Notecards of this image can be ordered here.

All prints are handmade by Peter Ralston on archival rag paper with an archival ink set.

Small Matted Prints - This collection is printed on 8.5 x 11 inch sheets, matted, ready to be framed.

New Work - This open edition is a collection of images created since January 2004. They are printed on 17 x 22 inch sheets.

The Master Prints - This limited edition (LE) collection of 25 images were selected as especially important to the artist. This edition is limited to 50 prints of each image plus ten artist proofs (AP). They are printed on 24 x 36 inch sheets.

Custom sizes of this image are available by special request.

The story behind Courtship

It was a perfect Fourth of July evening and as I made several exposures of the local fireworks show I was particularly interested in including the oak tree and skiff. The little boat especially drew my attention in that I thought it was sort of sexy there in the warm, damp, deepening twilight…for no particular reason I fantasized a lover having rowed in from a boat to visit their paramour ashore. 

The next morning I reviewed the night’s catch and, lo and behold, discovered that there had been a couple huddled together on the outer ledges, unseen out there in the darkness.

The image instantly became metaphoric…it fully spoke to relationships, a subject never far from my mind. The physicality of the fireworks, the sensuality of the night, the skiff, the couple down on the rocks…it all became a representation of the thrall of courtship.