This 19th Century sailing ship once carried hundreds of passengers to ports throughout the old British Empire. Today it draws hundreds of visitors to its berth at San Diego’s Maritime Museum. I must have made fifty or so different images of this ship, but none as effective as this one. As we left the ship, I noticed that the sun had moved lower in the sky, and for the first time I could find a vantage point that would allow me to place strong light behind the ship’s sails. This would help me to simplify my image by backlighting it, and create an abstract, rather than a literal, interpretation. I selected only one slice of the ship to avoid distracting clutter, and this called for a vertical frame. After numerous experiments (digital film is always free) I was able to express the essence of the Star of India by relating the graceful figurehead at the front of the ship to the three translucent triangular sails soaring above it, as well as to the reflection on the water