Chasing Perspective

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” 

Henry David Thoreau

“When I was growing up here on the Cape my father was a captain in the Merchant Marine, but he was also a hobby photographer. So, for as long as I can remember, I was always playing around with cameras,” shares local photographer James Penswick. 

Today with his Instagram account, @james.penswick, Penswick shares his love of aerial photography and the Cape with his growing audience. But it wasn’t until just about a year and a half ago, when Penswick traded in his old camera for a drone. “I was inspired by friends that started taking some really incredible photos and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to get into this,’” he says. “I absolutely fell in love with it.”

According to Penswick, the first thing you want to do when you purchase a drone is take it up to 400 feet. “You just have this freedom of exploration,” he explains. “What I have since come to realize is some of my favorite shots might just be a few feet off the ground because I can capture sand dunes and other areas that I may not be able to get to by foot.”

Instead of putting the drone up to 400 feet and capturing whatever he can, Penswick tries his best to plan his shots. “It’s really funny, because a lot of time I think I have everything mapped out, when the reality of it is sometimes I capture a shot I was not expecting.” He says,“You never know what to expect when you live on the Cape.” Because of the tides near his home next to the canal, Penswick says he can put his drone up at any time of day and the…