Personal Work:
Seasons in New England are like the tide, the come and they go, bringing in waves of change. Our summer, my wife and I that is, starts out with Memorial Day on Cape Cod and ends with Labor Day on the cape. This year we did not start our summer on the cape because our wedding took place the weekend of Memorial Day. That didn't stop us from closing out an incredible summer with a weekend on the cape over the Labor Day holiday. Since I have known my wife this has been a tradition for us.
Throughout the summer we take weekend trips and occasionally a week or so and slow life down by spending as much time as we can on the beach. For me, I find extreme peace and some times solitude when I am out making photographs, while we are the cape. When I am out meandering the shores, dunes, backroads, tidal pools, I am searching for what I have never seen before, things that I have yet to encounter. I grew up going to the cape every summer. I have seen a lot, yet there is still so much I have yet to see, which is why I always have my cameras with me. Always in tote, my camera is never far unless I am in the water or doing such things as digging for clams.
This year in addition to spending a few hours on the boat checking the lobster pots, my father in law taught me the art of clam digging. Prior to Labor Day weekend any time I found a clam was in chowder or in a grocery store and once in a great while I would step on one just under the surface during walks in low-tide. Like the generation before him, he learned to dig for clams by walking the bay of the cape. Regardless of how much money I will make, I will always enjoy pulling clams out of the sea as much as lobsters.
This past Labor Day weekend we got in the boat and navigated out about 7 miles till we got to the location of the pots. I watched in anticipation as they came up. The second biggest lobster I have seen came up in one of the pots. Roughly 5lbs. The largest I have ever seen was sitting in a cooler and weighed in at about 17lbs. From what I have heard, when a lobster is to large, it is to "tough" and isn't that good. Unfortunately the 5 lb-er went back into the water, as she had a large amount of eggs underneath her. If they have eggs, back home to the deep waters they go.
I am happy to say we did get some lobsters and they were delicious. Next time I spend some time on the boat I will make some more photos and then show the end result. If you have never been to the cape, I suggest you book a week or two for next summer. If you aren't a fan of lobster, I suggest you give it another try, not because I am suggesting it, but because they are just swell!
Photography: Personal Work
This July 4th we spent the weekend on Cape Cod. We have been doing so for the last 4 years. Last year a hurricane came through and pounded the coast, flooded Provincetown, and delayed the celebration of the birth of America. This year was a much nicer weekend and with it I was able to capture some photos from a unique vantage point.
While I was out exploring parts of the outer Cape, I pulled out my handy dandy iPhone 6 and made a panorama, not featured here, shot, edited, and posted the image with the quote, "To explore is to learn." I strive to find what is unique about the places I visit, travel to, spend time at. I want people to see what goes unseen. I want to show others how I see what is around them that they otherwise are not viewing. I took a drive to a place I found last year on the 3rd. I stood on the bluffs and watched as the impending hurricane filled the bay side of the outer Cape with threatening clouds and a lighting show. I was eager to get back and see what it would look like with a nicer day. While the path is well walked, I have never seen a single person walking in or around that specific area. Off in the distance, down the beach, people can be seen exploring.
Everyone loves a great sunset, right? When the sky lights up like the inside of a fireplace, it commands your attention. I find joy in making photographs, I always have. I have also found extreme joy in closing out the day with an incredible sunset. I love warm, natural light that makes a late afternoon glow. While watching the sunset, we were surrounded by what seemed liked hundreds of people, more so than the pervious years. At least half the people that were walking the bay had their cell phones out. I found it quite irritating that people were to busy making photos of each other instead of watching the sunset. Occasionally I would see someone using their phone to capture a few shots of the sunset. Being one of the only people that had a real camera, undoubtedly, I was able to capture what others were either to busy to or unable to do with their phone.
Have you ever seen a sunset in black and white, see below.
There are places that we visit that hold special memories that have now evolved into places of new memories. One such place is Rock Harbor. After 4pm you're allowed to bring your dogs onto the beach at Rock Harbor. We have a new little dingo, hound, shepherd mix that we adopted back in October. This is his first summer at the beach and at the Cape. We are extremely happy that we have a place we can take him to frolic and play.
If you are familiar with Cape Cod, explore what you have yet to see. If you are new to visiting the Cape, get out and explore. It is easy to get caught up in the tourist traps, the fishing nets of the cliche establishments that everyone thinks are "the best." Find what you like, find what is unique, and find a place to call your own. To simply put, go enjoy Cape Cod.
