When Elizabeth Gabriel Brooke was born and raised in Quiogue, on the eastern shore of Long Island, NY, only time would reveal that her curiosity, as well as a love of nature and legacy, would develop into an aesthetic eye for what others often miss.
She received an education at Chapin School, NYC; Oldfields School, MD; Windham College, VT; and The University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where she received a Masters's Degree in Art and Education. And then, in 1974, Provincetown became her home and year-round residence.
Over the years, Elizabeth experienced life and people through world travel and several local jobs, including photography teacher, staff photographer for the Provincetown Advocate, community organizer, volunteer, event producer, owner of the shop Outermost Kites, member of The Provincetown Animal Welfare Committee, owner of Provincetown’s original horse and carriage company, founder and creator of provincetown.com, founder and owner of Provincetown Design Group, restaurateur, boat captain, founder and president of the Friends of Cape Wildlife. Her local reputation highlights developing and owning Gabriel’s, a Provincetown hotel, and then becoming the founder of the Women Innkeepers of Provincetown.
Through each of these life experiences, Elizabeth pursued photography - first as an avocation and later as a professional. Her life as a photographer has taken her on a voyage carrying her along what is here, right now, in the moment. When she looks through the lens, her mind attunes to the edges, capturing the raw quality and feeling of the moment. When she unites with something beyond the camera, she doesn't think, “Change my f-stop, move right, left, up, down”; she senses what is right, what just is: creative intuition. Her goal has always been to produce images to be shared.
Elizabeth describes her intention with her photography practice as…”to explore what lies beneath, ask questions, and celebrate the beauty and diversity of like we all share on this amazing planet.”
Inspired by the poet Mary Oliver, Elizabeth’s philosophy for her photography is this:
Stop, look, listen
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Elizabeth Brooke’s photography has been published in the Massachusetts Audubon Society newsletter, Cape Cod Times, Boston Globe, Provincetown Magazine, New York Times, Southampton Press, Provincetown Independent, Wicked Local Cape Cod, Los Angeles Times, Candy Magazine, and Shizen Quarterly.
She has exhibited at The Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Chatham Creative Arts Center, Orleans Gallery of Photography, The Provincetown Commons, Leica Society, Photoplace Gallery, Colombia Arts Center, Cape Cod Art Center, and SE Center for Photography, to name. a few.
Her book, “The Lobstermen” can be purchased online at https://www.blurb.com/b/10527651-the-lobstermen
Go to Shop above to purchase signed archival prints directly from the artist.
Love.
That is what I feel above all else when looking through Elizabeth Brooke's portfolio: her love for her subjects. Love, in turn, begets respect. And respect yields portraiture of great dignity and insight. I am thinking of "Batwa Elder, Ruhija Community, Bwindi, Uganda"; "Batwa Woman, Ruhija Community, Bwindi, Uganda II"; "Annie & David Ditacchio, North Truro"; "The tobacco farmer, Vinales"; and "Hambeleleni Vilho, Omaanda, Namibia."
Elizabeth's love and respect are also evident in her portraiture of creatures, like the pensive "Chimpanzee, Kibale National Park, Uganda IV" and the inquisitive "African gray parrot, Provincetown" and the brilliant red-eyed tree frogs of the Osa Peninsula.
As someone who has been lucky enough to travel in the Yukon, I can attest to how perfectly Elizabeth has captured that wilderness landscape in "Fog along the Yukon River." I have never been to Havana, but I applaud any photographer who manages largely to avoid showing vintage American cars and — even more — renders it in black-and-white, the ideal medium for a tableau as evocative as "Stairway to home in Havana."
And finally, speaking myself as a longtime photographer of Provincetown, I celebrate any break from the many visual clichés with which the town is usually depicted. That is why I revel in "Along the Harbor, Provincetown"; "Eat at Sal's"; and "Atop the breakwater, Provincetown." They, too, speak of love.
David W. Dunlap, American journalist, historian, former The New York Times reporter, and author of Building Provincetown, continued as The Provincetown Encyclopedia