Operating under a new, if amorphous, travel precept, we spent several July days wandering around Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts.  The precept: maximize visits to places with water - preferably salt - and shorelines - preferably dramatic. Simplistically, these sorts of places seemed to promise artistic inspiration with strong contrasts in value (bright highlights, deep shadows) and substance (dry land, deep water, passive shore, restless ocean), strong graphic shapes (rocks, beaches, boats), interesting textures, and elemental themes (ultimately, people trying to succeed in the oceans' dynamic environments). The precept also seemed to rationalize past travel and aesthetic choices.

Did the precept work?  Seemingly. Gloucester and Rockport offered scores of interesting subjects, including a balance between prior purposes (catching fish and harvesting super-quality granite rock) and current purposes that include heavy tourism.  

The next four or so posts will display some of the resulting images.  And there will also be a link to a larger gallery containing a somewhat expanded collection of Massachusetts coastal impressions. 

The Rockport shoreline illustrates both the rationale for our new travel precept and the reason Rockport got its name and its prior purpose: supplying high-quality granite rock for construction all over the eastern United States.

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The sun rises on a misty day, over countless lobster pot buoys.

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The Lady Elaine works the buoys 300 yards off the rocky shore under a muted sunrise. IMG_4374

Across the bay, early mist softens the Straitsmouth Island lighthouse.

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