Thoreau Slept Here ... Holmes Farm
While wandering the paths of Holmes Farm in Manomet, a village of Plymouth, MA, I am unaware that I am traveling in the footsteps of Thoreau on his Cape Cod walks. Only later do I discover that his journal chronicles his stay at the Holmes Inn, adjacent to the fields and bogs of this coastal microclimate, which the family had farmed since the earliest founder days of the Plymouth Colony.
I am most drawn to this hidden landscape of pastoral rolling hills in late day light, as that raking light accentuates the gentle curves of the hills and textures of the vegetation. I observe the play of light and shadow that details these varied textures and softened colors and record those that hold my attention. While wandering, my reverie is broken only by the farmer driving by in her shiny new tractor… like Thoreau, I am reminded of the ongoing struggle between the survival of the natural and man's drive for progress and am comforted by the knowledge that this beautiful piece of coastal farmland will remain as bucolic landscape for future generations.
After my walks, I review the bloodless data that the computer in my camera produces; I use software "brushes" to "paint" the landscape as I saw it. I embrace the technology that allows me to do this, but realize that my unquenchable thirst for surrounding myself with nature serves as antidote and balance to this technology. It is an age-old struggle, the artists of the 19th century painted landscapes as a reaction to the industrial revolution; their art inspires me to photograph places that offer a sense of balance. While Thoreau was a purist, I have photographed an accessible pleasure…hidden from the everyday only by a long driveway and a stand of trees.
