Calais event to feature coastal photographer

CALAIS – A reception for photographer Peter Gommers, who has taken photographs of the Machias Bay area where Passamaquoddy shamans created “picture rocks” a thousand years ago, is being held tonight at the Downeast Heritage Museum.

The reception will be held at 6 p.m.

“Picture rock [is] a much better term for petroglyphs,” Gommers says on his Web site.

Gommers’ photographs are on display in the museum lobby and in the People of the Dawn Gallery on the Riverwalk level.

His work examines the petroglyphs and the surrounding shoreline rocks on which they were created, a Downeast Heritage Museum press release said.

“Many people have seen reproductions of the wondrous images,” museum director Jim Thompson said in a prepared release. “But few of us have seen the beautiful environment surrounding them. Peter’s work gives us a new understanding of this ancient art.”

Gommers, who has a studio in Machiasport, has had a lifelong interest in photography.

In 2006, he left a career in software to dedicate himself to photography. He studied the digital darkroom at the Rhode Island School of Design and now works exclusively with digital equipment. His nature photography has been exhibited throughout New England, the press release said.

On his Web site is a slide show of pictures he has taken of the Machias Bay area that begins with a sunrise over the water. Among the “picture rocks” is an image of a male moose and squatting shaman, or medicine man. There is also a picture of youngsters from the Passamaquoddy Tribe studying their culture.

“Picture rocks are a very spiritual place,” the Web site says. “For thousands of years the Passamaquoddy Shaman [medicine men] have communicated with the spirits.” There is also a picture rock of a French ship and cross that apparently signaled the arrival of French missionaries in the 1600s.

The public is welcome to meet Gommers at the reception and discuss his work.