In prior months I have included articles on fine artists like Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth-artists who captured the essence of Maine in their paintings. This month I would like to focus on a photographer who has likewise made significant artistic contributions. Terrell S. Lester, though not a native-born Mainer, has resided in Maine since 1986, since his first visit to the Deer Isle area.
Lester became a photographer at the age of thirty-two. He traveled around the country, doing landscape photography. In 1986, he visited Maine for this purpose. Lester's work appears in worldwide galleries, as well as in his own gallery, the Terrell S. Lester Gallery located in Deer Isle, Maine.
Deer Isle is a quaint, coastal village in Hancock County, Maine. Year-round residents still engage in traditional occupations like fishing. Others are self-employed in other industries. Tourists and summer residents come to this area to experience the scenery-the beauty of the rocky coastline-that Terrell Lester has captured in his photographs for the last fifteen-plus years.
In 2001, Alfred A. Knopf publishers, a division of Random House, published a number of Lester's photographs in Maine: The Seasons. The photographs contained in this book are primarily from the Deer Isle-Stonington area, but also includes photographs from Baxter State Park. In addition to Lester's phenomenal photographs, this book contains essays about life in Maine, written by Maine authors: Elizabeth Strout, author of the best selling novel, Amy and Isabelle, Ann Beattie, author of several novels including Chilly Scenes of Winter and Perfect Recall, Richard Russo, author of Nobody's Fool and Empire Falls, and Richard Ford, author of Independence Day. These essays add to the authenticity of Lester's work, as they capture in words what Lester captures with his camera.
Lester's photographs are full color and full page, including pictures taken along the shoreline, as well as inland. Lester captures lupine, wildlife, colorful skylines, and the rugged Maine coastline. Some of the photographs, along with the captions, tell the story of the Maine way of life-or as the marketing campaign says-the way life should be.
The four seasons are captured in vivid detail. Lester has even managed to capture the beauty of the Maine winter, which at times seems to be never-ending. His book is a must have for tourists and year-round residents alike. For those who grew up on the coast, who have forgotten their roots, or who have come to take for granted the unique way of life that is Maine, this book is a vivid reminder of the beauty that abounds. For the one-time visitor, it is a valuable memoir of the vacation-a coffee table book and conversation piece that will forever take him back in time.
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