Slow Photography #69 A Passion for Provincetown

-
Kenneth Lonergan, Provincetown Crier, 2010.
William (Bill) Maynard, Provincetown Painter, at 93.
David Mazochi's post-apocalyptic carnival parade float called "Viva Las Vegas".
Watching the parade: Lizard & Lick and Provincetown Police Officer, Commercial St.
Sunday afternoon in the Provincetown Library.
Stop And Shop Security staff with a customer in a July rainstorm.

 I have a passion for Provincetown and I love the people here. Part of this passion is an appreciation for the simple pleasures offered by this Cape Cod town. Then, there are the experiences I've had here.

 We were married in Provincetown on August 30, 2013.

The week after our small ceremony, I met two old friends from my Denver childhood. Arriving by ferry, they brought their 13-year-old son to Commercial Street, and stayed near Commercial for a day. After swapping memories of past times in Colorado, they said they disliked Provincetown and told me they'd never be back.

 I was curious how they formed their strong opinion, so I asked them:


Did you walk the East End? West End?
>Nope.

  Did you take in a show? Listen to music in a club or on the street?
>Naw.

 Did you go out on the water or swim the harbor, or even sit gazing at water and waves? Did you bike out among the Dunes?
>We tried, but...
Talking about his experience on Commercial Street, the father added: "It's too much like a Mall."


Showing her grandson the sea, near Captain Jacks Wharf.
When we rush our travel experience, we don't look a place in the eye, and so we miss its humanity. In contrast to my friends' impression, the Provincetown I've experienced is vastly different. It's a vibrant, vital, diverse, wildly energetic and eclectic town. Walking its streets to photograph is a meditation in SloFO. I slow my pace to explore images everywhere in Provincetown.





Flyer's sailboat rental, Provincetown harbor.
Catching a summer double rainbow over Provincetown harbor.
Performers at Boatslip, during Carnival.
Perhaps this beautiful, magical town by the sea is so solicitous, and so diverse, that all of us who adore her may say "our Provincetown" even if we are just passing through like migrating birds.

 I offer a few images of our Provincetown. My photographs are like a newspaper Op-Ed, just one person's viewpoint. As you see and read them, you will know that they are not the truth, or your truth. View them merely as "remindful" windows on your own associations and memories of Provincetown. 

 The timeless spirit of Provincetown will always be larger than any single person's vision. Thank you, passionate Provincetown.



Outside Napi's restaurant in Provincetown.
Instagram
Two sunfish, three sails, eight feet.

DEDICATION: This article is dedicated to David Cox and Allen Gallant, William Maynard, Clo Tepper, and Jim Cote.

Thanks for your visit. All photographs and text Copyright Jimages 2015.












































































































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Slow Photography #83 Exploring the Shrimp Hole

-
Image
GETTING THERE: After sailing to Long Island, Bahamas in February 2018, we rowed our dinghy .4 miles (650 meters) east from the anchorage to a sponge fisherman's area ashore at Gray's Bight settlement, Long Island. First called Yuma by the Arawaks, and later named Fernandina by Columbus, Long Island is 180 miles southeast of Nassau.  Explore the Shrimp Hole and see the shrimp bodies reflected by the undersurface, an experience like floating in space, in this video:                 Play   Video "Exploring the Shrimp Hole, A Salty Paws Adventure" THE SHRIMP HOLE: We'd been previously to Long Island's famous Deans Blue Hole, one of the world's deepest at 663 feet. However, swimming in the shrimp hole was surreal. To get there, you can drive South from Thompson Bay. Since we were anchored, we landed a dinghy and took a short walk across the Queen's Highway and through the grounds of Saint Mary's Spanish church past the g
Read more

Slow Photography #84: Serve and Return ~Jimmy Connors and Fast Kodak Film

-
Image
Caught on Film: Jimmy Connors returns serve to Stan Smith .  Kodak has been a vital and important part of photography all my life. So, it was a thrill to learn this week's news that Kodak Alaris is bringing back T-Max Professional P-3200/TMZ film is coming back, March 2018 in 36 exposure rolls, after being discontinued 5 years ago. Film is Kodak's heritage. Tennis is my heritage, but at the other end of the racket. I started playing amateur tennis when I was 9, but the pros, including Connors, were heroes who lived on another planet, visible through the distant telescope of TV. I craved a Wilson T2000 racket so I could hit as hard as Jimmy. Now, I had the chance to cross over, and see bad boy Jimmy Connors up close. For 160 consecutive weeks, he ranked #1 in the world and when played in Denver, Colorado my senior year in high school, he was the men's singles champion of the Denver Open for the 3rd year. At the time, playing for the Manual High School tennis tea
Read more

Slow Photography #51 Color, Dance and Energy at Bahamas Junkanoo

-
Image
The photographer Jim Austin Jimages captures Junkanoo and its music, passion and personalities.   Feel the drums, the fire in “ya belly”, the rhythms of Junkanoo , the soul of the Bahamian people. Junkanoo dancers have costumes made of crepe paper, and their masks consist of colored cloth and leather. These stilt dancers, street dancers, clowns and acrobatic dancers are joined by bands playing powerful rhythms on goatskin drums, cowbells, bugles, horns, whistles and Queen conch shells. All the dancers spend months making their costumes by hand. Jim traveled to Nassau several times under sail, rowing ashore to meet the dancers at midnight on Bay Street, for this 9 image photo essay, "Portraits of Bahamas Junkanoo":   The next Junkanoo is Boxing Day December 26, 2015. Thousands will dance in the streets.  ____ The Photographer JIM AUSTIN JIMAGES is a teacher and writer. He sails from the Bahamas to Canada, living year-round
Read more