Celebrating the women boat captains at the helm of the Bay

When the Covid-19 pandemic put a pause in Maryland photographer Kristin Rutkowski’s work, as it did for many others, she turned to nature-based activities to pass the time. Living in the heart of the Chesapeake region in Annapolis, Maryland, there was no shortage of opportunities to take her sailboat out on the water. While on the water, she got an idea for a personal project that would blend her love of photography with boating.

The result was Her Helm—a website and book featuring some of the most adventurous female boat captains on the Chesapeake Bay. 

When Rutkowski first began working on this project, she admits she fell into the stereotypical mindset that there would not be enough female captains to warrant a story. Much to her surprise, there was no scarcity of women to photograph and she would soon need to implement an application process for women who wanted to be featured as the project expanded. The project that originally started as a one-page tab on Rutkowski’s portrait website soon became its own site that would take almost three years to fully develop. 

The first person Rutkowski photographed was Janet Rupp, a fishing boat charter captain who she approached at her local marina. Rutkowski soon realized that she wanted to celebrate the variety of boats that the women were captaining, as well as where they were located, their age, race and boating background. 

As a photographer, Rutkowski loves helping people see how a good portrait of themselves can be empowering. With Her Helm, she embraced the uniqueness of every woman’s ship vessel, the different lighting to work with, the subject’s comfort in front of the camera and so many other conditions. Rutkowski’s goal was to portray her subjects in their “spot of confidence” so they would have this “representation of themselves as a captain and looking incredible.” 

The individual sessions themselves varied greatly for each woman featured in Her Helm. Rutkowski would travel 30-60 minutes each way to meet the captain at her boat and typically spend anywhere between 1-2 hours photographing them. Though, there were some women such as Iris Robertson who she only had five minutes to photograph before they were scheduled to set sail. 

Prior to each session, Rutkowski would call each woman she was about to photograph and spend about an hour to get their backstories while also giving them a chance to get comfortable with her before putting them in front of a camera. Rutkowski notes that editing the paragraph summarizing their background took just as much time as editing the photos because she wanted the language to “capture the confidence of the women and have them feel uplifted by her words.”

The finished project celebrates 51 female captains in a historically male-dominated field. Most of these women advocate for the health of the Bay on a daily basis as their livelihoods and passions depend on it. After spending years captaining boats all over the world, Annie Richards returned to her home on the Chesapeake and became the Chester Riverkeeper with ShoreRivers. Julianne DeGraw Fettus also makes sure to use her time on the water interacting with wildlife, whether that be saving fledglings at her dock or going on fish-tagging trips.

With a website and a book, Rutkowski developed the project even further when she decided to create a special, limited edition Chesapeake Bay version. She invited women writers and artists from around the Bay to share their perspectives on the Chesapeake. While these women are not boat captains, they play an equally important role in highlighting the beauty of the Bay. 

By broadcasting these incredible women, Rutkwoski aims to inspire the next generation of females on the water and honor those who have broken the stereotype that leadership roles on the water are not for them. 

Her Helm captures the joy of being on the water and displays the opportunities that the Chesapeake region gives these women. 

“The Bay is a great resource for people to just enjoy recreation,” Rutkowski said.