Name/Title
Susan Lapides | Setting Day | Back Bay, New BrunswickDescription
Gift of the artist, 2025.
From an email from Susan Lapides <susan@susanlapides.com>
Mon, Aug 4, 2025, 1:46 PM
Here’s what I wrote about my photograph
“Setting Day” — Setting Day was photographed at the Back Bay, New Brunswick wharf on the opening day of lobster season. In New Brunswick, there are two lobster fishing seasons, and this image captures the start of the spring season, when boats set out at 6 AM after a horn blast, racing to drop their traps in waters they know by heart.
Each boat is loaded in advance with carefully rigged traps, ropes, and buoys. In the predawn darkness, families gather on the wharf to say goodbye—sharing hugs and quiet prayers. Lobstering can be dangerous work, especially on Setting Day, and this moment is filled with both tradition and tension as the crews head out to sea.
From an email from Susan Lapides <susan@susanlapides.com>
Wed, Oct 8, 2025, 7:17 PM
Setting Day 2021
6 a.m. on a chilly November morning. The horn sounds—the biannual lobster season begins. Boats surge from the Back Bay wharf in St. George, New Brunswick, racing into the Bay of Fundy, where the tides rise and fall 26 feet. Fishermen drop their traps, each outfitted with ropes of measured length and an identification buoy, noting the spot by GPS before moving to the next. Hours earlier, the wharf was alive with grandparents, parents, and children—laughing, talking, and gathering for one last hug and prayer for safety and a successful season. Setting Day carries both tradition and tension, marking the start of another season, like generations before them.