Lighthouses are a great photographic subject. Many prefer to portray them with crashing waves from a stormy sea. I favour the a more gentle treatment.
Included here are a selection of lighthouses on the north east coast of England in the UK.
This image is of a popular subject, the pier and lighthouse at Roker, Sunderland, in the UK. It’s taken at first light in the summer when the sun rises north of east, allowing the outer edge of the pier to be lit like this for a few moments. It requires getting up at ouch o’clock. So early in fact that I was sharing the sea front with a few people still heading home from a good night out.
Taken at the sunset end of the day in Whitley Bay, UK. The lighthouse and associated buildings stand on a piece of land that becomes an island at high tide. At low tide, you can walk across a short causeway which is underwater on the right hand side of the image.
The same lighthouse as the previous image, this time well after the sun had set. Taken from some distance south using a long lens, and a long exposure, gives the painterly effect in the sea I was after.
Tynemouth, UK, is the gateway to the historic shipyards of Newcastle upon Tyne, which are now largely disused. As such an important historical river entrance for shipping, there is a lighthouse on each of the two sea walls that stretch from the river to the North Sea. This image is taken from the north side of the river looking south, and with this image I was lucky enough to win first prize in the “Places” competition run by the Port of Tyne.
