Cape Cod Photography Gallery

Cape Cod Wall Art Prints

America is filled with a diverse selection of summer vacation destinations that change visually and culturally from region to region. For New England, it doesn’t get any better than Cape Cod, which is why millions of people flock there every summer to sit on the beach and eat fresh seafood from their favorite Raw Bar.

I consider myself very lucky for having having grown up in Upstate New York for many reasons, but mostly because we vacationed every year on Cape Cod. At 44 now, I can honestly say it keeps getting better and better. Of all the trips Emily and I are grateful to take overseas to places like Vietnam and India, nothing compares to that week in summer with family. It’s really special. My mother’s family lived there, so nostalgia and sentimentality certainly have something to do with it, but there’s no denying what an incomparable place Cape Cod is. I’ve been casually photographing the place every year without any sort of intention, but I can see the series turning into something down the road. Maybe a book. Who knows. Either way it’s fun to revisit these images after not seeing them for a while.

Contact me directly if you’d like print of my Cape Cod photographs for your home, office, or commercial space - rob@robhammerphotography.com

Mayflower Beach - Cape Cod - Masachusetts

Whale Watching - Cape Cod

Whale Watching - Cape Cod, MA

Sesuit Harbor Cafe - Cape Cod

First Encounter Beach

Wellfleet Harbor

Raw Bar

Provincetown

4th of July Parade in Orleans, MA

Photograph of people waiting for ice cream at Mac's on the Pier in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, Cape Cod

Mac’s - Wellfleet

The beach in Dennis, MA

Mayflower Beach - Cape Cod

Kid having fun on the beach - Cape Cod

Lifeguard on an empty beach in Cape Cod

American Center for Photographers

American Photography Gallery

Fine Art

May has really shaped up to be a great month in the gallery exhibition category! I’m very grateful to announce that I’ll be showing some of my American photographs at the American Center for Photographers in Wilson, North Carolina. It’s always nice to show work, but this is particularly exciting because it’s the first time I’ve ever exhibited work from this series which started over 13 years ago. Back in 2011 is when my cross country road trips began but the photographs that now make up this series were sort of an after thought. At that time I was solely focused on the Barbershops of America series. So these American photographs were sort of just made during those in-between times when there were no barbershops around. It was years until I even realized that the collective images could be a body of work.

The exhibition which is comprised of 50+/- fine art prints will run from May 1st-26th. So if you’re anywhere near Wilson, please stop in and check them out.

Click here to see photographs from my America series.

Fine art photographs at the American Center for Photographers in Wilson, North Carolina

Photography exhibition at the American Center for Photographers in Wilson, North Carolina

Hanoi, Vietnam Photography

Street Photography - Hanoi

Vietnam Travel Photography - Wall Art - Prints

Emily and I recently took a trip to Vietnam, and from the first 30 minutes in Hanoi we were both sold. The street culture there is infectious, if you’re into that kind of thing. We are. Our trip consisted of four major destinations - two in the northern part of the country, one central, and the last down south on the Mekong Delta. This post will strictly be showing street photography from Hanoi, but check back soon to see more from the rest of the trip.

From years of travel we learned a valuable lesson the hard way, that lighter is better. Now it only goes with us if it can fit in a carry-on, which has worked out really well for a number of years. For this trip it was the first time I limited my gear to one camera body and one lens (50mm). And I have to say it was amazing. Knowing that you only have one lens is actually quite freeing because you’re not overthinking each shot, and it forces you to shoot in a different style than all those times when you’ve got 3-5 lenses in your bag.

What about Hanoi? Loved it. Really loved it. We stayed in the Old Quarter for a few days and did all of our exploring by foot. Which, in my opinion, is the BEST way to see a city. You’re free to move at your own pace. Anywhere you’re willing to go is available to you. The first day we logged 16.5 miles and ate almost as many meals. Prior to this trip we’ve been lucky to visit places like Istanbul, Turkey, and New Delhi, India, so the chaotic street culture wasn’t new to us. One thing that stood out about Hanoi is the people and their general demeanour. The streets of New Delhi are pure chaos, filled with desperate people trying get your money by any means possible. (Side note: New Delhi might be my favorite place ever.) Hanoi was different. While most of the people are “poor”, they seem genuinely happy, and could have cared less that a couple Americans were wandering their streets. At the same time, they were also very inviting and happy to have us. There was no desperation in the people. They just do what they need to do with a smile on their face. Hopefully these images give you a feeling for what it’s like to be on the streets of Hanoi. If you need any more convincing, just look up what Anthony Bourdain had to say about Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular.

