 |
 |
 |
|
Onne van de Wal has seen parts of the world most people have never even read about. But if you wander into his gallery of nautical and travel photography on Bannister’s Wharf while in Newport, you are bound to leave feeling as if you, too, have traveled to a few remote climes that you just learned existed.
Or, you might find a photo of Newport in a light or season that reminds you of why you return to this charming seaside city year after year. After over 25 years shooting, 20 of them as a professional, Onne has accomplished career and personal goals that make the richest men and most liberated sailors envious…he gets paid to sail and travel – and he does so in style. Saltwater runs thick through Onne’s blood for generations. Both of his grandfathers were men of the sea. One was a lighthouse keeper on a small island off the south coast of Holland, and the other spent every minute of his leisure time sailing, fishing and rowing Holland’s inland canals. As a young boy, Onne moved with his family to South Africa where his father purchased a small boat for the kids so they could explore the lakes and ponds. As Onne grew, so did his love for boats and the sea, and he took to the saltwater with a weekend job as a commercial fisherman’s deckhand on Hout Bay near Cape Town. Onne looked to spend as much of his free time as possible on or near the water – either helping with other people’s boats or getting out sailing and racing with the local sailors and racers in Hout Bay who had visions beyond beer can racing and yacht club raft-ups. Onne’s days were filled with the sea tales from the sailors and fishermen and his nights with dreams of one day racing across oceans. In 1979 Onne left South Africa when he was offered a spot on a boat doing a trans-Atlantic race…and the rest is history. Onne spent the next six years as a full-time professional racer, running boats and racing all over the globe, all the while wishing he had better camera gear to captivate his experiences. Just as Onne had realized his dream of becoming an ocean racer, so too had he set his sights higher and was now working towards getting aboard a boat for the coveted Whitbred Around the World Race. By the time the 1982 Race started, Onne had landed himself a bagful of Olympus camera gear and a position as bowman, engineer and photographer aboard the race’s
winner – and Dutch entry, Flyer. The race was vastly different then – the boats were longer and much more solid than today’s, and the crew aboard Flyer feasted on food prepared by a professional French chef (not a sailor!). Flyer went on to win the Whitbread race in grand style, setting a new circumnavigation record and piquing the media’s interst in the life aboard this winning boat…and for these inquiries Onne was the man to see. Sail Magazine had figured this out on a pre-race stopover in their homeport of Marblehead, MA. The editors saw Flyer in the harbor and found Onne aboard, immediately signing him up for leg-by-leg submissions of his photographs. No one had seen Onne’s photography, but they knew the boat and team were fast and figured something good would come of this relationship. |
The “good” of Onne’s first submissions to Sail Magazine from the Race turned into what has become the very successful career of this sailor-cum-photographer. Since those first published shots, Onne has been published by, or worked for, just about every marine publication in the world and has sailed on just about every kind of boat you can think of – be it an Optimist dinghy or a 200’ schooner on an ocean crossing. In the last 20 years, Onne has made a living photographing mark roundings, harbors at sunrise, chasing down new boats for brochures and ad shots and on expeditions to glorious ends of the earth. He also has a serious taste for life ashore and loves being based in Newport, where his office and gallery are, and at home in Jamestown. He keeps his 28’ chase boat, aptly named Onnesignment, tied-up outside his office at Bannister’s Wharf where it is at arm’s reach for an inpromptu photo session. It is the perfect platform from which to shoot and gets Onne out on Narragansett Bay where, these days, he revels in quiet unscheduled evenings shooting summer sailing and racing around Newport with the family, some good light and breeze.
These evenings supply his gallery with some of the amazing scenes of Newport that adorn the walls of tourists’ and locals’ homes alike. When Onne is not shooting assignments or Newport scenery, he is enjoying his down time. It used to be that winters were quiet when he could regroup from a completely packed summer shooting schedule, but these days Onne books himself pretty solid year-round, heading south to warmer tropical climes for the winter season. It isn’t hard to convince clients to shoot in the crystal clear water of the tropics during the winters. And if it isn’t an ad shoot, then there are plenty of action-packet regattas that Onne covers to keep his stock photo files full of the racing action everyone seems to love to find on his website and in his portfolio.
Onne’s winter regime includes Key West Race Week, Grenada Sailing Festival, Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta and the St. Barth’s Bucket. Each event offers Onne different tropical scenery, a variety of boats and ultimately wonderful gallery prints for active racers, sailors and beachcombers. Visiting the gallery on Bannister’s Wharf will transport you to any one of these locations – even on board a J class yacht – or a tranquil sunset on Newport Harbor. But whatever the yacht, location or season, one universal element ties these images and those who love them together – appreciation for the finer life found in the nautical world, be it from your own dock or tender, a familiar harbor or on a remote island or iceberg that you have yet to visit. But dream and imagine and wish upon that star – and if all else fails – hang an “Onne” on your wall and sit back and enjoy the ride. © 2006 Newport Harbor Guide. All rights reserved. |
