Into The Lighthouse | Assateague Island, VA
This is the entrance to the Assateague Lighthouse on Assateague Island, VA. It lies on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, however it does not receive any government funds whatsoever for upkeep. The flaking paint that you see around the door exists all over the 142-foot tall structure. It was last painted in 1995, but as you can see, it didn’t hold up too well. A recent renovation, all funded by donations, refurbished the spiral staircase and observation deck so that the lighthouse can entertain climbers. Current donations and fees charged for climbing it are going toward further rehabbing, including a much needed paint job. I do enjoy it’s grungy look (it’s good for photography), but I hope to see it bright and shiny again someday soon!
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Blue Hour Sunrise | Assateague Island, Virginia
I can’t tell you how many times I tried to time the flash of the lighthouse just right, but I stood there shooting for a solid 15 minutes before I got a flare from the light that I liked. For those of you familiar with Assateague Island, you’ll understand what kind of a feat that is when you’re being mauled by mosquitoes! This is the Assateague Island Lighthouse just before sunrise on the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The ocean was to my back, and immediately following this shot, I wheeled around and quickly got set back up to shoot the sun rising over the sea, which you can see here. This was part of my much beloved morning shoot with my mom and dad. Fun times! Not much to say, processing wise, on this one. It’s a single, long exposure- tripod mounted and remote triggered. Minimal work in Photoshop to clear up a little color cast in the upper clouds. That’s it. What you see is the same beautiful sight I saw that morning!
©2011 Zach Frailey
Black, White & Sunny | Cape Lookout, NC
I recently took another ferry ride over to the Cape Lookout lighthouse to shoot it against a dramatic sky, but once again my plans were foiled. It seems like there are never clouds in the sky over there. Good for vacationers, but not for me. A few weeks ago conditions were similar, but I was unable to get a single usable shot because of unforeseen debris on my sensor. All sunflares were useless. This time, sensor cleaned, I shot a few brackets against the spotless blue sky. Those of you who are into HDR know that it’s pretty pointless to try to HDR a sky like this, but I was doing it for the flare. In fact, the lighthouse and the rest of the image are a single exposure masked in. It was just ‘ok’ in color, but I found the black and white conversion really brought out the diamond pattern on the lighthouse and drew a lot of attention to the sun rays pointing at it. The plain blue sky was just over powering, and that’s why black and white worked best.
The Shot: 3 exposure HDR merged in Photomatix. Middle exposure sky and lighthouse were masked back in using photoshop. Finishing touches were made using Nik’s Color Efex and black and white conversion was done in Nik Silver Efex Pro.
©2011 Zach Frailey
Assateague Lighthouse | Assateague Island, VA
History: The 142-foot tall Assateague Island lighthouse was built in 1867 to help ships navigate the dangerous shoals of the island on the coast of Virginia. Assateague Lighthouse actually enjoys an opposite conditions that threatens many other great lighthouses. Where most lighthouses today are threatened by erosion, the land mass around Assateague Lighthouse has been filling in. Since being built, the waterline of the inlet has been “pushed back” close to 5 miles away from the light due to the constant, natural deposits of land.
Processing: I shot this image in 2009 and just revisited it today. It’s a single exposure, well baked in Photoshop. First, I fixed the color and straightened it out. I shot this on my old D40, and my photography was in it’s early stages. The sky was grey and blown out, so I replaced it. Using Nik Color Efex, I added a Tonal Contrast and a Pro Contrast filter to it. Finally, I added a Gaussian Blur on the entire image followed by a layer mask using the gradient tool to blur the water in the foreground.
©2011 Zach Frailey, Please do not use without permission.
Room With A View | Cape Lookout, North Carolina
We had some friends in town this weekend, so we took the ferry out to Cape Lookout to check out the lighthouse. Having lived in the area for over a year and a half now, this was just my second trip out there. If I had a boat, I’d probably be there every weekend. We took the short ride over and were able to have the chance to climb to the top of the lighthouse. Now, temperatures were in the mid 90’s and the heat index was over 100 so I couldn’t help but wonder how hot it would be inside a 163-foot tall brick tube. In reality, it wasn’t too bad. The windows were all open on the way up, so it was nice to stop and feel the ocean breeze blowing in. That’s exactly what I was doing when I grabbed this shot.
I wanted to get this shot for two reasons. 1) These ‘window’ shots are part of an on-going series for me. The bright blue water of the ocean looked very inviting through the window frame. And, 2) the thickness of the walls of the lighthouse was astounding. You can see it here. That is not a walkway or entry way, that is the wall of the structure as seen from the staircase.
When I crawled through the hatch at the very top, it felt like the wind was going to blow the camera right out of my hand! I was able to get some shots of the Cape and the surroundings while I was up there, but wasn’t all that happy with how they turned out. I’m glad this turned out as it did so the climb wasn’t a total wash!
©2011 Zach Frailey, please do not use without permission.
