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!

Running Out Of Texas

Continuing on our frenzied race to shoot Texas' lighthouses and get out before anyone saw us, we stopped at Port Lavaca. This is Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse, which has been relocated to the local seniors center parking lot. It's a cute little light, though. Oh, I've done it now - went and called something in Texas "little." Check out the star on top of the cupola, by the way. Don't you dare forget you're in Texas!

Car. Still not thrilled about being in Texas, but nonetheless acquiesced to having her picture taken with the lighthouse and a glorious Texas flag. You didn't forget we were in Texas, did you? Texas!

In Texas, you are required to obey warning signs, and you are reminded about a quarter-mile before each and every warning sign. So, two things: 1) Does that mean that in all other states, warning signs are merely suggestions? 2) Buy stock in Texas highway sign manufacturers!

Okay - last picture of the car for a while. This is down near Port Arthur, next to the Sabine River. I like the endless desolation beyond the car.

Sabine Pass Lighthouse. Like a rocket, with its supporting brick fins. Needs a bit of restoration work, but it's still really cool. If you look closely, you can see the Coast Guard SUV to the left of the tower. These guys will later stop us on our way onto the swampy lighthouse property, decide that we're harmless, take a long look at our car and say "Yeah, you should be okay in that."

And back to digital...

These guys didn't seem to like where we were, either. They stopped and took a long look at us and our zoom lenses. I'm guessing we were too close to the oil-rig factory.

The pilot boat didn't care. He had work to do.

Couldn't resist shooting this. A picture doesn't begin to do justice to the sheer scale of this kind of construction. Massive stuff. Texas.

Anyone know what this huge claw thing is? 'Cause we don't!

Having braved the swamp in a Camaro, bottoming out more than once and getting marsh grass stuck in her undercarriage, we arrived at the Sabine Pass Lighthouse, on the Louisiana side of the river. It is an incredibly cool site, and actually very spooky, even in daylight. We were repeatedly buzzed by a Coast Guard helicopter, so we figured if we had gotten stuck, help would have been along promptly.

More to come. Thanks for stopping by!

Texas Isn't All Bad...

Okay. So. We went to Texas. In October 2011, we loaded our cameras and Mountain Dew into the new baby car and drove it like we stole it from Maryland to Texas in less than two days. The goal, as usual, was to photograph lighthouses and whatever else we found. Above, the car refuses to set foot in Texas. She relented. Eventually. Texas.

Heading southwest from the brief nightmare that was Houston, this Kansas City Southern train paced us for a while along US Rt. 59. We were quickly losing daylight, so it's not my best railfan work, but it is my first train shot in Texas. Texas.

Car. Growling at the Texas cotton fields. Texas.

Thunderheads are bigger in Texas. Texas.

Cow with horns! Texas.

This one's mostly for Mom, who dearly misses Rehoboth Beach's Purple Parrot. We're in Port Isabel, not far from the Texas-Mexico border on the Gulf. Texas.

Boom. Our first light. Point/Port Isabel. Not easy to shoot with all the people climbing all over it, and we could do without the streamers and signage advertising some town festival-y thing, but it is beautifully-restored and kept. Texas.

Still shooting film, too! Black & White, even. Texas.

Gulf-bound oil tanker passing Port Isabel. Texas.

The Queen Isabel Causeway, linking Port Isabel with the southern end of South Padre Island. Texas.

Much more to come. We followed the Gulf Coast north and east through Texas (Texas.), Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Come with us! Texas.

The Zoo - With Lights!

December, 2008. Zoolights, at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. It's hard to get decent long-exposure shots without a tripod, but I tried anyway. Here's what I got. Above, the blue tree. 1/4 second may not sound long, but with a hand-held camera, it really is.

Welcome to the zoo - home of the blue pandas!

The dancing trees - warming up.

The dancing trees - rockin' out to Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Dancing trees, flowers and butterfly.

I think I like this 3/4 second zooming shot of a well-lit tree better without a tripod. It's more, um, organic. Or something.

Our favorite blue pandas with their mysterious golden bamboo.

Blue crab!

Flamingos and palm. It's like a little piece of Florida, right in the middle of Northwest DC in December!

What's cuter than a baby elephant? A baby elephant made of twinkly lights, stomping the yard while his parents watch. And maybe baby pandas.

How cool is our zoo? Our zoo has dinosaurs!

Bye!