ABOUT THE ARTIST : Michael Dennis Robinson is an award winning master photographer who grew up in the Chesapeake bay region. As a young man he hunted the upper Chesapeake area with his uncle. By the late 60's the glory days of canvasback duck hunting were gone, probably forever. Greatly influenced by the vast amount of lore concerning bay duck hunting and decoys, Michael yearned for the old days of vast open skies and waves of waterfowl and the possibilities of hunting them.
The only remaining area that seemed to hold such promise in North America seemed to be Alaska. On the 200th anniversary of a young country (1976), after a stint in the Navy and then living along some of Western Washington famous Steelhead trout streams, he headed for the north country to live and hunt with the Indians and Eskimos of Alaska.
" I was greatly influenced as a teen by the book "Gunning the Chesapeake" by Roy Walsh. I did not again read this book until recently and I now recognize as one of the truly great books even written on the sport. I hunted mostly with my uncle who was an avid outdoorsman and artist/craftsman. Uncle Rod grew up on a farm in his early years near Aberdeen on the south side of the Susquehanna flats. Later the farm was sold to the U.S. government. His name was Rodney Sweeney and in the 70's carved miniature decorative waterfowl, especially Canvasbacks and Canada geese. Rodney died in 2003. We scattered his ashes in the Susquehanna river, at Rods request, so that they could mingle with his beloved flats and the bay. My grandfather was a journalist for the Baltimore sun and one great-grand father was a country doctor in Cecil county. I could never get enough of fishing and hunting the Chesapeake but felt limited by the times and circumstance. My father's passion was crabing and being on the water was a natural for me from an early age.
There must be waterman's blood in my veins to explain my deep attraction to anything related to boats, and all water activities. Somehow it seems the waterman life was of great interest to me, especially things like the market hunting days of the upper Chesapeake on the Susquehanna. Me and uncle Rod fished the river each spring for shad. In the fall we hunted in Harford, Cecil and Kent counties. I was fascinated by the waterman's lifestyle and did go on to live a waterman's life, but in Alaska.
In Alaska I lived on the great Yukon and Tanana river systems. I have lived and hunted waterfowl, and every type of game with Indians and Eskimos. This was what is termed "subsistence hunting" and is only available to indigenous Alaska natives and those who live in remote areas and depend on wildlife for a local food source. I was able to hunt on unique "staging" lakes, rivers and tundra full of many types of waterfowl with little or no hunter competition.
I also was a professional long line trapper with dog teams and snowmobiles and a commercial salmon fisherman. I learned to make all manner of wood implements for survival in the wilderness from the Indians. This included canoes, paddles, snowshoes, dogsleds, cabins etc. Living in the Alaskan "bush" in my 20's was my dream lived out in reality. My family and I built a log cabin in an area with no roads, and we were able to experience the last frontier of North America before it passed away.
I have a degree in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology and have studied intensively Native American culture in the North, early pioneer life, arctic exploration and the history of the fur trade. I am now a professional adventure/travel, advertising and fine art photographer. I have completed ethnographic photo assignments of the waterman of the Philippines and cultural tourism of Hawaii.
My wife and I can be found at times exploring the remaining backwaters of the Eastern shore, checking out some of the old stomp' in grounds of North-east Harford and Cecil counties and down the shore to the barrier islands. Here is a postcard type photograph of the Havre de Grace lighthouse that I have sold through a photography agency I belong to in New York. We enjoy visiting museums around the bay, looking for decoys and visiting with local waterman, and of course, eat crabs. An ongoing photographic project I work on is documenting the vanishing waterman's lifestyle and culture of the bay as depicted on this site. READ MY DECOY CARVING PHILOSOPHY
Capt' n Mike
I'm sailing on a Skipjack, down on the "Sho",
watch' in the flow of the bay.
In Mer' lun they call it the " Land of Pleasant Liv' in "
and I think that's ok.
Lighthouse at Havre de Grace
The old Decoys still float, though the paint is cracked and dry.
And there to meet me come the old Waterman.
Down the pier I walk with Daddy and Mitchell, rising sun, wings whistle,
Oh, It's good to be on the Old bay again.
Yes, they will all come to meet me, on the Waters of the Chesapeake,
the sky dark with cans once again.
The blocks point into the Wind, sunrise on the painted Skin,
in action once again, work' in the Waves like magic.
Decoy Work' in Stiff
They say I look like a Greek Statue or some babe from Playboy magazine
They talk about form and feel straight out of a teenage dream
Were Battleships conceived as art ?
They do possess line and shape
I was born to work from dawn to dusk, that's why the carver did make
Yes, I'm just an old Decoy Work' in stiff, so please don't put on airs
If it's looks you want get a newer bird, one with sav-wa-fair.
I'm just a Decoy work' in stiff, my brand is the shape I'm in
I am Folkart of the Chesapeake, but kin to an Oyster tin
The Old Canvas Coat
I had an Old Canvas Coat
The kind with a pocket in back
Made for hunt' in ducks
a way, way back
No camo everything, like a war today
The birds did' nt care, and I do swear
I got my limit everyday
Old Waterman swore by the coat
They said it brang them luck
Today, must I join the military
just to hunt a duck ?
For Whom the birds Toll
Out in a Booby on the Bay
Blocks in the rig ride white horses
Layboat in the distance past the stools
Red headed rockets fly figure eights
in the Dawns early light
* Booby - Duck Blind on stilts. common sight on the Chesapeake
Blocks - Decoys
White Horses - Wave Whitecaps
Layboat - Boat used to set out Decoys
Stool - Completed set out rig or spread of Decoys or individual decoys
Red headed rockets - Canvasback ducks
Figure eights - Unique flight of Canvasbacks over decoy stools. They will cross the x of figure 8 over the decoys making toughest shot in waterfowling on an oblique angle at 70 M.P.H.
Dawns Early Light - Borrowed from the Star Spangled Banner
Toll - When ducks come in to Decoys
Decoy Prints HOME Skipjack Photos