Sandy Neck Lighthouse captured in time-lapse video, photo shoot of Barnstable Harbor.

Otis Redding’s “(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay” has always been a summer favorite. As a childhood whistler I loved the song’s ending. I would join the melody whenever the song played on the radio, much to the chagrin of anyone in the family within earshot. Redding’s song was recorded in 1967 and he died in a plane crash just three days after.

I got reacquainted with the tune during my recent summer vacation, the first week of September. There was a lot of time just spent looking out at the water, a favorite Cape Cod pastime. My perch was a deck on a bay overlooking Barnstable Harbor as I sat “Watching the Tide Roll Away.”  There were indeed “ships that rolled in,” but mostly pleasure craft.

The average tides along Barnstable Harbor average nine feet, 108 inches. It takes the tide 12 hours to go from low to high and back again. If my grade school division is correct that would mean the water is moving in or out about a third of an inch every minute. I didn’t back this up with any empirical data but sit along a northside beach at the water’s edge and keep track of how many times you keep moving the chair to keep dry.

Unlike Redding who sang about “wastin time,” I was not being lazy. There were many photo projects that needed attention at the water’s edge. It took several attempts, but I made a dusk to dawn time lapse video, 12 hours condensed into about 40 seconds. Brushing up on nighttime drone flying was also on the vacation checklist, maneuvering ever closer to the lighthouse to line up the lamphouse with the horizon line at sunset.

But true to, “Dock of the Bay” lyrics, sitting in a rocking chair with a long telephoto lens was the most relaxing, photographing terns. The soon to migrate shorebirds fill up on small fish, then rim the sides of moored skiffs, chattering away as they rest and "do their business." I watched their antics through the viewfinder, whistling along to Mr. Redding’s song playing endless loops in my head and the birds didn’t seem to mind a bit.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod Times Photo Shoot: Barnstable Harbor