Hanoi, Vietnam street photography

A Vietnamese woman carrying food on her bicycle to sell on the streets of Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam street culture photography - Travel

The streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

Caged chickens at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

A woman preparing dead chickens to cook at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

American Road Trip

For the past ten years I’ve made a cross country road trip in July (and December) with Mojo to the east coast. That tradition continued this year, unfortunately without Mojo. I missed him immensely, but the nature of this trip was a lot different, which helped. The first leg was up through northern Nevada by truck and out to Colorado for some shooting/fly fishing. Afterward the truck was left in Denver where I hopped a flight to Reno for a two day commercial shoot. From there it was on to the north east by plane for our annual family vacation on Cape Cod. When that was over I picked up a car for a friend in upstate New York and drove it to him in Denver. Got back in my truck and we both went into the Colorado backcountry for several more days of fly fishing/shooting. Before heading home to San Diego we spent a few days with friends in Crested Butte. It was a great trip to put it mildly. Check back soon to see images from all of the above.


American Road Trip by photographer Rob Hammer


American Photographs

American Photography - Nevada - Utah - Idaho

Finally getting caught up from last months road trip. These images are from the portion I did solo before Emily and Mojo met me in San Francisco after a commercial shoot. This section was fun, as all road trips are, but fu*#!ng hot. The first day driving up the western border of Nevada my trucks thermometer read 117 degrees. That’s just not the kind of weather humans are supposed to live in. And quite frankly, it takes all the damn fun out of being there. You know it’s bad when the heat smacks you in the face the second you turn the air condition off. Like the AC is just doing it’s best to hold the heat at bay, but it’s a losing battle. Aside from all that, I really enjoyed seeing new parts of Nevada. It’s a very interesting state, that most take for granted as one enormous desert that holds Las Vegas in it somewhere. Would like to spend more time there once the temperature drops, otherwise it’s just not feasible to shoot outdoors for more than a few minutes. Maybe that’s just me? Suppose other people can handle it better than I can??!! Getting up into Idaho it was more like 100-108, which felt like a vacation from 117. Then on into Wyoming where the weather was just right up in the Tetons. Met some friends there are did some fly fishing/backpacking. More on that later.

Click here to see more from my AMERICA series.


Street Photography

2012-ish in Amsterdam was the first time I recall embracing the simple joys of street photography. After years of lugging around a lot of lighting equipment, it was very refreshing to just have a camera bag on my back. That was also the first time that I remember having a focus on one subject. The first time I grasped the notion of a “series” of images. Maybe it was too much time spent in the cafe’s, but either way, the singular focus wasn’t intentional. After miles and miles of walking around Amsterdam, it just struck me that I had photographed a lot of bicycles. And all of a sudden, Emily would be saying “look at that one over there” or “that’s a good one”. The theme had caught on. She recognized what I was doing too. Probably because she always had to wait while I made 35 different images of one bike from 35 different angles. Regardless, it stuck and was most likely the beginning of the way I think about long term personal projects like Barbershops of America and The Hoops Project. Both of which are focused on one subject and have been going on now for 8+ years. They are a great balance to the commercial work, which I love, but it very involved with planning, time, and gear. Over the past couple years, my kit for personal trips has been cut down even further. In fact, on this last trip to Europe, all that came along was one camera body and one lens. The feeling of not having options is quite freeing. There is no need to think about switching lenses every 5 minuets to accommodate the situation. You just have to make do with what you have. ultimately, it makes you a better photographer. And it cuts down on weight. Nothing better than traveling light. Here is another batch of images from Europe in December/January. They were all made with very little thought as to why or a care of where they would end up.

Click HERE to see more street photography.



Travel

Travel is one of the greatest things anyone could ever do for themselves. It pushes you and forces you to learn in ways that you never expected. It’s also just a hell of a lot of fun. I’m fortunate to travel quite a bit, especially this time of year, and feel very grateful to have completed the this most recent trip. It started out in San Diego with the road trip I do every year at this time with Mojo back to New York to see family for Xmas. In between the focus is always shooting of course, but family is the end goal. After NY, Emily and I then flew to Europe for two weeks, which included time in Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and the UK. It was a vacation for us, but I realized long ago that I’m never truly on a vacation as most people would think of it. I might not be out shooting for clients, but I’m still shooting. Focusing on bodies of work that will eventually grow into their own thing and one day be part of my business. Anyway, after returning from Europe, Mojo and I got back in the truck and drove to west to San Diego. All told this was a 30 day chunk of time and I haven’t yet gone through all the images, but I’m very happy with what I’ve seen so far. Stay tuned for the selects….

Click HERE to see some images from previous road trips across America

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Travel-South Africa

Finished up another bit of international travel with my fist trip to the continent of Africa. We went to South Africa specifically, which the northerners call "Africa Light".  They seem to think that if you've only been to South Africa, then you really haven't been to Africa. Sort of a funny thing to hear. Either way it's a beautiful country. More to come....

