An American Journey
The Collected photography, video and writings of Richard Olsenius and Christine Olsenius
Photo Copyright ©2025 Richard Olsenius
Along the East Coast flyways where the wild geese gather, their wings beat ancient rhythms that seem to touch us all. They settle in the shallows with the wind sharp as a knife, a promise of the winter and the turning of life on the Wye, where the river meets the Chesapeake.
Backwaters of the Wye - Music Video by Richard Olsenius
Introduction for “Backwaters of the Wye”
“Backwaters of the Wye” is a short film born of a lifetime on the water. Its images and voice carry the weight of Richard Olsenius’s nearly fifty years under sail — from the quiet tidal creeks and rivers of the Chesapeake to the long blue reaches of the Atlantic, from the islands of the Caribbean to the Inside Passage and the Arctic’s Northwest Passage. His photographs, along with some from the storied Marion Warren collection, honor the working shore: watermen, skiffs, marshes, and the quiet backwaters where time moves with the tide. The voice you hear is Eden Rowe, an AI voice, but the sensibility behind it is shaped by real voyages, real weather, and a life spent watching the world from just above the waterline. The song itself is new, yet it feels old: a reflection shaped by the voices of watermen, winter geese, marsh winds, and the unhurried rhythms of the Chesapeake.
Backwaters of the Wye is both a remembrance and a homecoming — a song for the places and people that taught a photographer how to see. Who is EDEN ROWE?
