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Pigeon Point Lighthouse

The annual (or biennial?) lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, using the original Fresnel lens, including a blotchy moon, lens flares, and an ugly chain link fence.

 

Maybe a thousand photographers showed up to capture this event on film and sensors. Normally the lens that focuses the beams rotates, so ships at sea will see a flash every 10 seconds. The Coast Guard was nice enough to stop the rotation for about 6 minutes to allow us photographers to capture the beams using long exposures.

 

2 Minutes

f/6.3

ISO 200

10 mm

Canon Rebel Xsi

 

No cloning in post processing. What you see is what you get.

 

I was expecting it to be much more crowded than it was, but In looking around I saw many people up and down the coast. We should see some interesting results!

 

This was a magic scene, much better in real life than in a photo. I was also pleased to meet in person a whole bunch of Flickr friends. And it was fun travelling with Bats, Dave, and Nick. Thank you!

 

By the way, the California State Parks system needs 9 million dollars to restore this historic structure. It is literally falling apart.

www.sanmateocoastnha.com/pdfs/Calparks.pdf

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Uploaded on November 14, 2010
Taken on November 13, 2010