A ferry broke down, stranding 600 passengers for 10 hours. A photographer captured the glam of it all.
A Seattle wedding photographer whipped out her camera when a ferry ran aground. The results were magic.
When a Washington state ferry lost its power during an April 15 roundtrip from Bremerton to Seattle, stranding over 600 passengers and crew for what would turn out to be about 10 hours, wedding photographer Britt Jezak recalls confusion starting to set in among the crowd.
“The lights flickered, and then it became quiet,” Jezak, who was in her parked car at the time (one of 175 vehicles aboard the vessel) tells Yahoo Life. “We started approaching land, and the crew told passengers to brace for impact, and they asked us to abandon our cars and to come to the cabin above where they can keep everyone together and safe.”
The ferry, which had departed Bremerton at 4:15 pm, ran aground when its generator failed about 15 minutes after departure — rendering the vessel out of service and unable to be tugged to land until the tide rose again.
“What if I'm not allowed back in my car?” the young mom, who was on her way to Seattle for a last-minute shoot, remembers thinking at the time. “It was that kind of gut instinct where you're like, this isn’t normal. So I just grabbed my photography gear and ran for it.”
When she got to the cabin, she was amazed to see dozens of Navy officers and their dates, all of whom were reportedly heading to a Submarine Ball set to take place in Seattle that evening.
“I thought, 'What can I do to make this situation better?’” she says. “Well, I have all my wedding photography gear on me. Why not document these couples, their friends and loved ones?”
“I looked around and saw so many beautiful people dressed up in black-tie attire,” she remembers. “It made me sad to think of how much time, effort and money they each had spent getting ready for the event they would no longer attend. So, I checked with the captain and got approval to do something fun. I wanted to add some positivity to a less than ideal situation.”
Over the course of six to eight hours — amid a medical emergency and ongoing efforts to evacuate passengers to safety — Jezak hosted free photoshoots at the deck stern of the vessel for anyone who wanted them, as a way to ease their stress and to minimize anxiety. It seems to have done the job.
“I could see some faces fall when they realized, ‘OK, I’m not gonna get to attend the ball,’” Jezak recalls. “I was sad for everybody who had a better night planned, and then here we are, stuck together. But once we started taking photos I felt the energy shift.”
Word of Jezak’s sessions traveled fast on the ferry. Eventually, she made her way to the upper and mid-level holding areas as well, where she shot an array of families, children and pets. “It was wild, and I can see it brought people a lot of joy,” she says.
For Jezak, "trying to find the joy" in painful situations was the whole reason she became a photographer.
After her dad was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, she says she was inspired to quit a corporate job at Amazon to pursue her photography dreams. Making matters even more challenging was that her husband Joseph’s mom received a cancer diagnosis of her own around the same time — just months after she and Joseph welcomed their first child, Aubriella, now 1.
“It hit me with this weird timing of mortality,” she recalls. “Here we are figuring out how to be a parent, and now we’re contemplating losing his mom potentially, or me losing my dad. It changes you as a person.”
The determination to "find light in the darkness" is partly what drove her to bring levity to the situation as the ferry’s crew worked hard to get everyone to safety.
Eventually, she explains, the tides became safe enough for the Bainbridge Island Police and other nearby ferry vessels to begin evacuating passengers — starting with “walk ons” (those who didn’t have cars) and those traveling with pets and children. Thankfully, it was a pretty smooth process.
“The whole community came together to help each other evacuate,” Jezak says. “The crew was amazing and really made us feel safe.” All in all, she says it took “three or four” boats to clear all 600 people from the vessel. Some passengers were there for upwards of 12 hours waiting to get their cars, she notes. One Naval officer reportedly waited 18 hours.
No injuries were reported from the incident, and according to Washington Street Ferries spokesperson Ian Sterling, a full investigation is ongoing to determine the cause.
In hindsight, Jezak says, the experience reminded her of the importance of “community and togetherness” in times of stress.
“I've always thought the point of life is to help others find their zest for life, and how grateful we are to be here,” she says. “It’s all about connection. When you can achieve that, nothing can be that scary.”
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