Growing up on the Great Lakes, one of my favorite subjects are light
stations. It is very fascinating to me how variable the sky and lighting is
from day to day. You don't think about it--all days seem to be the same
except they are not.
The biggest issue I ran into was that I'd have a specific composition in
mind--shooting from a particular angle with a particular lens and
invariably, the clouds would be such that it favors an alternative location.
Unfortunately, that usually means you are on the wrong side of the channel
and 25 driving miles away from the correct location. Yet, persistance
eventually pays off and the law of averages says you'll eventually find you
nuts.
Oh, how I wish I had a computer program like The Photographers Empheris
years ago. Now, getting moon/lighthouse shots is easy and everybody and
their dog is doing those shots. (Looked at Flickr lately?).
One of my favorite sets of light station photos was taken after a massive
cyclonic storm had passed through. The setting sun was golden and reflected
off of the huge stormcloud to the east. The entire scene was bathed in this
eary gold color with specular lighting from one side, and an equally bright
soft lighting from the other side. Completely unreal. It was sold to a
publication for a cover photograph, but they had color-corrected it to
eliminate the color! Completely messed the whole thing up and it looked
aweful. Never did get my slide back, but fortunately had several dupes. Of
the lighthouse photos I've sold for covers, that one made me cry when I saw
the results. In fact, I never kept any tear-sheets I was so disappointed.
Recently, I scanned the slides and thought I'd work it up for a decent
print. Unfortunately, in this digital age, the photo looks "Photoshopped".
I'm not sure I could convince anybody that it was for real.
AG
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