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Austria Travel Photography

Traveling in Austria

Europe - Photography

Good times over in Austria. For whatever reason, I did the least amount of shooting on this trip compared to all other in the past. Travel always brings on great experiences no matter what. Perhaps the funniest and unexpected came out of the need for a bathroom. During a long drive, we stopped at a market in a small town to pee and get food for lunch. I couldn't find the bathroom and tried asking the two workers in the back. They obviously knew very little English, and had no idea what I was saying. After trying every word they might know, I moved onto the universal sign for a guy going to the bathroom, the actual motion of doing it. They instantly knew what I needed and showed me the way. When I came back out, one of the guys was still there and asked me with a very Austrian accent "Ver ah you from?" I replied simply with "California", to which he screamed "AAAAHHHHH, SCHWARZENEGGER!!!" 

Chennai, India Photo Gallery

Chennai, India Travel Photography

Street Culture - Portraits

Went to Chennai, India for a client last month, making it the second time I've been to India in the last 6 months. Funny where the camera will take you. Any time you travel that far for a shoot, no matter how much fun you're having, you have to make time shoot for yourself. Which is precisely what these images are. The people and things I saw while aimlessly wondering around that foreign city. There were a lot of very noticeable differences between Chennai and the places I visited up north (Delhi, Agra, and jaipur). Firstly, the people down south seemed to be much more relaxed. They were still trying to sell you on something, but it wasn't nearly as often or with the same aggression. Which was a big plus. Overall, I think it didn't have the character of the northern cities, but that could just be my experience. One of my favorite parts of the northern trip was all the Chai tea. It was everywhere. Granted, we were there in the winter, but it didn't seem to be as much of thing down in Chennai. And when it was, the tea itself had a completely different taste. I was told they don't use a lot of spices like the northerners do. 

Keep scrolling down to see lots of images from the 1st trip to India. 

The Taj Mahal-Agra, India

India Travel Photography

Street Culture Photos

The Taj Mahal is quite something. That's obvious ahead of time, but you can't possibly understand until you're standing in front of it. It's not just the Taj though, it's how they laid the grounds out that really ties it all together. The way you're lead in, and forced to see people standing in front of it at many different distances gives you an unreal sense of scale. The symmetry, detail, and the way light lives around the structure is something I've seen anywhere else. Really amazing experience, but probably not my favorite. Just based on size, The Taj takes it, but on overall detail and ridiculousness, have to give it to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Gaudi was a god damn mad man. Agra was in interesting place to check out as well. You can probably classify it as a shithole, but whatever. We were lucky enough to be staying at a place with a rooftop balcony that looked over the whole city. That was an experience in itself. There was so much life on all the rooftops in Agra. Seemed to be where all the residents hung out. And if you just closed your eyes and listened, that was a whole other thing. Couldn't really make sense of it. It was a strange mixture of animals, kids playing, people talking, and what seemed like screaming. Then you get the daily "call to prayer", which I can't get enough of. 

 

New Delhi, India

India Travel Photography - New Delhi

Not sure there is way to describe New Delhi that would do it justice in any way. I wasn't able to spend a ton of time there, but couldn't be happier with what we experienced. There is so much going there all the time, that you can't possibly make sense of it. If you're not from there, or have been living there for an extended period of time, don't even think about driving. The city streets are chaos. And that's coming from someone who loves to drive, everywhere. So thankful I did not have a car in Delhi. Let the locals handle that task. At any given point, you'll be sharing the streets with cars, motorcycles, rickshaws, motor rickshaws, dogs, cats, monkeys, cows, bulls, people, and who knows what else. The strangest part is that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Yet nobody is angry, and somehow is just seems to work. The energy in the streets of New Delhi is incredible. Something I'd love to experience over and over again for the rest of my life. Any time you're outside in Delhi, you've got constant stimulation. Sort of like Vegas, only not at all. And not just visually. It seems like there is something for all of your senses. 

Getting off the airplane, it's obvious that you're no longer in America. You can immediately smell smoke, which seems to be the standard weather forecast. Not hazy or foggy, but smoke. That's literally what it says when you look on a weather app. Smoke. And if you stay in a hotel, the armed guards at the gate have to check your cab for bombs, both under the car and under the hood. Depending on where you go, who you're with, and time of day, it can be difficult to walk around alone. Both because of safety and because you'll be bombarded with people trying to sell you something. Just get over it. The experiences you'll get from walking through the streets and markets are worth it. Don't even get me started on the food. I still can't figure out how that jam all that flavor into their meals. Brilliant. 

Have a lot more from this trip to post. We also visited Agra and Jaipur, where I did a lots of shooting. Will be posting those images in the next week or so. Come on back. 

