On Watch: Port Everglades is an ongoing film-photography project made by Captain Ryan Sweeney from his perspective as a working harbor pilot. The photographs look beyond the spectacle of ships and the apparent order of port infrastructure to consider the human scale of maritime life: working hands, lines under tension, weathered surfaces, fleeting encounters, and vessels passing in darkness.
Moving between black-and-white and color, the work explores labor, movement, risk, and the uneasy beauty of an industrial landscape shaped by global commerce. Often seen only in passing – from a highway bridge, cruise terminal, beach, or channel edge—the port becomes a local civic landscape connected to distant oceans.
“On watch” is the period in which a harbor pilot is on duty – working 12 hour day and night shifts during a four-week rotation, piloting ships in and out of Port Everglades.
This project is ongoing.
Bridge Wing
On Deck
Looking Back
Discharge
After Arrival
Mail Boat Captain
Tug Triton
Waiting to Sail
At the Wheel
Securing the Ramp
Rain Transfer
Pulling the Gangway
Liberty of the Seas
Bulk Carrier
Tug Line
Coming Alongside
Pilot Ladder
Safety Net
Rigging
Gangway
Cape Express
Making Fast
Before Departure
Last Call
On Arrival
Container House
Work Boat
Through the Boxes
Intercoastal View
Gangway Lift
Around the Bitt
Aft Controls
On Strike
Filipino Seaman
No Smoking
Pilot Away
Night Shift
Container Deck
50 years at Sea
Pilot Boarding
Gangway Ashore
On Deck
Heavy Gangway
American Seaman
Night Gang
The Logbook
Port Everglades.
Ahead Easy
Gangway Watch
Triton Deck Hand
Captain Darin
Highway Entrance
On the Stern
Merchant Seaman
Chevron
Overtime
Pulling the Net
Rain on the Docks
Pump Man
Outbound Cruise Ship
Spring Break Crossing
Shore Transfer
Helmsman
Ready for the Pilot
Rigging the Ladder
Heave
Pilot on the Wing
Dredge New York
Alongside the Tanker
Gangway Detail
Longshoreman
Dredging Operations
Southport Shift
Bound for Sea
Catwalk
Safety Ropes
Fast Ferry Captain
Watching the Pilot Boat
On Watch
Under the Crane
Made Fast
Pilot Embarking
At the Ladder
Container Gangway
Security Guard
Assisting Pilot
Bulbous Bow
Tying Up
Let Go
Pilot Disembarking
Hard Hat Area
Line Handler
The Crew
Securing Gangway
Long Way Down
Port Everglades Pilot
Moving Lines
Disembarking Pilot
Bulker
Bearded Captain
Longshoreman
