BOAT CRAZY

f you love boats, and wooden boats in particular, there’s a good chance you’ve seen nautical photographer Alison Langley’s images and videos. But Langley doesn’t just photograph boats—she’s a self-described boat nut. She has a 25-foot Mako chase boat for work, but ask her what she’d like for her personal use and she’ll say it’s hard to choose just one. She likes the Herreshoff 12 1/2 “to go out for the day,” but wouldn’t mind a Grand Banks “for overnight trips,” or a Holland lobsterboat “because they run beautifully.” Langley is always looking at boats. “If I want to really get into it,” she says, “I get in bed with my laptop and look at Craigslist.” Her interest in boats is so keen that she recently received the 2021 Rebecca Chase Herreshoff Award from the Herreshoff Marine Museum. Known affectionately as The Becky, among other qualities, it is given to a person who caught up with the 60-year-old photographer in Camden, Maine, where she’s been based since 2002.