“It’s a light that glows from within, like diving into an Edward Hopper painting …” So begins The Cape Awakens, an article by Annie Graves in the April 2010 issue of Yankee Magazine. Wish I had written those words!
They do express so very well the experience of Cape light. That light was captured in images by Joel Meyerowitz in his first book, which has sold over 100,000 copies since publication 25 years ago. Wellfleet is still Meyerowitz’s favorite stomping ground. Not unusual to catch sight of the lanky, bald photographer, in line at PJs, on a soft summer night. But, to get back to the first lines of the article, and especially to the type of light described, it's more fall than spring, golden and warm as an embrace. Above, a photo that actually allows the viewer to dive into an Edward Hopper painting, since Hopper painted this house, in Truro, one that used to belong to the grandparents of my friend Virginia, on Old County Road. (Hopper fans, also see my blog post from October, 2008 and check out the article in Latitudes/Life, linked from January 6, 2010, showing a snow-covered Truro landscape. The Italian writer/photographer created a great montage, mixing Hopper paintings and actual scenes that inspired the paintings.)
“Impressionistic” is one adjective that has been used to describe Cape light.
Painters flocked to Provincetown because of this light. With water shimmering in all directions and light reflecting off surfaces, no wonder our guests often unpack paintbrushes and a small canvas or simply a sketchpad. Above and below, photos of Long Pond, today, at around 11 a.m. We live in a landscape of sharp shadows, emphasized by bright sunshine and clean-er air than what urban dwellers breathe in our polluted cities. Such a special place, Cape Cod ….
