The photos were tucked in the back of the gallery, almost hidden behind the colorful nautical scenes and seaside landscapes that typifies most of the commercial paintings sold in town. The photos also featured local landmarks of the harbor, the town and the North Shore coastline-but they stood out from the other artwork in two distinctive ways. For one thing, the only colors in the photos were the subtle shades of sepia-tone brown. And second, it was clear that this entire collection of photographs had been taken from the air.
Looking down on the distinctive New England harbor and headland of Marblehead, Massachusetts – where both my grandfather and my mother were born and raised, and where I’d spent time each summer ever since I was a very tiny little girl – it was also obvious that the moments captured by this particular photographer had occurred many years before I was born. A lot more open land, one-room cottages still perched on the rocky beachside dunes, and FAR fewer sailboats in the harbor.
