PTown Photo Ops Abound. Enter TheYearRounder's Photo Contest!

Twilight brings the Pilgrim Monument to life as the lights come on.

If you just keep a camera handy, you can shoot some really great photographs all around Provincetown, with very little equipment, and with very little effort. When I started writing this blog I started carrying a camera with me every day. My cell phone camera (not the greatest because it is now several years old and woefully low on pixels) had to do for a few weeks until I could do a little quick research and get something a little beefier on eBay. I always buy technology at least a couple of generations back from whatever the current model is, because I seldom need all the bells and whistles found on the latest versions of cameras, computers, phones or whatever, and I usually need to save a bit of money on these items as well.
I most often will shop online, since the closest big-box electronics stores or discount centers are 54 miles or more from Provincetown, and I gave up driving a car and churning out all that polution years ago. Shopping online also lets me buy something used or refurbished rather than new, which cuts down on resources used in manufacturing, and all that packaging used for new products, and saves the fuel used to ship truckloads of new merchandise all around the country each year, as I recently wrote in a column about reusing and recycling household items.
Get a good camera inexpensively and carry it with you, and you can get great photos yourself. I wanted something digital with a lot of zoom and a good-sized screen so I could see what I was shooting, something to counteract jiggling the camera on those big zoom shots, and automatic operation with the ability to adjust settings manually as well. I wanted a camera that used batteries that I could recharge so I didn't have the guilt of tossing out hundreds of batteries over the years, but ones that I could also find at the drugstore in a pinch, and my "new" camera had to be small enough to carry around town with me wherever I went.
I picked a couple of models that had all these features, looked up user reviews on Amazon, and from there I chose the camera model I wanted to shop for on eBay. I got a great deal on a used one, $88 including shipping, and I've been really amazed at the photos I've been getting with my Canon Powershot SX120 IS. The photo above, and most of the photos I've put on this blog, have been taken with this camera, and I really couldn't be happier with my choice.
So as I was walking along Commercial Street toward the center of town one evening, just as the twilight was about to give way to the night sky and the lights kicked on at the Pilgrim Monument, I saw this image rising above the rooftops a bit west of Town Hall. I got out my trusty camera and managed to get a couple of shots before the light changed. This photo turned out really well, with a lot of detail in the granite blocks of the monument, and the sky not yet dark.
Send me your digital photos in jpg or gif format and I'll post the best of them here. Even a cheap "throwaway" camera can capture a great photo. Just don't forget to recycle the camera when you're done instead of throwing it away, which most developers will do for you, and then scan the photos into digital files to enter them in this contest. Email address and contact info is shown above. By entering this contest you grant your permission to have your photos published on TheYearRounder's Guide to Provincetown, with proper credit listing your name. Tell us a little about your photos, too. Only jpg or gif images can be entered. Photos shot on film can be converted to digital files at Provincetown Copy Canter, above Ross' Grill in the Whalers Wharf, at 237 Commercial Street, or at the Mail Spot, in the lane that leads to Sage, at 336 Commercial Street.
The best original photos taken somewhere in Provincetown, and received digitally by noon on Labor Day, September 2, 2013, will win prizes from local shops and restaurants. TheYearRounder's selections will be final. Happy shooting!