A former fashion photographer, Dutesco became enchanted by Sable Island in the early 1960s and made his first trip less than two years later. After that, he was hooked.

“I am certainly in love with Sable Island and I feel for Sable Island…it’s part of my system,” he said.

With a permanent Sable Island exhibit coming this fall, the museum saw the Dutesco photographs as a natural way to introduce the topic.

“This was too good of an opportunity for us to pass up,” said Jeff Gray, the museum’s curator, marketing and communications.

Dutesco is scheduled to return to Sable Island in just a few weeks, but made it clear that he doesn’t want the island to become a tourist attraction. He’d rather expose people to the place through his photographs.

“I’m bringing the island to you so you don’t have to go yourself,” he said. “I hope people who see these photographs will be inspired to look at the wild and consider that without it we wouldn’t exist.”