Chatham, Cape Cod Gets First Photography Book

Chatham, Massachusetts — It's hard to believe this book doesn't yet exist but the many faces of Chatham are now captured in its own coffee table book. "Chatham Views, A Photographic Journal from Cape Cod, Massachusetts,? a new photo book by Christopher Seufert hits the streets on Memorial Day Weekend with a signing at Yellow Umbrella Books from 1pm to 3pm on June 2.

The 80 page hard-cover book, published through Seufert's company, Mooncusser Films, LLC gives equal treatment to foxes, seagulls, deer, clammers, fishermen, osprey, tourists, and wildlife of all kinds in a year-round selection of both traditional film and digital-based images. While the main project is a traditional hard-cover coffee table book, Seufert, a documentary filmmaker by trade, brought his film and video background to play with a full complement of multimedia components, including a DVD slide show (with 50 additional images) included with the book and available separately, a free cross-platform screensaver (available as a download from Apple), and a separate 27-minute online video slideshow for sale through Google Video.

"My core business through Mooncusser Films helped me add a little more kick to the publishing of a Cape Cod photo book, I hope," explains Seufert. "Though I love holding a real book in my hands, photos are no longer something that live only on the printed page. I grew up in the eighties when everyone dutifully had a copy of Joel Meyerowitz's Cape Light in their living room. There were 40 photographs and half of the pages in the book were blank. As much as I love that book I felt it was a little thin on content. The book has 75 images and no blank pages. By offering the dvd as a free add-on to the book and giving people the option to puchase it separately for $20 as opposed to the $50 book, I'm hoping to evolve the Cape Cod photo book one step. The dvd actually has 130 photos, so it's a great option for those with an interest in artwork for their widescreen tv's in addition to their coffee tables."

Though Seufert went away to college and spent the early part of his career 'over the bridge,' he grew up in Chatham and his book includes scenes of many of the out of the way places not found in the more mainstream Cape Cod photo books. The Chatham Lighthouse is in there of course, as is the fish pier and such landmarks as the Eldredge Public Library, but so are such hidden corners as Cotchpinicut, Skunk's Neck, and Forest Street Beach.

"My book is different in that I didn't chase the 'Cape Light' much. More often I went to a location at a particular time and shot whatever photo the light dictated. I tried whenever possible to get out of the way and let the place and time decide the photo, rather than me going to various places at the same "magic hour" every day with a beautiful sunrise or sunset light. I also used a great variety of cameras, some traditional film cameras like a Holga or pinhole camera, and some more lightweight digital set ups that I carried more spontaneously without tripods and shot sometimes not even looking through the viewfinder."

He undertook the photo excursions more for the adventure than for nailing on particular subject. For example, Seufert would sometimes go to shoot foxes and then find himself face to face with a deer or an osprey building a nest over head. He might go to shoot a sunset at Chatham Light and then find a mirage of Monomoy Point Light looming up on the horizon.

Chatham Views, available both as a hard and soft cover, has been a year in the making,? says Seufert. " I certainly did visit some of the locations more than once, and at some of them I never did get that one successful image. So, I don't want to come off as too casual in my aproach. But more often than not the photo that got selected was spontaneous and not in any way planned by myself beforehand. The success of the image depended on me being open to what the location offered at a particular place in time. It required me to see Chatham as if for the first time."

Images in the book are augmented by a brief introduction and descriptive titles on each page but Seufert lets the images speak for themselves. "Despite growning up here" says Seufert, "I found so many dead-end roads, town landings, and out of the way corners that I'd never been to before. I find that astounding, considering that Chatham is only four miles on each side. It really was a great adventure." Seufert hopes the book will inspire others to get out there and explore Chatham more rather than just re-visiting the same heavily trafficked beaches and landmarks. "There are a lot of landowners out there with alarms and No Tresspassing signs," adds Seufert, "blocking off access to the coastline, so the exploring is tempered somewhat these days."

Mr. Seufert currently has most recently had his photos by Minnesota Public Radio, Pace Nursing, and his image "Dawn at Stage Harbor" is the cover of this month's Best Read Guide, including a 2 -page spread on Chatham foxes. He also has a 12 month 2008 calendar based on the book.

"Chatham Views", printed by Blurb Press, has 80 8" x 10" pages with 75 full-color original photographs on 80 pd. semi-matte paper stock and is available for $49.95 in hard cover and $36.95 in soft cover, both with bonus dvd.

Mr. Seufert has a signing at Yellow Umbrella Books in Chatham on June 2 from 1:00 to 3:00pm. Everyone who comes by then will be eligible for a free raffle of the framed print "Dawn at Stage Harbor." The book is now available online at http://www.ChathamPhoto.com and locally at Yellow Umbrella Books.

For more information please contact:

Christopher Seufert
http://www.ChathamPhoto.com
Mooncusser Films, LLC
Chris@MooncusserFilms.com
508-430-2866