Paul and Jes painting my office/gym October 19, 2018
This is Paul and Jes, two painters who painted my gym after I had it renovated in October, 2018. They were good guys and worked really hard. The first day I was talking to them and I asked if they needed anything? Paul asked for coffee. So, every day I served them coffee and homemade raisin/oatmeal cookies.
Monte
“Junior” at Chapoquoit beach September 26, 2018
My friend, Junior, kite boarding at Chapoquoit beach. It was a windy day and there were lots of kite boarders and windsurfers in the water. I’ve been avoiding the beach until after the tourists are gone. The fall and early winter are the best times to be at the ocean.
It felt great to be back.
Monte
Surf Drive Beach August 26, 2018
Riding on the bike path today with Jenny and hoping to find subjects for my photography project, "By the Ocean." This bicycle-powered ice cream vendor looked "classic."
Monte
Millie on the Village Green August 25, 2018
I went out on Saturday to photograph the "Move-to-Remove" group in my town because I haven't photographed them for a while. They meet every Saturday no matter what the weather. Millie, the woman in this photograph, was concerned that her sign promoting the work of the Parkland High School students against gun violence was too long for passing cars to read it. So, I photographed her holding it.
There is an admirable earnestness in how these people approach their weekly standouts on the Village Green. They stay informed about what is going on in our politics and when they disagree they make signs and gather on the Green to peacefully share their opinions with everyone driving by. This, I believe, is what the writers of the first amendment intended citizens to do with their freedom of speech.
It is absurd that our courts have ruled that money is a form of free speech and that billionaires are simply exercising their first amendment rights when they bribe politicians and tilt the outcome of elections with large, undisclosed amounts of cash. Their money is corrupting our democracy. Billionaires should be restricted to standing on the Village Green and holding up their homemade signs just like the rest of us.
Maybe you disagree with Millie, but she is an American peacefully and defiantly expressing her opinion in the public square and her right to do that is what makes America great.
Monte
West Falmouth Harbor at sunset July 31, 2018
I was outside around 1930 tonight and noticed the really nice clouds out toward the beach so I came back just before sunset and flew my drone up to 400 feet to capture this image of the sunset. I thought it turned out pretty well.
Monte
Quissett Harbor 2018-07-08 - sunrise
On Solitude
With advancing age, I've found myself even less able to navigate the complexities of human relationships than when I was younger, and thus I've become less inclined to seek them out, and more inclined toward solitude. Human nature is a perplexing mix of emotion and desire and trying to infer where another person is in that minefield is just too exhausting for me anymore.
Michel de Montaigne, the 16th-century blogger before there was an internet, wrote an essay about solitude that feels relevant today, nearly five centuries later. Before sharing some of his quotes, I have to acknowledge that when I read Montaigne's essays, I usually can't be sure that I know what he's trying to say. Perhaps it is the depth of his thinking or the difficulty in translating 16th-century French prose into 21st century English, or maybe I just can't follow even a simple philosophical discussion.
From Montaigne's essay, Of Solitude:
"It is not that the wise man cannot live anywhere content, yes, and alone in a palace crowd; but if he has the choice, says he, he will flee even the sight of a throng. He will endure it if need be, but if it is up to him, he will choose solitude. He does not feel sufficiently rid of vices if he must still contend with those of other men."
"There is nothing so unsociable and so sociable as man; the one by his vice, the other by his nature."
"… to live alone and do without company, let us make our contentment depend on ourselves; let us cut loose from all the ties that bind us to others; let us win from ourselves the power to live really alone and to live that way at our ease."
"We should have wife, children, goods, and above all health, if we can; but we must not bind ourselves to them so strongly that our happiness depends on them. We must reserve a back shop all our own, entirely free, in which to establish our real liberty and our principal retreat and solitude. Here our ordinary conversation must be between us and ourselves …"
"We have a soul that can be turned upon itself; it can keep itself company; it has the means to attack and the means to defend, the means to receive and the means to give: let us not fear that in this solitude we shall stagnate in tedious idleness:
In solitude, be to thyself a throng.
Tibullus"
"The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself."
"He who can turn the offices of friendship and fellowship around and fuse them into himself, let him do so."
"Abandon with the other pleasures that which comes from the approbation of others; and as for your knowledge and ability, don't worry, it will not lose its effect if it makes you yourself a better man."
And at the end of his essay Montaigne cautions the reader:
"Seek no longer that the world should speak of you, but how you should speak to yourself. Retire into yourself, but first prepare to receive yourself there; it would be madness to trust in yourself if you do not know how to govern yourself. There are ways to fail in solitude as well as in company."
Montaigne advises that those who seek solitude should already be able to feel both shame and respect for themselves.
His essay is intriguing, and it took me a long time to read the nine pages. Afterward, I pondered it and went back through the underlinings and notes I'd scribbled in the margins. The one overwhelming thought I had was this: Wouldn't it be nice to sit for hours and talk to somebody else about what Montaigne was trying to say, but who, besides ourselves, is willing to make time for such a seemingly useless endeavor?
