Family vacation for summer 2010 was Depoe Bay, Oregon — centered on the beautiful coast of the state. Oregon’s coast is brutally magnificent, with harsh cliffs, pebbled beaches and stark contrasts.
Over an hour wait in line and a hundred narrow steps will get you to the top of Yaquina Head lighthouse, where five more steps let you peer up by the light. The nature of the reflection is pretty fascinating. Even though the light is super bright at night looking from outside the lighthouse, the actual bulb isn’t very powerful or bright. It’s the way that the light refracts/reflects through the brassy contraption that encircles the light.
I also don’t normally do black and white photography, not because I don’t like it–I love it–but I feel that it’s overused and it makes every picture needlessly dramatic. Well, I made an exception for this one. I love this photograph the way it is now because there’s something about a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff–especially one as old as this lighthouse, which dates back to the 1800s–that represents a hope, the edge of civilization, and also a longing for those lost at sea. The weather is often stormy (although it wasn’t that day) and portentous of things to come.