Underwater Photography: A Wave of Trends
If you like to hit the "like" button on instagram, re-tweet things on that twitter app, check out wicked photos on 500px, and post on other social media apps and sites, chances are you are into some trendy things. There are nearly countless online avenues to see trendy photographs that are spreading around the world by the minute. If that sounds like you and your social media practices, you might be familiar with photographers posting underwater photographs as well as images of waves. Underwater photography and photography of waves is nothing new. However, with more people than ever owning great cameras, not just Gopro cameras, but dslr's, it has been getting easier to put them in unique places, such as underwater.
Cape Cod, First Encounter Beach
Every other day I come across an awesome image of waves, the ocean, surfing, something underwater. I have been inspired. I want to see what I can do that others aren't. I want to see what I can do with water and photography. When I was in Bermuda two years ago, I wished so bad I had an underwater housing for the 7d that I had with me. I didn't think to rent one. That is an easy option for people that have a great dslr and want to work on some water based projects. Projects with water, hmmm interesting. In fact, I am working on a water based photography project. I am not ready to discuss yet as we are still in the prelimb stages. We will announce sooner than later.
I chose an affordable option. I bought an inexpensive underwater housing for my 5d. I purchased a Diacapac Waterproof Case. Thanks to Amazon's shipping problems two weeks ago, it didn't arrive on time, as scheduled, and I was unable to use it for the intended project. No worries. No need to cry on my behalf and beg the Amazon gods for a refund, because we just shot with a few Gopros. Having spent the last week at Cape Cod, I had day or two to give it a try. Cape Cod doesn't get massive waves with amazing sunsets like some exotic locations, but what Cape Cod has to offer is unique to the North East.
Cape Cod, Eastham, MA
I threw the 5d in the bag, sealed it up, turned and ran into the water. I could hear my fiance still yelling at me for wanting to put my camera in the ocean. She thinks I am nuts for doing so. But hey, you know what, #yolo.. While Canon cameras do not come with gills, they can go underwater with the right case.
The tide was high. The sun was setting. I was in the water and had fun just pointing the camera in any direction with an intuitive angle. My goal was to simply see what came out of the camera. There was nothing under the water worth seeing. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't have been able to. The tide was rough for the bay, which means all the sand was being churned up in addition to seaweed and other ocean stuff. I was able to capture a few fun images. It wont be soon enough before I can get in the water with a camera.
Cape Cod, Eastham, MA
Hurricane Arthur: Photographs of Provincetown, Cape Cod
"You're crazy, you're nuts, you're going to ruin your camera," Sue said. I tried to explain to her that the Canon Camera and lens that I was shooting with, Canon 5d Markii and a 70-200mm F2.8, are weather sealed and that unless I dropped it the ocean, it could handle some rain falling on it. I stood on the concrete landing, just above the boat launch around the corner from Commercial St in Provincetown. We parked to eat lunch. We had a great view of the bay, watching the boats as the fought to stay above the white capped waves the wind was creating. In between quickly chewing bites down, I spotted a guy walking from the shore right into the water. I dropped my slice and pointed out the window, past the rain drops and off into the distance. He was wadding over towards a small boat being moored. With him he was caring a set of wheels. I couldn't believe eyes. The wind was fiercely blowing as the rain beat down on the car. Occasionally a gust would create enough turbulence the car would teeter in its space.
Hurricane Arthur, Provincetown MA
One of warnings that we kept hearing was to be careful for the undercurrents and how powerful the water would be. As we dinned on our pizza, we watched him make his way over to the boat. He was a considerable distance from where we were, but enough that my lens at max length would capture a decent shot. What I didnt not expect was that he would be swimming, pulling the boat and wheels with him, towards us, to exit the water off the ramp we were parked next to. The moment he reached the boat is when I shoved my last bite into my mouth. Reaching over my shoulder and grabbing my camera, I ejected myself out of the car and into the rain. Standing in the pouring rain for nearly five minutes, i became drenched. At one point Sue opened the door and tried to speak over the rain and wind, saying something about how wet I would be and how I would get that in the car. I stood with my back towards the rain. The wind wiped it against me with as much force as it could give. The rain drops pierced my skin, at least thats how it felt, as it fell. I pulled up the camera and looked down the barrel of the lens as the man made his journey towards us. The power and strength this man had was unreal. His boat was consumed with water, weight, an anchor, weight, wheels, weight, the weight of the boat. He swam against the waves, wind, and falling rain.
Hurricane Arthur
Eventually he was able to get his boat past the rocks and began a slow walk towards the ramp. I began to worry a bit, in that even a short amount of time his strength could have been challenged to the point of exhaustion and fatigue. I kept pressing the shutter and watching him get closer and closer. At the foot of the ramp he began to have a tough time, but was able to push through and get the boat onto the wheels. Ethics and morals were being tossed around my brain, like a hurricane. Pun intended. If I saw him in any sort of distress, I would drop the camera and be at his him in seconds. He was well aware of the fact that I was photographing him. He glanced over at me at on point during his trek and showed a faint sign for admiration, as if he knew why I was photographing him, or if he knew that he was in the position to be photographed. It was a hurricane and he entered the water to spare his boat from becoming a victim of Arthur, and an expensive fossil.