Monte
My latest video is about people at West Falmouth Harbor, which is very near my home. To make the video I convinced my friend, Ben, to let me fly my drone over him while he did his paddleboarding in the harbor. I spent three days photographing and filming people and scenery at West Falmouth Harbor and compiled the footage into this eight-minute video.
Monte
Three mornings in a row I've been to West Falmouth Harbor at sunrise to photograph the people there. It's a lot of fun to meet them and capture images of what they do on the water. I go to the harbor with the idea of photographing paddleboarders and kayakers, but there are a lot of people who come for the fish.
The young man with the big fish saw me taking pictures of the boats and asked me if I ever took pictures of fish? I responded by asking him if he had a fish? He did.
Monte
I'm starting a year-long photography project I'll call "By the Ocean." The plan is to use my photography to document the changes over a year of the beaches, harbors, and people I know in my town on Cape Cod. This is the first video. I'll be posting the videos on YouTube and sharing them on Facebook. When you're on YouTube you can subscribe to my channel to be notified each time I post a new installment.
If I run into you while I'm out taking pictures I hope you'll say a few words on camera to be used in future videos.
Monte
Kayaker at Quissett Harbor July 8, 2018
This kayaker arrived at Quissett Harbor just after me. I took some photographs and shot some video. I should have zoomed in tighter so that it would be more obvious that she is the subject of the picture.
Monte
Quissett Harbor July 8, 2018
“Don’t you get bored?” the woman on the boat asked me upon returning from a morning fishing trip. I answered with a question: “How could I get bored in such a beautiful place?” We laughed. I photographed them on their way out earlier in the morning, and I was still photographing the harbor when they came back maybe two hours later. I’d met this couple a few days ago when the woman fell out of the boat. We laughed then, too. Good people, by which I mean they are friendly and accepting of a stranger with a camera.
She tells me she has a Golden Retriever and thinks I might like to photograph her. Of course, I would. Photography connects us with others through the shared stories conveyed in the captured images. It makes me feel good to think that maybe some of my pictures can tell a story that somebody wants to remember.
Most of my interactions with the strangers I photograph are like this one – fun and uplifting. I say uplifting because when I meet new people, and we immediately find ways to laugh and talk about the beauty around us, it makes me believe that humanity still has a chance to save itself from itself.
On my drive to the harbor I saw good light reflecting off the treetops when the sun began peeking over the horizon. I thought it was a hint that it would be a good morning. It was. How could I get bored in such a beautiful place?
Monte
The third try might be the charm, but I don't know if I'm totally happy with this shot of Quissett Harbor and the Knob. I think I probably should've rotated the drone a little more to the left so the image wouldn't have such a big patch of open water in the upper right corner. Still, it's a pretty cool shot. I was there shortly after sunrise this morning. I love how the sun is reflecting off the taller trees in the foreground and the boats at the far end of the harbor.
What a spectacular morning it was! Great light. After getting this drone shot I walked around the harbor for about two hours photographing the boats and their reflections. The light kept changing and getting better as the sun rose higher in the sky. The reflections in the water grew richer as the morning went on.
People started arriving to go fishing, paddle boarding, sailing, and kayaking. I photographed all of them.
Monte
These are the lead marchers in the Woods Hole Fourth of July parade.
This is a drone image taken from 400 feet above the ground of the Knob at Quissett Harbor.
The weather looked good for trying again to get an aerial shot of the knob at Quissett Harbor with my drone this morning, the fourth of July. This was my second try and it is better than the first, but still not what I'm hoping to get. The low clouds look cool on the drone video that I captured, but in the still image they make it look like there is a smudge on the lens. This glitch is more obvious in the physical print of the image than on the screen version. So, I'll keep trying.
While driving home from Quissett Harbor my local radio station, WCAI, had a reminder of the many July 4th parades that were planned for today on Cape Cod, including one in Woods Hole. I'd been so focused on getting a photograph of the Knob that I hadn't thought about photographing the parade at Woods Hole.
Woods Hole is a village within Falmouth and is home to some world-famous scientific institutions, especially the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. They have a parade on Independence Day and it has all of the fun, offbeat color, and nerdy wackiness that one would expect from a bunch of scientists. It was terrific. There were kids and adults dressed in costumes and marching to drummers and a piccolo player and even a violinist.
At the end of the parade route, there was a traditional water balloon fight with water balloons and giant water guns. I got a lot of video clips of the water balloon fight but didn't think about shooting still images of it until I was riding my bicycle home. I just don't think fast enough to do event photography.
Overall, it was another wonderful day in my town by the ocean.
