Centering on the Cape

Sandy Neck, 2013

These pictures from Cape Cod, Massachusetts were made on the morning after my Taunton pictures of the last post. These landscapes are from the Upper Cape, which is actually the lower Cape geographically. Sandy Neck Beach is where my high School sweetheart and I would drive to whenever we had a car for a few hours.

Sandy Neck Beach, 2013

The beach was a target range for the Navy during World War II. We would walk the dunes searching for big bullets and such.

Gateway to the Sandy Neck Parking Lot, 2013

It seems that I am taking the same picture over and over again. Some days are like that. Especially when the pictures are about roads not taken. To get it out of my system here are more Cape Cod walkways, pathways, roadways, etc.

Boardwalk, 2013

The road not taken in my life upon graduating from high school was my choice not to enroll in the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and not to join the Merchant Marines. I love the ocean, but I’m not a sailor. As a teenager, my idea of being a sailor was based on what I read in Kerouac’s On the Road. Upon visiting the Maritime Academy I immediately discovered that sailors were not a gang of beatniks. I then read Kerouac’s Dharma Bums and had a much clearer fantasy of what I wanted to be.

Boardwalk 2, Sandwich, 2013

I decided to follow my girlfriend to the University of Massachusetts. That is where I became a dharma bum, a filmmaker and a photographer.

Old Sandwich Game Farm, 2013

Back to the photography part, some days it is difficult to get things out of the center of the frame. It’s like walking on a road. It is empowering to simply walk down the middle. The Buddha encouraged the “middle path” of life. My life has been slightly off-center, but I think centering is a good idea in general. I’ll close with the off-center picture below.

Sandwich, 2013