LIGHTHOUSE BEACH, CHATHAM – Dave Goldstein aimed his camera at the Chatham Lighthouse and explained, “As soon as you walk away, it’s just a memory. It’s not a literal picture of what you’ve seen,” he said. Holding his camera, he said, “This literally freezes it in time.”
If you see a lighthouse or a spectacular Cape Cod beach and you don’t take a picture, did you really see it? People stopping at Lighthouse Beach in Chatham on Sunday did not ponder the question. They took pictures. Lots of pictures.
Dave Goldstein documents a trip to Chatham Lighthouse for the Minuteman Harley Owners Group.
Andre Santo, a native of Brazil working in Brewster, said he shares pictures “just to let people know I am here.”
Stefan Kaluziak of Boston, a graduate student in genomics at Northeastern University, held his Sony camera and aimed at the Atlantic Ocean. “You know when you go on a vacation and you have memories, the stories of your life. There are moments that you want to hold on to.”
“When you first come out here and see this, it’s like, ‘wow.’ I guess we want a little piece of that ‘wow’ that we can look at every day,” said Kaluziak.
Andre Santos, a resident of Brazil who is working at a resort in Brewster, was taking pictures to share with his friends. He has been in this country for two months, and is only here for the summer. “I share pictures all the time just to let people know I am here,” he said.
Harley Owners Groups make sure members remember their trips. Every Harley Owners Group has a photographer, said Goldstein, who is s the photographer and webmaster for the Harley Minuteman group. His day job is as the chief engineer at WBZ radio in Boston.
Goldstein, of South Dartmouth, was on a tour of Cape Cod lighthouses with the Minuteman group. But he wasn’t the only one in the group taking pictures. Most members seemed to bring out a phone or small camera to record their own memories.
Ken Oldrid of Fall River was one of the Minuteman group of 17 motorcycles and 25 people who stopped in Chatham after visiting Nobska Lighthouse in Falmouth, and Wing’s Neck Lighthouse in Bourne. “I’m taking pictures so I remember the trip,” he said. He planned to save the pictures and share them with friends. “It’s almost like reliving the whole weekend.”
It is how we document our lives, and especially a Cape Cod vacation.
Peter Bombard of Springfield said, “High tide, low tide, it looks completely different.”
Peter Bombard, a Springfield resident and a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, was working at the Coast Guard Station Chatham, filling in as a chef for a staff member on leave.
“I’ve been taking photos all weekend,” he said. “High tide, low tide. It looks completely different. I’ve got pictures of the tower, and from inside the tower,” he said.” Even though Bombard said he is more of a mountain person than an ocean person, he said this weekend, “I love being out here. I love the smell of the salty air.”
Stefan Kaluziak of Boston, said, “We want a little piece of that ‘wow’ that we can look at every day.”
Bombard had served in the Coast Guard in Woods Hole but said, “This is my first time on the Cape since Hurricane Bob (in 1991)”. He was in Chatham for the weekend to cook for the 10 staff members in the Coast Guard station. “Tonight, we’re having chicken Parmesan,” he said.
He took a picture and said the pictures are to document his trip. “When I go back to my flotilla (in Springfield), I’ve got something to show them.”
Looking at the ocean, he took another picture before heading back to work on the chicken Parmesan dinner. “This is awesome. Watch the chop come in over there,” he said, pointing southeast. “Look at this,” he said. “How can you not be in awe. Without going into a religious tract,” he said and then stopped. He raised his arms and put out his hands to the ocean.
Words didn’t do it justice. But maybe a picture…
— Brian Tarcy
