Finding Colors in the Gray
September is a magical month in Provincetown. It is still warm and sunny most of the time, which makes for an extra month of Summer. The flowers keep going and growing, and the water is almost as warm as it is in August. Plus the crowds thin out so town is much more navigable.
For the photographers here, the angle and position of the sun make for some stunning morning and evening golden hours, with a richness to the light that doesn’t always come through in the hazier days of July and August.
And I can take photos without a lot of pesky humans in the way!
I got out a few times this September, but not as much as I would have liked due to work travel, a vacation in Ireland, and end-of-season visitors. All good things!
One of the few evenings when I was free to shoot ended up being very gray and just kinda meh. After about 15 minutes biking around with my camera, I stopped at the West End boat launch and sat on one of the benches, looking at the gray skies and calm water. I decided to head back home and work on some photos I hadn’t yet edited.
As I was biking out of the parking lot, I was face-to-face with the house that sits right across the street. It has a worn and faded roof and shakes, which the cloudy skies made all the more subdued. But I quickly noticed the bright red and pink flowers that fill up the front yard, as well as the American flag mounted next to the front door. I realized, somewhat stupidly, that color was all around me–I just had to take time to notice it.
So I abandoned my new plan to abandon my old plan, and spent 45 minutes shooting colorful gardens, windowboxes, signs, storefronts, umbrellas, and the like. It wasn’t as easy as shooting in good evening light, but I’m glad I pushed myself to see what was really there and not just what my brain initially told me was there.
It was a good lesson as a photographer, but also as a human being who is always fighting for a slice of mindfulness in a world that is built to distract.
