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The
Best of the Boston Shore:
A Photo Travel Tour
by Michael and Allison Goldstein
(Editor's Note: A slide show follows the article with explanatory captions.
Click on the link at the end of the article.)
Boom. A heavy thud, like distant cannon fire,
wakes us from a sound sleep just after dawn. The whole house shakes. Where am I?
The bed vibrates slightly in a way I remember experiencing during a slight earthquake in Bermuda many years ago. But this is no earthquake. We’re staying at the Spray Cliff Inn just outside Marblehead, Massachusetts, a marvelous bed-and-breakfast that is aptly named. The tide is high, and the sound is the ocean beating against a forty-foot seawall that lies directly below our window.
High tide makes a great alarm clock. The sun will soon be over the horizon. What am I doing in bed?
I hurry to a point of land just seaward of the Inn that allows me to look back toward the shore. My tripod is set up and ready as the best of the morning light makes the Inn and the waterline glow, bright enough that a fast shutter speed will stop the high surf in its tracks. No need for a polarizer here, as the sun is behind me, but an 81 B warming filter helps.
Marblehead,
the sailing center of Massachusetts, was already thriving when Sir Edward
Cornwallis founded Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1749. The Old Town boasts many
buildings which predate that event by decades. The streets are narrow, and
parking is almost impossible. Stumbling on the Old Town House (1727) is an
historic occasion for us, for it marks what might be the only public parking lot
in the Old Port. We leave our van for the day in order to enjoy hours of walking
up twisting alleys and down tiny lanes.
The harbor area, alone, is worth the trip for its photographic possibilities. A sailing school is readying its dinghies as we arrive, and I manage a few grab shots. A quick walk up a hill yields a “bird’s eye view” of the harbor with the many yachts moored therein. You never know when you might stumble across an “old salt” carving a boat or fixing a net, a wonderful subject for a portrait. If it’s a sunny day, be sure your outboard flash is ready, and you’re familiar with the technique of providing “fill light”. The shadows under the “old salt’s” hat will be much darker on your film. Set the fill flash for one f-stop less than the ambient light exposure, and you’re in business.
Our
introduction to the coast of Massachusetts on a sunny summer day is to drive
down King Street hill into Rockport. The blue waters of Pigeon Cove, spread out
before us, compliment the bright colors of the umbrellas that decorate Front
Beach. Sailboats glide back and forth, children splash in the shallows, and ice
cream drips from a hundred sticky hands. The warm breeze is redolent of seaweed
and salt.
Having been burned with auto-exposure in a beach environment, I check the exposure by measuring the front lighting from the palm of my hand and mentally opening up one f-stop. If the sun is side-lighting my subject, I’ll open up another stop, and a third stop if my subject is backlit. This technique, infallible for many years, came from one of John Shaw’s excellent books.
It doesn’t take us long to discover Bearskin Neck. A long peninsula that stretches off Dock Square, it's lined with art galleries, pottery shops, wharves, and boats, and a multitude of seafood restaurants. It's an artist's paradise, a browser's dream, and a gourmet's seventh heaven. However, it's bone dry, and that's not a reference to the humidity level.
A fishing town on the Atlantic coast, dry? Who ever heard of such a thing?
A painting at the entrance of the Hannah Jumper Restaurant, on Tuna Wharf, reveals all. In July of 1856, a formidable lady named Hannah Jumper led two hundred like-minded women in a coordinated attack on the town's rum supply. Singing the songs of the fledgling Temperance Union, they destroyed every keg, barrel, and bottle of rum they could find. Rockport has remained a dry town to this day.
However,
seafaring tradition dies hard. As soon as the sailing schooner Appledore III
clears Rockport Harbor, the bar opens. For the next two hours, you can sip your
favorite tipple while passing lighthouses and islands. Do your photography
before you swill grog, however, as those dials and knobs become quite confusing
after you “lower the level.” On a sailboat, the only lens you’ll find
useful is a wide-angle. Looking upwards into the rigging will yield many
delightful compositions.
We spend an afternoon aboard the Super Daunty VII, a large motor vessel operated by the Cape Ann Whale Watch, out of Gloucester. They guarantee whale sightings and provide a marine biologist to explain cetacean habits and identify different species. This is a fabulous experience. Huge, black, rubbery creatures rise from the depths, hissing and blowing fishy vapors. Allison and I enjoy a fascinating afternoon, watching these leviathans of the deep. Humpback whales dominate the day's activity, supplying constant sightings for the two hours the boat spends on the feeding grounds.
