“I was surprised,” Dort said on Friday in an interview at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena. “It’s really a great honor.”

Dort and his wife, Lesslee, reside in Alpena, where they both enjoy spending time in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, located in Lake Huron in Northeast Michigan. In fact, Dort’s winning photo featured his wife on a stand-up paddleboard in the sanctuary over the Albany shipwreck near Presque Isle. Taken by drone on Labor Day, the photo also included an angler in that same area, showcasing several of the recreational options available to enjoy in the sanctuary while viewing the pristinely preserved history below the fresh water.

“This is the nationwide photo contest that the sanctuary system puts on,” explained Stephanie Gandulla, resource protection coordinator for TBNMS. “It’s huge, really. It’s so neat to have an Alpena person showcased. It’s a big system. The National Marine Sanctuary System protects over 620,000 square miles of America’s special places underwater, and he’s put us in the national spotlight.”

“There are so many different talented photographers that submitted photos,” Dort said. “I was just really honored to be selected.”

Courtesy Photo This photo by Bryan Dort was taken by drone on Labor Day overlooking the shipwreck Albany in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In it are his wife Lesslee Dort paddleboarding and an angler, showing several recreational options for enjoying the precious freshwater resource available right here in Northeast Michigan. The photo won third place in the 2023 Get Into Your Sanctuary Photo Contest.

He described the photo he took.

“The photo is a drone shot over the Albany shipwreck, which is in Albany Bay, just south of Presque Isle,” Dort said. “It’s a shallow wreck in about 5-and-a-half, 6 feet of water, and the photo is of the shipwreck with a paddleboarder and a fisherman who is in, like, a bass boat. It was really good timing.”

He said the angler happened to be fishing there and he was able to get the shot.

“The Albany shipwreck is just really unique,” Dort said. “Albany Bay is just a beautiful place. To get to the wreck, it’s a short hike. It’s about a half-mile hike from the road to get to the beach, and then it’s about another half-mile, three-quarters of a mile paddle to the wreck itself.”

He said it’s a wonderful recreational opportunity on a nice day.

“That’s one thing that I really enjoy,” Dort said. “I’m drawn to, kind of, the haunting images of shipwrecks, especially shallow wrecks, that I can see from above the water. That, with the marine ecosystem that surrounds them, and, then, humans interacting with it in a responsible manner, and all of that working together. That’s what I really enjoy capturing.”

He’s been taking photos since he was a teenager, and he started using drones in 2017, which he loves. In addition to drone photography, he paddleboards, kayaks, dives, and uses remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs).

“I’m a marine nerd,” he said with a laugh.

Dort not only takes photos as a hobby, he does it voluntarily to document the shipwrecks for scientific and historical purposes for TBNMS.

“I do an overflight of the Portland shipwreck twice a year, and what we’re seeing is some changes in that shipwreck, so I try to document that with the drone photography in the spring and the fall, and then I just give those photos to the sanctuary and let them analyze them,” Dort said, “And keep a record of what’s happening with that wreck.”

“From our end, it’s really awesome to have his contributions to the sanctuary’s shipwreck documentation,” Gandulla said. “He’s really a community scientist. He’s truly contributing to our documentation efforts of our shipwrecks.”

With 100 known shipwrecks in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the documentation takes a lot of work, and Dort is willing and happy to do it.

“It’s a big job to regularly document them, and with his skill and dedication, he really contributes,” Gandulla said. “He’s been doing this for years, too. Not only is he taking stunning, striking photos that showcase the amazing recreational opportunities in the sanctuary, he’s also contributing to our scientific documentation efforts.”

“He has so many amazing shots,” said Jeff Gray, TBNMS superintendent. “It is art, but then, for us, it’s science, because we can use that to monitor these sites, and, then, thirdly, it is inspiration. I have the privilege of using his art a lot. I use it in my PowerPoint presentations, and, when those images flash up on the screen, you hear a gasp from the audience … They really show how amazingly preserved our shipwrecks are, and that they are accessible.”

He added that Dort’s images are featured on many of the Maritime Heritage Trail markers.

“It’s been huge for us for interpretation and promotion, as well,” Gray said, adding, “Art and science collide.”

Dort explained why he does it.

“Preserving history,” he said. “The shipping history in the Great Lakes is fascinating, and the shipwrecks that are in the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary are very unique. And there are a lot of them … I think it’s important for the entire National Marine Sanctuary System to help preserve not only shipwrecks, but all over our marine habitats.”

Dort has been volunteering with TBNMS for over 10 years, including with ROV competitions and the Thunder Bay International Film Festival.

“He’s one of our main film festival volunteers,” Gandulla added.

Thunder Bay International Film Festival is coming up Jan. 24 to 28.

To view more photos from the contest, visit sanctuaries.noaa.gov/earthisblue/sanctuary-recreation-2023.