Photographing America

American Road Trip Photography

My truck is just hitting 8 months old, and she's already got 30,000+ miles on it. That's a solid 8 months. This most recent (8,519 mile) road trip was memorable for a lot of reasons, just like all the others. I love looking through the images, and this is the quickest I've ever posted after a trip. But it's not usually until many months down the line, that I realize what was the most enjoyable. And on the flip side, what I fucked up on. There are always a few images that make me wish I had kept shooting at that particular location. Sometimes you can't though because it's unsafe, too dark, or whatever. So learning to except it, is a must. One thing I definitely learned is the necessity of keeping a journal. After driving 8k+ miles, it's real easy to forget locations and other important details about the images you make.  Those details will, at some point down the line, become very important. These images aren't supposed to be beautiful in the traditional sense. I don't care at all about that. They are supposed to accurately show the smaller places of our country that most people never see.  Some days I think this is my favorite type of shooting. And some days I think the images are dog shit. Either way, I can't wait to get back on the road. 

Roadtrip America

Recently finished up another road trip across America with Mojo. Started in San Diego, went all the way to Cape Cod, then back to San Diego. 8,519 miles total. Given that I haven't posted most images from last year, this post might be out of line, but whatever. The trip was a great time, and something that is always a great learning experience. America is a huge place, so it can be difficult to figure out where to focus your time and energy photographically.  It would be real easy to shoot everything that interests you, but then you would never get across the country. Seems like every time I get to the opposite coast, my feelings are that I didn't shoot enough, and that what I did get is shit. Then after a certain amount of time digesting the images, I turn out to be real happy with most of them. Which has proven to be a huge part of the process. Thus the reason it takes me half a year to even post anything.  Much more to come from this trip. And I promise it won't take 6 months. 

Hood River, Oregon Photo Gallery

Photography Print of Hood River, Oregon

Travel Wall Art - Mt. Hood

This is sort of an extension on another post I made a while back about a road trip from last year. Which started in San Diego, then went all the way up the coast, into Canada (Banff), then down through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and finally back to San Diego. Hood River, Oregon was definitely a notable stop along the way. It's known as the kite surfing and wind surfing capital of the world. We did neither of those things, but it doesn't matter. Hood River has a lot more to offer. Great camping, hiking, food, and beer. Hard to complain about a place that's bookended by Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier. The views are top notch. And we were lucky enough to be there on a few days where the visibility was close to perfect. 

The California Coast - Road Trip

Roadtrip on the California Coast

Travel Photography

It's been done a million times over because you just can't deny the beauty of a roadtrip up the California coast. This wasn't my first time doing it, nor will it be my last. You'll never run out of places to see, things to do, or great food to eat. The small towns that peppered up the coast are top notch. And the harder they are to get to, the better. Images below are from a from Morro Bay, Big Sur, San Francisco, Sausalito, Point Reyes Station, Tomales Bay, Mendocino, Shelter Cove, and many other point between. This was part of a much longer roadtrip that went up into Canada, so check back soon to see those images.


Travel Photography - Spain

Spanish Culture - Food Photography

Traveling and eating in Spain

A few months ago we took a trip to Spain, and one of the highlights for me was the meat. It's something they definitely don't play around with over there. Everywhere you look, there are pig legs sitting on a bar, or hanging from the ceilings. At the markets, it seemed like there wasn't a single part of an animal that you couldn't buy. Don't made saying that I completely overdid it with the mean consumption, but whatever....


Boston Photography

Boston - Wall Art - Photography Prints

Had a shoot last month in Boston that involved a 200-400mm lens. Which is something I don't normally shoot with, and decided to take advantage of the rental period. So I walked around town for a while and made some pictures. Boston is an awesome city that I've always had a lot of love for. Not an easy thing to say for someone born and raised in New York. Either way, I really wasn't concerned with shots of the major landmarks, just random sections I came across during my walks. Good times. Looking forward to doing this again. 

Contact me directly for photography prints of Boston, MA - rob@robhammerphotography.com


The Basketball Hoops Project

Over the past year+, I've been doing a lot of traveling/shooting for my hoops project. And think it has developed into a pretty cool body of work. Yesterday the gallery got a nice update, so head over there and check it out. Also decided to try and get these images out there, and currently working on a nice promotional booklet that will be sent nationwide to a large handful of magazines, companies, and ad agencies. Hopefully they will dig it.....

WWW.THEBASKETBALLHOOPSPROJECT.COM

 

Travel

The last month and a half has been crazy with travel, which has led to a serious lack of updates on the blog. Not that I can complain, because it's been awesome. It started with a road trip up to San Francisco. Then a week later, another road trip up the California coast with notable stops in Morro Bay, Mendocino, Shelter Cove, and Paso Robles. Right when that ended, I flew to Boston for another shoot. Then spent a little time in up-state NY with family. Flew back to San Diego, and days later started a roadtrip up through California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. All this following up a month that saw a trip to Costa Rica and a roadtrip out to Colorado. Covered a lot of miles, saw a lot of incredible places, did a lot of shooting, and I'm excited to share. Stay tuned.