Minding Your Business- David Hills Gallery

The David Hills Gallery showcases David Hills’ striking maritime photograph treating visitors to a unique perspective on the working waterfront from commercial fishermen and fishing boats to the dramatic mixture of light, weather and water.

Located near Town Cove, the bright and welcoming gallery is a labor of love for Hill and his wife Kristen. The pair discovered the property after years of dreaming about making Cape Cod their permanent home. 

The Hillses’ connection to Cape Cod began long before the gallery opened. He and Kristen first visited Eastham with friends when their oldest child was just over a year old. The couple quickly embraced everything the Outer Cape had to offer from boating and exploring the shoreline to hiking and swimming in freshwater ponds.

“My wife and I were immediately smitten with the landscape and the vibe and the people,” he recalled. “We just fell in love with this place instantly. All of our kids have been playing on the sands and the waters of the Cape their whole lives.”

A professional commercial photographer whose career has included advertising, portraiture, annual reports and magazine assignments, Hills first discovered his fascination with commercial fishing nearly two decades ago. While the commercial fishing industry initially captured his attention, Hills soon discovered that some of his most compelling photographs came during the quieter moments at sea.

“When you’re on a boat, you’re on the boat for the duration,” he said. “There’s not always fishing activity going on. There are these spaces in between. There’s always something visually unique, and the interplay of light and whatever the local conditions are, whether it’s fog or wind, or both, or rain or snow. There’s always something going on that makes for there to be a visual twist that gives me something I can work with.”

The experience allowed Hills to develop two distinct collections of photographs.

“It enabled me to build a body of documentary work, but also a body of more artistic work, which is what we show here in the gallery,” he said.

Hills enjoys sharing his work with visitors who appreciate both the artistry and the maritime connections found in his photos. The gallery features a rotating collection of photographs with Hills changing the displays several times throughout the year. Winter exhibits tend to feature darker, stormier maritime scenes.

Hills said customers are drawn to his work for different reasons, including the opportunity to bring home an original piece of art that reflects their time on Cape Cod. In addition to his larger works, Hill recently introduced a collection of smaller photographs that celebrate another familiar part of Cape Cod life. For this year’s Wellfleet OysterFest, he created a series of 21 “bivalve portraits” featuring wild and farm-raised oysters and quahogs.

Hills’ photographs, available in matted 8-by-10-inch and 11-by-14-inch sizes, offer an affordable and distinctly local gift option. The gallery also offers custom prints with Hills handling the printing himself on-site. Hills has also displayed work at the Chatham Fish Pier Market and hopes to expand those opportunities.

Although the gallery will reduce its hours during the quieter months, it remains open year-round, including throughout the upcoming holiday shopping season.

“We’re open for Christmas,” Hill said. “We’ve got these great little gift-size offerings and we can make custom prints.”

For Hills, the gallery represents the intersection of his longtime passion for photography, his fascination with the working waterfront and his family’s love of Cape Cod. And for visitors it offers an opportunity to experience the beauty of the sea through the eyes of someone who has spent countless hours capturing its ever-changing character.

David Hills Gallery 

57 Route 6A, Orleans

508-246-8333

homeport@davidhillsgallery.com 

davidhillsgallery.com