Peter Ralston has spent the past four decades photographing Maine’s coast. Betsy Wyeth, the wife of artist Andrew Wyeth, first brought Ralston up to Maine in 1978. In 1980, while working on one of the Wyeths’ islands, Ralston met Philip Conkling, with whom he created The Island Institute, to help Maine’s island and coastal communities tackle environmental and socioeconomic issues. Ralston moved to Maine full-time in 1985. Soundings interviewed the 72-year-old photographer at his gallery in Rockport.
SOUNDINGS: Where were you raised and how did you get into photography?
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, is where I was raised in the 1950s. It was the era of great magazines. There was and and the idea that people could make images and get paid to travel to the most interesting places in the world. Even as a little kid, I thought, how cool is that? Next door was the other huge influence. My parents bought a place on the Brandywine River in 1957, part of an old Quaker mill property. The next year, Andy and Betsy Wyeth bought the other part of the property. I grew up with them right next door. They were extremely interesting people. Andy didn’t have a job like most fathers, which was kind of curious. And I had a wicked crush on Betsy.
