Right On The St. Marks - Gulfapalooza 2011 Winding Down

 We have reached the final lighthouse of Gulfapalooza 2011.  This is the St. Marks light, on the Gulf of Mexico about 26 miles south of Tallahassee, Florida.  It lives in the wild and spectacular St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, on a warm and windy peninsula.  The shot above is what happens when one tries to photograph a tall lighthouse from too close.  If I had backed up any farther, I would have been in the Gulf.

 This shot required some trudging around the swampy edge of a potentially gator-infested pond, but it was worth it.  And [Maris] kept an eye out for wildlife.

 Ah, the US Coast Guard.  Not sure what all that gear is listening to - or for - but they sure know how to make a mess of a cupola.

 That's a little better.

 So, I'm in the swamp, shooting the lighthouse.  I turn around, and look who's been coolly watching me from about 25 yards away!  It's (I think) a great snowy egret!

 Another salty pond, another bird.  Not sure what this too-big-to-be-a-sandpiper thing is.  Anyone?

 The skyline of the downtown St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge...

 I like that there is a variety of tropical foliage, but it hasn't been planted in neat rows and groomed and carefully tended.  It's wild.

 And just ever so slightly primordial.   Or something.

 Another bird.  Judging by the various songs and calls, I was tempted to say it was a mockingbird, but I really don't know.  I do know that it and its buddies dropped a lot of those berries on the hood of my poor car, while [Maris] and I talked ourselves out of heading home, and instead made a reservation in Kill Devil Hills, NC.  We just weren't ready to end this vacation.

We still aren't.  

Hope you enjoyed this one.  I have a few odds and ends from this trip, and then . . . nothing.  I'll have to take more pictures.

Port Saint Me!

 And we're back!  Where was I?  Oh yeah.  Gulfapalooza 2011.  October.  Florida panhandle.  This was a really, really good day.  I'm still a little groggy from 30 days of Camp NaNoWriMo so I'm starting off slowly.  Here's my next home - although I would imagine that its current residents might have something to say about that - St. Joseph Point Lighthouse, near Point St. Joe, Florida.  The light and lens are long-gone, but it is now a beautifully-restored lighthouse on the Gulf of Mexico.

 

 Butterflies! Ridiculously uncooperative creatures.  Pretty, though!

 Of course, the crabs were totally cooperative.

 Okay, if I can't buy the lighthouse, maybe this little build-to-suit island is on the market.

 Ibis?

 Seeing pines and palms together always intrigues me. I have no idea why.

 Lone palm, watching for hurricanes or exploding oil rigs.

No, Camaro, it's not what you were designed for.  Relax - a little sandy off-road driving won't kill you!

Thanks for enduring a picture-free June.  More coming soon!

Not Sure What's More Tchefuncte - The Boat, The Light Or Walking In Ryan Reynolds' Footsteps

October 2011. We crossed Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans to the North Shore - 23 miles; one of the longest over-water bridges on earth - to shoot the Tchefuncte River Lightouse (on B&W 35mm film, above). We found a very cool spot which, unbeknownst to us at the time, had been a movie set.

Just across the cove from the lighthouse, this abandoned push barge served as the backdrop to the scene in the "Green Lantern" in which Ryan Reynolds' character finds himself drawn to the site of Abin Sur's wrecked spaceship. It's a strange and spooky scene.

Even the ruins of the pier are creepy.

The broken chunks of concrete wouldn't be spooky on their own, but in context...

The light at dusk. It is midway through a major restoration. The tower is finished. Hopefully within the next couple of years, the pier and keeper's house will be fully restored, as well.

The next morning. Even in the sun, it's a sad and broken scene.

And nearly transparent.

Dragonfly! (yes, I need a macro lens)

Spanish moss!

With framing!

Fully-zoomed.

The road from Madisonville, LA to this point is probably only about five miles, but the last one is pretty rough for a car not made for 4-wheeling. My car made the trip just fine (in first gear for most of it), but she is NOT amused.

Bye!

New Orleans: A Tale Of Two Lighthouses

Sometimes, when you're hiking through the tropical jungle, you stumble upon ruins. Sometimes, those ruins are a once-vital old lighthouse, long-neglected and now surely haunted. This cute little tower, in need of some serious restoration work, is the Port Pontchartrain Light. The shot above is black and white 35mm film.

Its vines look a lot like a leafy green sash.

The windows and lens are long-gone and its ironwork is rusted, but the cupola still makes for an intriguing image, set against a perfect October sky.

From another vantage point. [Maris] and I wanted to take this lighthouse home and put it in our backyard. We didn't, though.

One more shot, before I confess...

... that the Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse sits not in the middle of some forsaken overgrown jungle, but in the middle of a field on the campus of the University of New Orleans.

That's Lake Pontchartrain on the other side of that wall. Not sure if the wall is intended to keep out the lake itself or those palm trees peeking over the top, but either way - it works!

The cupola again, from a higher vantage point. So empty. Kind of sad, really.

And here's the other New Orleans lighthouse - or, the site of New Orleans' other lighthouse. The New Canal Lighthouse was knocked off its foundation and nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but it was taken away to be restored. The groundbreaking for the new foundation took place a little over a month ago, but they still need more money. Click here to read about the restoration efforts - or to donate!

That's all for now. Next up, a lighthouse that watched Ryan Reynolds filming "Green Lantern" - from a distance.

Louisiana Plantation Country & Its Best Lighthouse

Working eastward along the Gulf of Mexico in October 2011, we're in Louisiana now. Above, we have a few like-minded cormorants and an egret, standing watch at the edge of the Sabine River.

One of many tiny gulf coast hamlet views, this one is unique in that no oil rigs are visible.

Since we didn't see any actual gators, here's one of the signs warning of their presence.

Berwick, LA has a charming little waterfront park along the Berwick Bay. This is a flood wall. If you're on this side of it when the flood comes, you're going to get very wet.

One of the coolest lighthouses we've shot in a long time, this is Southwest Reef Light, relocated to Berwick and beautifully restored. The near bridge carries US Rt. 90 to Morgan City and, eventually, to New Orleans.

Steel and sky and bright red paint!

The detail shot I almost didn't take - now one of my very favorite photographs.

Another perspective, because we just couldn't get enough of this scene.

Even the underneath business is cool!

Cupola!

And one black & white 35mm shot, for good measure.

Thanks for cruising with us. Lake Pontchartrain is next!