Endless Summers on Long Island
Every year when the sun sets on summer and the autumn winds start to blow, I feel myself reminisce about warmer days and sand between my toes.
This summer was definitely one to remember. I made it a point this year to meet new people and experience what this island truly is all about. I spent days with surfers, early rising fishermen, oyster farmers and bay-men who work tirelessly through the icy winds of march and well into the summer months.
Sunset at the Fire Island Lighthouse.
A stranger, shore casting on the south south.
Moonrise over an early September night.
Ponquogue Beach
My summer truly started in June when I met surfers Jack, Kiley, and Frank at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays. I had been reaching out to locals that I found via hashtags and location pins and planned to film with them for my recent travel film. Some I had just met while I was walking along the beach!
The landscapes of Long Island are truly unique. Egrets fill the marshlands searching for fish and Ospreys patrol the skies when they’re not sitting atop they’re nests. Cormorants, which can usually be found swimming below the surface of the water, will occasionally fly by you looking for their next meal. Ponquogue Beach, pictured above, has all of this.
Surfer Central
Frank catching some morning waves in the middle of June - 2021.
I had been chatting with Jack Formica about filming together for a few months and our schedules finally lined up. I don’t know if I was seeing things but it looked like he was moving at a much faster speed than every other surfer. I watched him race across the waves and dance along his board with every wave that he caught.
Kiley in her iconic wetsuit making it incredibly easy to spot her in the crowd of solid black wetsuits and surfers looking like seals. We set up a morning to meet to shoot for the Long Island film. I was running through the Ponquogue dunes with a gimbal setup, drone up in the air and the sea breeze blowing through my hair. I love summer.
CAPTREE SUNRISE
Captree State park is an island that sits between the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It features a fishing pier, boat basin, restaurant & picnic areas but I always arrive early in the morning before the crowds, or businesses open. I wanted an element in the film to feature the fishing vessels leaving the docks so I packed up my gear before the sun came up and ended up meeting some people crabbing who allowed me to film them.
The estuaries provide some interesting textures to photograph and they are especially beautiful when the summer greens contrast the deep blues and rust colored oranges of the mineral deposits.
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