Summer weddings

I met Laurie years and years ago. We attended the same high school, and then got to know each other better while working many crazy summers at the photo lab downtown. This year, I was honored to photograph her wedding. She married Patric in the backyard of their home in Yarmouth, under beautiful blue skies, on a perfect Cape Cod August afternoon. I share with you some images from that day.

Paradise

Bouncing down Route 6a, that old historic road, take a left and bounce down the pavement to where the dunes begin. Air down the tires and travel over the sand, all of a sudden the dunes part and the only thing before you is sand and sea and air, blue sky that goes on forever just like the almost-tropical looking ocean.



The warm soft wind carries the scent of ocean, tide, sea life and sand, sunscreen and bodies caressed by the sun's healing rays.



The ocean laps lazily at the sand, growing slowly closer, it will draw near for six hours and then retreat, again revealing the flats and the stones and the tidal pools it covers at its peak.

In winter it is grey here, and cold and desolate, lonely and depressing. It's hard to imagine the suicide, domestic violence, and substance abuse rates are as high as they are when you look out at the summertime paradise. But it is a stark difference, and those of us who live here year round know if we endure the cold and hard winters, we will be rewarded with paradise.

This is Cape Cod. Specifically, the images I present to you are from Sandy Neck, a long stretch of sand on the North Side of Cape Cod, fronting Cape Cod Bay. Standing here on the beach you can see Plymouth to the West, the Sagamore Bridge connecting the Cape to the mainland, and on a good day you can look East to Provincetown, the whole of the Cape.



We are beach people in the summer, flip flops all the time, sand in our cars and on our floors, in our blood. The Cape is beautiful because of its diversity. There isn't simply The Beach, there are many beaches. Warm placid South Side beaches, fronting Nantucket Sound (threatened by the possible future installation of one hundred thirty four hundred foot wind turbines); the gorgeous and eternally protected National Seashore of the Outer Cape, its beautiful cliffs, vistas and freezing Atlantic water. To the North, Cape Cod Bay, with its epic, stretching tides...sometimes when you walk out on the flats during low tide you swear you are on another planet where everything is still and warm and glistening and perfect.



We stay on the beach until the sun goes down, bathing suits are covered with comfortable cotton tee shirts and shorts, a fire is built on the beach and music is played. Our sun warmed bodies chill easily when darkness falls, but the glow of the fire keeps us warm.



Since my trip to the beach last weekend, I've quit my job and signed a contract for a new one, a large salary increase and a new challenge, a similar yet vastly different venue, a step forward and one behind all in the same. Amidst all this chaos I'll sink my toes in the sand and let the waves washing by caress the shouting in my soul.

Happy summer, everyone.

Eagle Pond & Long Beach

Sunday afternoon with the doggies...Eagle Pond in Cotuit and Long Beach in Centerville.

Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary, Barnstable, MA

Fort Hill

The Earth is slowly beginning to warm, days have grown longer. I spied a Robin in my front yard on Tuesday afternoon and the small sprouts of growth near the shed in the back yard. Walks through the woods have begun as well, as I traipse through the trees in an attempt to coax Spring through the earth with my camera lens.

 

In Marstons Mills Sunday, Ricky and I walked through trails of conservation land. The sky was a milky grey, the sun only showing itself at the end of our walk. The open field is still wearing its winter look, and some remnants of Fall still remain.

 

Tuesday afternoon I ventured with friends to one of my favorite places on the Cape. The Cape Cod National Seashore encompasses hundreds of acres of land on the Outer Cape, from Eastham to Provincetown. Tuesday's adventure took me to Fort Hill, a place I remember from childhood, a place I've been coming back to year after year. It's beautiful in all seasons. Follow along my first walk of the season, many more to come.

 The trailhead snakes across a rolling field, offering a lovely vista of the Atlantic ocean and Nauset marsh system.

 In a few short weeks, green sprouts will begin to emerge, fiddleheads will unfurl from the water, lining the boardwalk that weaves through the Red Maple swamp.

 Lichen clings to this branch, signs of life in the still maple swamp.

 The ancient white whale jawbone marks the entrance to the Penniman house. 

 The home of whaling captain Edward Penniman. This French Second Empire style home was constructed in 1868. Penniman sailed the seas of the world before retiring here in 1884.

 Some say the third floor of the Penniman house is haunted...you decide!

 The home is open for tours on occasion throughout the summer season. Locked up tight this time, though.

 Very soon these branches will be sprouting leaves and providing places for birds' nests!

 Lovely sweeping vista heading back up the hill to the parking lot.

The Nauset marsh beckons with its blue water, boaters will soon immerse their vessels in the water to enjoy the beauty of the Outer Cape.

I had the privilege of shooting the Cape and Islands United Way's Best Night of the Year event on Sunday at the posh Willowbend country club in Mashpee. Special thanks to Richard Brothers, one of the hardest working and most inspiring men on Cape Cod - he's in charge of the C&I UW. Check out the pics!