In the SAME BOAT

BY GEORGE SOLTES

PHOTOS BY BRITT JEZAK

At its worst, ferry travel can bring out our least agreeable selves. Delayed boats, endless terminal construction and (prepare side-eye) people coming up the wrong side of the walkway to cut in line are just a few of the inevitable hassles that come with depending on a watercraft to get from point A to point B.

At its best though, the ferry creates a community: we wait together, sail together, complain together and, when the unexpected happens, get through it together.

When the Seattle-bound Walla Walla lost power and drifted onto Pleasant Beach on a Saturday night in April, things could have gone either way. In the hours that followed the grounding, hopes of a quick resolution faded, plans for baseball games, restaurant dinners and travel connections evaporated, and the initial adrenaline gave way to tedium.

Britt Jezak was in one of the last cars to make it onto the Walla Walla. The Port Orchard-based wedding photographer had recently quit her job at Amazon to make photography her full-time career and had rushed to the ferry after getting a last-minute request to shoot a marriage proposal at the Seattle Great Wheel.

After the grounding, Jezak, the epitome of a people person, began to make friends in the cabin, including a number of Navy personnel and their spouses heading to the Submarine Birthday Ball. “They were dressed in their uniforms and beautiful ball gowns and were just stunning,” she said. When the announcement came that nobody was getting off the boat any time soon, “I could see their faces just fall.”

Jezak had an idea. After getting the captain’s permission, she set up a makeshift studio on the stern deck and offered a free photoshoot to her fellow stranded passengers. She ended up taking more than 1,000 photos that night, with many of her subjects donning orange life vests over their fancy attire.

Why did Jezak take all those photos and later, after finally being freed from the vessel, stay up all night so that people would find their galleries complete the next morning?

“I’m limited in what I can do,” she said. “I’m not trained to help with the mechanics of the vessel or the emergency protocols. But you know what I can definitely do? I can definitely make people laugh. I know how to love on people.”

Want to see more of Britt’s work? Check it out at brittanyjezakphotography.com or on Instagram at @brittjezakphoto

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