Photographer Janet Woodcock claims to love almost every view of Martha’s Vineyard. “But the view that makes my heart light up most is from the [freight deck] of the ferry when they open up those doors as it’s coming into port. I usually don’t get out of the car, and no matter what time of day or night it is, it’s a view that tells me I’ve been away from home – and now I’m home again.” Nice. But has she ever captured that view with her camera? Well, no.
So Janet: What is your favorite Martha’s Vineyard view that you’ve actually photographed?
“The first light of dawn is one of my favorite times of day,” she says. “I’m completely alone, and the earth is still and quiet – yet changing rapidly. Every morning is different; they’re never the same.” She doesn’t always photograph it, either. Sometimes she just views. Dawn, shot last year on the south shore, is a favorite among the many images that allow us to share in her vision.
Ray Ellis waxes assiduously on his favorite Martha’s Vineyard view, only to call back a half hour later to wax anew.
“I was just thinking: My really favorite view is in a watercolor I did about three years ago of a man walking up a path toward the Cape Pogue Light,” says Ellis. “It’s called Late Light or Last Light or . . .”
“Late Shadows!” prompts Teddie Ellis, his wife, from the background.
“I’ve painted on Chappy many times,” Ellis says, “and there are certain spots that are very unspoiled, the way they were a hundred years ago.” Ellis didn’t contemplate the Late Shadows view time and again before picking up his brushes. “The scene just struck me one day – the dune grass, the shells in the foreground. It was very spontaneous. There’s something about the time of day, the way the sun comes across and lights up the grasses.”
Renee Balter ponders her favorite view for nary a moment. “Old Variety!” she blurts out. “It’s my very favorite landscape on the whole Island.” Tucked along the Oak Bluffs Avenue side of the Flying Horses building, this narrow souvenir shop is a Cottage City fixture. It’s been in the same family since about 1916. Balter thinks it may be the oldest seasonal business in town.
Balter figures she’s painted Old Variety’s humble exterior about a dozen times, in every season. “It has that downtown, Victorian seaside resort feeling of Oak Bluffs,” says the artist. “It sort of takes me back.” She’s known the town as a visitor-turned-resident since the 1950s.
“Right after 9/11, they put a wonderful flag in the window that stayed there for the rest of the year,” Balter recalls. “It was very poignant.”
Wherever there’s a view of water with a reflection, there’s a chance to find Vasha Brunelle at work. “I have no favorite reflection,” she says. “It’s just the occurrence of reflection that I like. A common thing can become very beautiful when it’s reflected in water.”
Brunelle lives on Vineyard Haven harbor, where she savors reflections every day. She’s been into capturing reflections in her art for only a couple of years.
“It was a challenge – to see if I could do it, and it’s been kind of gratifying,” she says. “I love catching the light that the water’s reflecting; the object is secondary to me. Water is always moving in little currents and eddies, and I like the way the light is reflected in the movement.”
Scott Terry’s favorite view is Lambert’s Cove Beach. “The reason – other than the fact that it’s a particularly beautiful spot – is that it’s close to my house,” he says. Terry doesn’t favor this view just for the convenience, though. Likewise, he didn’t choose where to live based on this view. “It was just a happy coincidence.”
Terry walks his dogs along the beach every day, early in the morning and late at night. He wonders if he gravitates there with his paints and brushes just because it’s become so familiar. “What I like about this beach,” he says, “is the way it curves, like a big bowl. I’ve painted the curve in both directions, where the path comes onto the beach. I particularly like it in winter – the combination of snow, sand, and water.”
Ultimately, Terry doesn’t care whether he’s painting a beach, farm, or anything else. “The subject isn’t important; it’s the way the light hits it that’s important.”
