If you have only pictured Nova Scotia from a distance, you might have imagined yourself on the slanting deck of the saltbank schooner Bluenose II, her sails filled with wind, her bow slicing a heaving sea as fast as any sailing ship can go. But would you ever visualize her on a cold spring evening quietly slipping a wharf in the grand old fishing port of Lunenburg, like hundreds of vessels before her, towards some silent purpose?

Nova Scotia, if you've come to visit, will fulfil your expectations and surprise you, for these is something irrespressibly genuine about it that beckons you along our highways and waterways, into cities and villages and countryside conversations. Those who live here know that Nova Scotia doesn't need packaging. This place is a personal adventure waiting to unroll before you. If you don't follow your nose, talk to strangers, or dip your toes, you may miss it entirely.

Terry James, one of Canada's foremost photographers, is the photographer/author of five books, including Lunenburg County and In Praise of Oxen. He studied photography in Vancouver, before teaching the art in Saint John, New Brunswick. He lives and works in Riverport, Nova Scotia.

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