Neil Rabinowitz Exhibit
Currently on display in the J.R. Duncan Exhibit Hall
Neil Rabinowitz has been photographing wooden boats throughout a career which has included over 1,200 magazine covers. He began working in boatyards as a teenager and - in his early years - apprenticed at Hinckley and later for famed builder George Stadel restoring Nina, Bounding Home, and the Lawley designed, Valiant. He sailed the Pete Culler designed 120’ schooner Sea Star and cruised and raced across the Pacific, South Seas and Atlantic several times. The boats varied from maxi racers to wooden classics and included Ballyhoo, Ondine, Windward Passage, an Alden 57, Charisma, and a variety of vessels from 500+’ superyachts to simpler days on an H-28. He earned a 100 Ton Coast Guard license, survived many boat deliveries, and published some tales in the Yacht Bum Chronicles. Since completing a journalism degree, he has published hundreds of features about adventure travel, lifestyle and the marine industry. He was the Seattle Times Boating Writer and provided the first 360 covers (30 years) of the regional Northwest Yachting Magazine. He has been a consistent outspoken voice promoting the prowess and regional benefits of Northwest’s pioneering big boat industry to the publishing world since the early 80’s. Some photo assignments include the Olympics, the Indy 500, the America’s Cup, numerous wilderness expeditions, many of the planet’s wildest whitewater rafting descents, as well as images from the cockpit air to air in aviation’s most exciting aircraft. In addition to his magazine and book covers, his portfolio includes work for Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Men’s Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Town & Country, Outside, Rolex, Nike, Volvo, numerous books, calendars and nearly every boating and travel publication. His assignments have taken him around the globe for advertising and editorial clients, photographing the architecture of palatial superyacht interiors to ultra-high-end hotels and rustic remote resorts to adrenaline sports. While he still travels extensively to photograph new builds, regattas, charters and superyachts, above all else, he enjoys photographing the pace, artful craft, and simple grace and integrity of wooden boats.
Neil works from his studio on a sunny five acre spread on the south end of Bainbridge Island where he has raised a family and his library of ten million photographs comprises one of the largest marine collections in the world. He is proud to be a supporter of The Center for Wooden Boats.
Pictured: Hansina