Nantucket

While on our trip to Cape Cod a few weeks ago, we took a day trip across Nantucket Sound to the island of Nantucket ... which was pretty neat. Pretty damn expensive, too ... houses on average sell for $2 million apiece there. There is some SERIOUS cash playing on Nantucket, but yet the place still keeps a small-town feel. That is, if your small town has a Polo Ralph Lauren shop, and restaurants where the entrees start at $60.



But the island manages to conserve a great deal of land, and even new houses have to follow a strict architectural code, so there are few if any McMansion Monstrosities, but rather many houses with strong New England touches. I love the faded cedar shingles used as siding on so many of the houses ... the elements age the cedar to a gray, and when people plant flowers around the houses, or use flowerboxes, the color just jumps out.



We had a great day out there ... the ocean was as smooth as glass, so the ferry ride over was flawless and uneventful. We wandered around Nantucket Town (usually referred to as just "town"), and then caught a cab over to Siasconsset, which is usually referred to as "'Sconset". There we found a great little collection of New England cottages, all terribly cute and intimate, and undoubtedly quite pricey (cute has a price on Nantucket). We caught the bus back, and continued our wandering until it was time to take the late afternoon ferry back. My memory of us leaving is a grandmother, who trudged to Brant Point (the lighthouse in the above pictures), to wave at her grandchildren on the ferry, waving goodbye at them from the wonderful island ... and at that moment I decided I wanted a grandmother who lived on a magical island like Nantucket, because that was really cool.

Pardon this interruption ...

okay, I've finally sorted out all the Cape Cod pics, now I need to start posting some of them. Which I was working on, but this past weekend I had to put all that away temporarily, because it was my niece's first birthday in Chicago. This of course, is a Command Performance, so we headed out to the Windy City, which is always a joy to visit. A bit hot and humid on friday, and too hazy to suit me for photos, but the party itself was on saturday, and everything went wonderfully. My niece (and goddaughter) is absolutely wonderful, with a VERY mischevious look in her eye constantly. She's going to be trouble!

So, no artsy pics from the weekend, other than this ironic shot I took when wandering the lakefront parks in Chicago on friday. I didn't do too many artsy shots on the weekend, just some city shots on Friday, which I may post if they come out okay. But this weekend was all about taking snapshots of family, and making sure I got just the right shots of my niece and nephew!

But when I was out walking around on friday ... I spotted this scene. I decided after looking at it, that it worked better in black and white than in color ...

Next up will be some Cape Cod pics, I promise. Not too many, just some good ones.

Back from Cape Cod

So I'm back.

And I've got 640 pictures of my week in Cape Cod ... yes, it's a bit much, but the thing is with Cape Cod, that EVERYWHERE you look are great photo subjects. I've never been in any place like that where you just want to shoot everything! Okay, maybe Moscow was that way, but that was just because it was new and exotic, and I knew I'd never go back ... but I've been to Cape Cod multiple times, I've seen a great deal there. But still, I never fail to find something worth taking. A lot of it is the light, which is just amazing. Every photographer loves that "Golden Hour" in the early morning or the late afternoon, when the light takes on a golden hue, but in Cape Cod, that period lasts for HOURS. It's also the neat insertion of color ... on a beach, you'll see a spray of roses or beach plums ... on cottage after cottage, with cedar shingles bleached gray by the sun and elements, you'll find window boxes with intensely colorful flowers, and in front, some of the most beautiful hydrangeas you'll ever find.

In short, Cape Cod is a visual delight. And frankly, I could have taken thousands of more photos. I just didn't have the time, my wife would have killed me, and frankly, I didn't want to spend every minute looking through my lens ... I wanted to have VACATION.

The weather was flawless ... blue skies, great clouds, sunshine, temperatures in the low to mid 70s, low humidity. It could NOT have been any better. And we just went around, sightseeing, going to art galleries and antique shops, eating a lot of seafood, taking in a lot of sunsets like the one above, shot at Corporation Street Beach in Dennis, with the sun setting over Cape Cod Bay), walking on a lot of beaches, and eating a lot of ice cream. That's pretty much all there is to do there ... and it's more than enough.

So now I'm sorting through the pictures (and many of the 640 are actually multiple exposures, as I was expermenting with my camera's settings), and trying to pick out the good ones, which I'll start posting here. Sorry if you want intense variety on this website, but for the next week or weeks, I'll be posting mostly Cape Cod landscape pictures, because that's what I've taken, and that's what I enjoy, and it's my friggin' blog!