Monte
The plan was to get up at sunrise and go out with my drone to get some aerial shots of harbor scenes, possibly at Quissett Harbor where I could get some shots looking over the Knob. But, when I got up and looked outside there was a dense fog and my reflex thought was to go back to bed, which I did - for about two minutes. The little voice in my head started whispering to me: "don't be such a lazy, unimaginative bum! The fog might make photographing the boats from ground level interesting."
So, I got up again, packed my gear and went to West Falmouth Harbor where I spent the next two hours circling the harbor getting shots of the boats in the fog. It was great and I even saw another photographer out there who must have responded to the same inner voice, but his voice forgot to tell him to dress in a way that would discourage the bugs from biting him. He spent a lot of time scratching and swatting.
I also met a man from Florida who is a kiteboarder and a paddleboarder and spends his summers here. He talked about finding peace on the water. I get it, even though I only experience the water through a lens. Just being at the water's edge is a special experience that I can't put into words, which is why I use a camera.
It was a fun morning. I got some shots that I like, and many that weren't as good as I thought they would be. But mostly I got out and did what I think might be called "living," and that felt good.
We are almost always rewarded when we push ourselves to do more and when we adapt to the unexpected happenings in the world in which we live. It's a lesson I have to reteach myself every day.
Monte
I've been thinking about doing a year-long photography project I'll call "By the Ocean" and I finally decided to officially start it last week. But then on Saturday night, I had an unpleasant kerfuffle with a tourist that left me feeling uncertain about pursuing a documentary photography project. A couple of days of legal research confirmed what I already knew to be true, which is that the right of photographers to photograph people in public places is protected by the law. The project shall continue! If you don't want to be in it, just tell me. You don't need to threaten me, or impugn my intentions, or call me profane names. That approach doesn't work with anybody. You should've learned that in kindergarten. And, finally, neither civilians nor the police have the legal authority to demand that a photographer delete images from his/her camera.
Think about this: everybody on the beach in the above picture has a camera with them, even if it is just their smartphone, and they are all taking pictures and you are probably inadvertently included in lots of those photos taken by total strangers. To be in public is to be seen, and possibly photographed. And those pictures might get shared on facebook and twitter, and it is not against the law. The legal concept for this is that there can be no expectation of privacy on a public beach.
My photo documentary idea is nothing too original. I want to record the scenes at the beaches (mostly Chapoquoit) and harbors (mostly West Falmouth harbor) in Falmouth through the four seasons. So, for example, this photograph of Chapoquoit beach in late June with a crowd of people in swimsuits sitting in beach chairs is starkly different from the images I have of Chapoquoit in winter with people in parkas walking out on the frozen water.
Please come and talk to me if you see me on the beach with my camera and let me shoot a short video clip of you describing your experience of being near the ocean. I'm hoping to make regular videos about my progress with this project and it would be great to include your voice.
Monte
If you are the woman who insulted me this evening, I have deleted all the images that you requested be deleted. I never delete directly from my camera because it's a great way to corrupt a memory card and lose other images. I was too taken aback by your accusations to even try to explain this to you.
Monte
Tonight I was at the beach photographing people and this nice couple asked me to take their picture. They wanted me to use their camera, and I tried, but it wouldn't take a picture when I pressed the shutter button. The man explained that it was an old camera and sometimes that happens. So I offered to take their picture with my camera and send them a copy. They agreed and I took several shots trying to get the setting sun between them.
If you are this couple, the picture I send you will not contain my name like this one does. It will also be higher resolution.
Monte
I'm not that interested in photographing boats in the harbors around my town mainly because everybody does it. A picture of a boat, usually a small sailboat, is a classic Cape Cod image. Don't misunderstand me, I think they can be very pleasing pictures, it just seems like a tired subject.
But, this morning I drove past the harbor on my way to the beach and was stunned by the beauty of the reflections on the water. It was about two hours after sunrise and the wind was minimal at around 2-3 mph. The surface of the water was glassy smooth, which made it a great reflector. I had to stop and take pictures. In fact, I took a lot of pictures and flew my drone over the boats as well.
This is why I think it is not a waste of time to keep photographing the same places - every day presents a whole new set of images.
This obvious observation has inspired me to begin in earnest a year-long project of photographing the beaches and harbors near my home. I think I will call it "By the Ocean." I will mostly concentrate on Chapoquoit and West Falmouth harbor, but there are plenty of other terrific spots as well.
Monte
I took this picture yesterday morning about an hour after sunrise. I put my camera on a really long pole and used an extra-long shutter release cable ... No, of course not.
I flew my drone directly over the boats and pointed the camera straight down. Before I had the drone I thought it would be cool to play with, but the added possibilities for perspective provided by the drone are fantastic. I've photographed the dinghies at West Falmouth harbor for years, and the images are always boring. I actually like this image.
Monte
This is a 6 1/2-minute video about my friend, Paul Miskovsky, and how he volunteers his time and equipment to keep Chapoquoit beach beautiful. It's also about the many people who love this beach.
Monte
