I flew yesterday. Another flight over Martha's Vineyard. This one had some specific destinations in mind. I'll get to those but I wanted to share what else we flew over. I fly with Mike out of the Katama grass strip airfield outside of Edgartown. Mike provides biplane rides for tourists wanting to see the island from above. When we fly though, he pilots a Cessna 172. Why? Because for aerial work you need the wing above you not under you.

Today's flight was simply wonderful: clear skies, little wind and cool but not cold temperature. I'd been trying to go up for about 10 days but the weather was not cooperative. Yesterday it was perfect.

This one, directly above, is on Chappaquidick Island and is where there has been a great deal of erosion over the past couple of years.

This one above is from 2012. Quite a difference.

If you've been reading the blog for awhile or are a subscriber you know this isn't the first time I've made aerial photographs of Martha's Vineyard. Actually, the photographs I make of the island are part of a larger project of photographs of all the islands off the Cape. So, why keep going up to make pictures? Because, as time has gone on, I am now thinking of and using aerial photographs differently. Initially, I was just going up to see and shoot what was interesting, beautiful, striking or alarming. Now, I am mostly working on a specific project to photograph one area at a time. This approach started in Iceland while I was on a residency in 2013 and has continued on the Vineyard. I photograph the same area from the air and on the ground and pair the two in one series. Why? Because our take away from these two vantage points is vastly different in each case. Each one informs but alters our comprehension of the other. The challenge for me is to shift slightly our understanding of landscape photographs and, ultimately, how we look at them.

I hope you like these. 

 You can reach me at: Neal's Email

BTW: Reminder that there is an opening at 555 Gallery in Boston this Saturday evening from 5-8 pm. The 16 photographs of mine in the show are from the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia and the Spallanzani Collection in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Some are new prints, in color, that are gorgeous!

See you there.