Capturing whales is tricky photography. First, you have to diplomatically push all the tourists aside (watch out for the vicious three-year-olds!), so you can get a clear shot. Then, you can bet the exposure will change constantly, as the sun peeks in and out of the clouds. Using straight auto-exposure almost guarantees your images will be under or over-exposed, as sky or black whales dominate your composition.
There’s no easy solution but to constantly watch the light and keep a ready finger on the compensation dial. If you’re using a zoom telephoto, you’re going to be busy. I like to keep a second camera, with a wide-angle lens, ready to shoot, as these whales sometimes come close enough to be tickled with a broom handle!
Sunset finds us at the Eastern Point Light, between Gloucester and Rockport. The tide is coming in, and fishermen are dodging the waves that crash over the breakwater. It’s fun to play with filters and lenses as the light changes. I like using my 24mm wide-angle lens for scenics, filling my foreground with a rock or building, delighting in the deep depth of field. Using the Cokin “P series” filter holders reduces the chances of vignetting, with stacked filters.
Be sure to watch the horizons! Lighthouses can develop a “list to starboard” with time. Don’t let your tripod legs sink into the sand while you’re waiting for the right light. It’s the natural horizon you want to keep level, so resist the temptation to depend on the vertical lines of a building. Perspective is a tricky witch. I use a small plastic bubble level, inserted into the hot shoe of the camera, but I still check the whole image. If you’re doing a dawn shot on a cold morning, keep checking that your tripod legs haven’t slipped with the changing temperature.
As the lovely
pink glow of evening light fades, we drive farther along the shore road to the
Ocean Edge Inn and Restaurant. Their baked sole, in a cheese and breading sauce,
is exquisite, lacking only the forbidden company of a dry white wine to be a
perfect meal. Newburyport, a short distance south of Salisbury, was once
considered a candidate for the state capital. The largest coastal town north of
Gloucester and formerly a shipbuilding center, it is the birthplace of the U.S.
Coast Guard. The whole of its downtown area has been completely restored
with brick sidewalks and roadways to match the nineteenth century warehouses and
storefronts. On a sunny day, the entire center of town seems to glow in a warm
light. This is warming filter country, so come prepared. If you can find an
elevated view and keep the sky out of your composition, you’ll find images
that remind you of the terra cotta rooftops of Venice. A highly saturated film,
like Fuji Velvia, is just the thing to use under these circumstances.
Boat-watchers enjoy the 1100-foot boardwalk that follows the edge of the inner harbor. It's great for working up an appetite for an Italian dinner at Ciro's or The Grog, with their marinated lamb tips with pasta. However, the most elegant way to see Newburyport is by open horse-drawn carriage. Todd Woodworth runs daily tours. He picks us up the next day in the late afternoon, right on the town square. Dressed as a coachman, he provides excellent insights into the history and architecture of this attractive place. Promise him a couple of prints (and deliver!), and he’ll stop so you can do some poses and setups, using old buildings as your background.
From Marblehead, we drive south to the main attraction of the South Shore, Plimoth Plantation, a recreated pilgrim village just outside Plymouth, Massachusetts. The year is 1627, and the pilgrims have established a tenuous hold in the New World after a hazardous voyage on the Mayflower. I have the pleasure of watching my wife Allison's imagination allow her to “time travel” to another period of history, as she reports:
"…From
the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat, a farmer smiles shyly at me, continuing his
chopping the while, for there are fires to feed, and ovens to warm. He leans on
his axe, as I approach, enjoying an excuse to chat.
'Good day, Mistress,' he greets me. 'What
brings you to our village?'
'Good day to you.' I smile back. 'I've come
to learn what courage or madness brought you and your young families to this
wild place, so far from England.'
'Do you value freedom to speak and worship as
you please, Mistress? I…ah, but the governor approaches on his rounds, and I
must appear busy. God bye ye, Mistress.'”
As in all historical re-creations, there are potential “grab shots” galore to capture the feeling of being in somebody else’s century. The staff, always dressed in the garb of the period, will be happy to pose for you, pausing as they perform their daily chores.
I keep the flash on the camera when I’m shooting like this, with a zoom lens of 90mm or so. I use a monopod as much as I can, since taking the time to set up a tripod will strain everyone’s patience. Grab-shooting will be successful if you practice your technique in advance and don’t become anxious. Bracketing the exposure of every image you make will help you to overcome the careless mistakes often made by a rushed photographer.
Our final
stop on this rugged shore is the town of New Bedford, famous as a whaling center
in a prior century. The Whaling Museum features huge bones, fascinating ship
models, and all the modern technology of a world lit by whale oil lamps. The
fence that guards the Museum consists of wrought-iron harpoon heads. The
Mariner's Home, across the street, features a brass plaque on the wall that
states not its street address, but its latitude and longitude. It is a
fitting place to end our visit.
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