Pastel Skies on the Horizon

If New England had a color palette, it would surely draw from local photographer Katie Bartow’s soft soulful imagery. Her aesthetic reflects that which she loves most—slow peaceful days on Cape Cod. 

“Photography is painting with light.”

~ Miroslav Tichy

As a child of seven or eight years old, Bartow says her draw to the area began as she spent a week every summer vacationing in Orleans with a big group of family and friends. “I would say I’m partial to the Outer Cape,” she laughs as she continues, “I love Orleans and right around 2020 I finally moved here.”

Around that same time, her love for photography became a more consistent affair, as she began sharing much of her work on Instagram. “I always wanted to have some sort of creative outlet—something that was my own,” Bartow shares. “I would take iPhone photos and a couple digital shots here and there, posting them on my Instagram. From there, I began to focus on learning more about cameras and taking photography a little more seriously. At first the platform was really just used for fun, sharing my photos for friends and family, and then it developed naturally into what it is now.” Currently, her Instagram profile @simplymekb has about 5,500 followers and is growing. “So many people love the Cape and Islands, therefore I think people were just naturally responding when I began posting photos from the Cape. I thought, ‘Oh, okay! I think there is an audience here.’ Accordingly, I really turned my focus on posting mostly Cape and Islands photos.” ...