Lighthouses

Bug Light

Not too long ago I promised myself I would avoid photographing lighthouses because everyone does that. Galleries in Portland, Maine’s Old Port district are loaded with paintings and photographs of lighthouses. When cruise ships tie up in Portland Harbor, local artisans set up their tables along Commercial Street selling all sorts of things, but what do you see the most of? Lighthouses. There are ceramic lighthouses, trivets with lighthouses, coffee cups with lighthouses, as well as paintings and photographs of lighthouses. Cruise ship passengers from around the world walk by and scoop them up.

Bug Light

Now, however, I have dozens of lighthouse photos, hundreds maybe. Our South Portland, Maine house is five minutes from two of them and ten minutes from two more. Because I always have a camera with me and all four lighthouses are situated in places I visit often — beautiful public parks or on state-owned land by the sea — I’ve become captivated by the lighthouse mystique. Maybe it’s their simple, functional design. Maybe it’s because they’re safety beacons situated in places of both great natural beauty and also great danger. Whatever it is, I’ll likely be taking hundreds more images of them before I’m dead.

Bug Light

The Portland Breakwater Lighthouse, otherwise known as “Bug Light,” is five minutes away. Every morning before breakfast I jog past the lighthouse in Bug Light Park and my camera is always in my car parked two hundred feet from it. Sometimes the rising sun shines so beautifully upon it that I cannot resist snapping a picture, or two, or three. I can put the Portland skyline in the background or use the islands in Casco Bay as backdrops, including the solid-granite, Civil-War-era Fort Gorges that still sits across the shipping lane a few hundred yards offshore.

Spring Point Light

My wife and I will often go for a stroll around Bug Light Park after dinner in spring, summer, and fall. As all photographers know, the best shooting light is just after sunrise or just before sunset — at which time we sometimes see stunning cloud formations behind Bug Light. The sun sets over the City of Portland across the harbor and I’ve taken dozens of shots with the Portland skyline in the background. The late film director Jonathan Demme called it “the golden hour."

Portland Head Light

Bug Light is unique among lighthouses in that its design was inspired by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates which was built next to the Athenian Acropolis in 335 BC. It’s a classic design often copied around the world, especially during America’s Greek Revival period in the mid-19th century when the lighthouse was built. It’s the smallest of all Maine lighthouses, and classically beautiful.

Portland Head Light

Within sight of Bug Light, and also a five-minute drive away, is Spring Point Ledge Light on the SMCC campus (Southern Maine Community College). I often go there first to watch the sunrise. From Spring Point Light one can see both Bug Light and Portland Head Light at Fort Williams in Cape Elizabeth. On mornings with particularly good light, I’ll visit all three before going home for breakfast. At that early hour, I have them all to myself.

Portland Head Light

Portland Head Light was commissioned by the US Government and completed in 1791 while George Washington was president, and after the federal government took over control of all US lighthouses. The United States at that time stretched only from Maine (part of Massachusetts then) to Georgia and almost the entire population lived between the Appalachians and the Atlantic.

Ram Island Light

From Portland Head Light one can see Ram Island Ledge Light across the shipping channel. It was completed in 1905 after several shipwrecks on that dangerous ledge, but then all lighthouses were constructed following maritime mishaps. Also visible from Portland Head Light are two more lighthouses to the south at a location appropriately called “Two Lights” in Cape Elizabeth. Those were first built in 1828. While I’ve taken no pictures of “Two Lights,” I have many of the rocky shore at the nearby “Two Lights State Park” which I try to visit every week.

Spring Point Light

Portland Head Light is perhaps the most photographed lighthouse in America according to Smithsonian Magazine. According to oyster.com, it’s one of the top ten most iconic lighthouses in the entire world. That means that my photos have lots of competition, but I have the advantage of close proximity during every season of the year. Being semi-retired, I also have the time.

Portland Head Light

Four lighthouse pictures hang in our South Portland house and two hang in Lovell, so far. There may be more. One winter lighthouse shot hangs in a local hospital and I wouldn’t be surprised if they should pick a few more when their budget allows.