First Look - Florida's Lighthouses

More lights! We turned a 1999 trip to the Daytona 500 into a week-long lighthouse tour of Florida. The Keys and the panhandle would have to wait for future trips, but here's a sampling of the rest of the Sunshine State's varied and well-preserved lights. Above, the Old Port Boca Grande Light on Gasparilla Island.

With limited time, we had to settle for whatever weather and light we found - no sitting for hours waiting for clouds to part, this time. This is Jupiter Inlet Light in Jupiter. Needs a little paint. We'll see it again later in bright sun and new paint.

Sanibel Island Light is not the most beautiful structure you'll see in Florida, but Sanibel Island is really nice. I also like how the lighthouse seems to just be standing in the sand like a lifeguard chair.

Looking across the Guana River from old St. Augustine turns out to be one of the better vantage points for viewing the St. Augustine lighthouse over a mile away. The lighthouse property is wooded and so small that visitors are basically looking straight up at the tower. And a beautiful old tower it is, too...

see?

Boca Grande Entrance Rear Range Light - Gasparilla Island. Another lighthouse that seems to grow right out of the sand like the cool tropical flora that surrounds it.

Fencing! The lighthouse hunter's nemesis. St. Johns River Light, above, resides on the Naval Station Maport, and we figured climbing the razor wire fence for an unobstructed view was not a great idea. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with the framing that resulted from shooting through the fence, so I printed it as is. I didn't have a long enough lens to identify the carrier in the background, but if any of you military hardware junkies out there know that ship, let me know.

Photographically, this shot of the Hillsboro Inlet Light is not impressive. What impresses me about this light, apart from its massive Fresnel lens, is how shy it is. It is situated on a tiny point, hiding behind trees and just basically refusing to be photographed from anywhere on land.

Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, Ponce Inlet. The setting sun drew a uniquely warm glow out of the sand in the old tower's bricks, and it sits on beautifully maintained grounds.

Thanks for checking in. Later!

To Fly

Taking a quick break from lighthouses to do a little flying. It was a picture-perfect spring day here in Maryland today, and that some led to thoughts of flight. Here are a few magnificent flying machines. Above - Hot Air Balloon - Timonium, MD - 1992.

It's a blimp race, and Goodyear's winning! Daytona International Speedway, FL - 1999.

British Airways Concord at JFK International Airport in New York - 1995.

Two shots of the F-16 fly-over at the Daytona 500 in February, 1999. I don't recall for whom they performed the Missing Man maneuver, but I'll never forget the sound of the afterburners on the jet that headed straight up from the formation.

Goodyear Blimp - Ponce Inlet, FL - 1999.

Airliner on approach to Reagan National Airport passes over Long Bridge in Washington, DC - 1997.

More hot air balloons - Timonium, MD - 1992.

Finally, [Maris]'s favorite - the F-14 Tomcat. This one is on display at the Patuxent Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park, MD - 1998.

Thanks for visiting. See you next time...

Beacons

Throughout 1999 and 2000, east coast lighthouses were our favorite photographic subject. They're on or near water, which we love. They're old and historically significant. They can be visually stunning. Before mobile internet and GPS, they could be incredibly challenging to FIND. Here are a few more of our favorites. The perfect little white light above is Turkey Point Light, in Elk Neck State Park, MD - shot by [Maris] in 1999.

Not all lighthouses are hard to find. Seven-foot Knoll Light has been conveniently relocated from its original home on a shoal at the mouth of the Patapsco River to Pier 5 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Another [Maris] shot from 1999.

Basically a big house with a cupola on top, Sea Girt Light in Sea Girt, NJ is open for weekend tours. 1999 photo.

Our quests for various lighthouses and other historic stuff often take us to the dodgy end of town. This was the case in Atlantic City, NJ where we found Absecon Light, far from the glittering lights of the boardwalk and casinos, in 1999.

My first night shot of a lighthouse. This is Hereford Inlet Light in North Wildwood, NJ - also in 1999.

This dilapidated shell of former splendor in the "stick-gothic" style was once Mispillion River Light, on the Delaware Bay at the Mispillion River. Restoration work was about to begin when, in 2002, the structure was destroyed in a lightning strike and fire. Bits of it were salvaged and rebuilt, almost from scratch, in Lewes, DE.

Warwick Lighthouse - Warwick, RI - 2000. This is one of very few successful shots from this trip, due to a bizarre camera malfunction which I do not wish to discuss.

Twin Lights of Navesink! This hulking structure overlooks Highlands, NJ and (a good half-mile away) the Atlantic. 1999 photo.

Finally, although the negative seems to have deteriorated a bit over the years, here is one of my favorite compositions. It's Delaware Breakwater Light, shot from Cape Henlopen, DE in 1999.

Thanks for looking. Plenty more to come...

The Lighthouse Years

 

 By the end of the 1990's [Maris] and I had more or less exhausted the mountain cruising within a day's drive.  Fortunately, we discovered a shared penchant for photographing lighthouses.  As soon as we returned from our first trip to New England, we went straight to work on the lights we could find on day trips.  Here are some of our early shots, starting with the above 1997 photo of the Cape Henlopen and Delaware Breakwater Lights, near Lewes, DE.

 

Two frames of Assateague Light, VA - 1999.

  

Barnegat Light - Long Beach Island, NJ - 1999.

  

Cape May Light, NJ - 1999.

  

Havre de Grace Light, MD - 1998.

  

Hooper Strait Light (relocated) - St. Michaels, MD - 1998.

  

Old and New Cape Henry Lights - Fort Story, VA - 1999.

  

Old Point Comfort Light - Fort Monroe, VA - 1999.

  

Newport, RI - 2000.

 

Bloody Point Lighthouse - Chesapeake Bay, MD - 1998.

Thanks for stopping by.  More to come.  With some new-found free time, the scanning of the old negatives can resume!  See you next time...