Season’s Shifting Tides

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck

Photographer David Long has traveled the world—from Southeast Asia to Peru—but his wandering spirit always finds its way home to Cape Cod.

The rippled sands of the Brewster Flats, the bustling streets of Chatham Main Street, the secluded nature of the National Seashore, and the electric energy of Provincetown are just a few settings the Falmouth photographer notes as his favorites spanning the region. “Cape Cod is so diverse,” says Long. “The Upper Cape being more populated with boats and beach scenes, and as you make your way to the Outer Cape it becomes more pristine—it conjures that classic New England feeling in terms of architecture, grasslands, and tidepools up near the Seashore.”

With a minimalist lens, his intimate landscape photography showcases the natural beauty of Cape Cod, homing in on a specific point of interest within a larger setting. “The Cape is the only place I’ve found to be different than the rest of New England,” says Long—and he would know due to his extensive travels across the region, publishing photography eBooks chronicling his trips throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont. “People are always surprised when I tell them I shoot fall colors down here [Cape Cod],” explains Long. “If you go inland, you can find some deciduous trees and along the shorelines the grasses grow from that vibrant summertime green to that crisp wheat color. I love the way the region’s autumnal landscape gradually grows golden.” For Long, the icy solitude of winter on the Cape and the Islands evokes a different...