Hurricane Arthur
I knew I had made the money shot/s. It was time to head back. It was time to get back to my lap top and edit and get these to someone who could share them. While packing for our trip, Sue asked why I felt the need to always bring my lap top. Now she knows. I have tried to explain to her that there might be that one time, that single moment, when something happens and I capture it, photograph it, it is a story that needs to be shared. She understood very well after the photographs appeared in a gallery on "Wicked Local Truro" the news outlet for the outer most portion of the cape, Provincetown and Truro. "Gallery of Photos." When I was in college, my professor would tell us stories of photographers that captured "THEE" image that gets circulated around the Associated Press, leaving the photographer with an incredible pay day to follow. While those days aren't as frequent, not that our world is short of any tragic events on the daily, but the way the world of news and media is valued and treated is different. Regardless of the changes in media, having the right resources, such as my camera and machine to edit, I can still quickly provide images, from almost anywhere. It took about two hours before I was back to my laptop. It killed me to be that patient, but being 30 mins from the house in that weather, and still wanting to meander a bit, made it process to get back. Based on the time, I knew I had a very small gap. Most publications can still insert a cover image between 7-9pm. With my email blast I was able to connect with one editor at "The Wicked Local" she was delighted and pleased that I sent her the photos.
Gallery owner uses bucket to clear water that was flooding her store front as man on a bike passes by.
The photo of the gallery owner, above, shows just how awful the rain was that fell. It had only been raining a short time before I stumbled upon this scene. Standing in ankle deep water, she used a bucket to slow the progress of the flooding in her storefront. This was one of the first images I made as we entered the beginning of Commercial Street. Fierce winds, rain, thunderstorms, all the elements of a hurricane beat down on the cape for a day. The next day was filled with sun, soft clouds, the day after the storm was beautiful, the contrast of what I have shown you above. I survived my first hurricane.
A few more photos can be seen in my Flickr Gallery
Cape Cod: Photography
For the past three years, Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer for Sue and I. This past weekend was not the same as the preceding years. The weather as sub-par and made for a mediocre trip. Mediocre isn't the correct word that I would like to use, but it is the only way I can quickly describe our trip. The last two years it has always been 10-20 degrees warmer. Enough that I would trudge my way into the still cold waters of the Atlantic. On the ocean side, the water temp is still relatively cold. It was my own ritual within our growing tradition. This year I did not swim with the sharks, befriend the seals, or test the waters of the Atlantic. Instead, I read. Reading is one my favorite things to do on the Cape, (sounds like a dating profile list of things to pass the time but it is true) aside from make photographs of the landscape, towns, beaches, people. Reading on the beach is one of the only places I can get into a good book un-interrupted. I read a lot for my business, business interests, blogs, etc when I am working, but with all the technological interruptions, emails, texts, phone calls, it gets hard to focus. With the summer heat, the light wind flapping sounds of the umbrella, the sounds of the passing tides, pages turn quickly as the stories come to life.
Even though this weekend went by quickly, I was still able to find peace. My phone stays off. Interruptions come in the form of children running by, breaking for lunch, or taking a stroll a mile out into the bay at the peak of low tide. I took a walk on Saturday when the sun came out. I left my book behind to get a tan while I strolled down the bayside's coast. I had one agenda, make some photographs. I did just that. When the mind is free of burdens, stressors, work, it is free to think freely and explore. As a creative person, this means that my mind goes to ideas with the creative gears turning. I have been working on article for a photography blog/publication that I firmly believe can be an eye opener for some. My walk was a moment of clarity. As I returned to where Sue was sitting a thought came to mind. It was a simple idea that turned into a two paragraph spread for the article.
As the summer progresses by, each month, June, July, August, are all different. The summer heat of July is more intense than June or August. The daylight, evening sunsets of each month bring their own hue and saturation as the temperature influences the colors of the fading days. As a photographer, I am fortunate enough to be able to observe these changes so closely. Memorial Day weekend is the start of these awesome changes. I look forward to each month at the cape, observing and capturing these changes. For me, Cape Cod is in my DNA. As a child, my family vacationed on the outer cape. I know without a down I ingested enough sand to have had a few grains bond to my DNA on a molecular level, making the cape a part of who I am. While I am expanding and adding locations to my passport and travel itinerary, I still feel the cape will always be on of my favorite places to go back to until my life is over. It sounds sad saying it that way, but when a place is a part of who you are, you cant help feeling that it will be with you until you are no more.
Here are a few photos I made this past weekend.
