Keith McLaren is a captain for the B.C. Ferry Corporation and has spent most of his working life at sea on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Light on the Water is his visual tribute to the men and boats who worked the B.C. coast between the mid-19th century and the Second World War.

Even in unbound galleys, the photographs in this book are stunning. Each meets high standards of quality and all have been reproduced using the best technology. The selection from B.C.’s rich public and private archives is personal and the book is not meant to constitute an illustrated maritime history of B.C., though the images chosen do give a comprehensive sense of a vanished time.

The photographic subjects range from ships under sail and first class passenger dining rooms to cannery workers and sawmill loading docks. There is nostalgia too, as with the shot of the famous tea clipper Thermopylae being loaded with old-growth lumber in 1894. Divided into six chapters, the book covers subjects such as the naval presence, shipbuilding, and trade and industry. These are complemented by an introduction on the photographers who worked on the coast, and an index and bibliography.

The text is kept to a minimum and illuminates the images rather than the other way around. The captions to each photograph are detailed and interesting, outlining the history of the vessel before and after the picture was taken. Occasionally, they duplicate information in the text but this merely alleviates the need to flip back to search the text.

Light on the Water serves a worthy purpose in bringing these images to a wider audience or anyone interested in ships, the B.C. coast, and beautiful photography.