Good night Irene

OPPORTUNITY - Off the coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts stands

Minot's Ledge Lighthouse, built 151 years ago. It is built upon a submerged

rock ledge visible only at low tide, so most of the time it actually rises up

right out of the water. It was quite an adventure to photograph this during

Irene! But nothing compared to the adventure faced by the lightkeeper. To

get in or out of the lighthouse, the lightkeeper had to climb the ladder on the

outside of the lighthouse to a doorway halfway up (visible on the left). It is

easy to understand why the lighthouse door was placed so far up when one

views this photo! Moral of the story of this photo - where most associate

fear and destruction with a dangerous storm, a photographer sees

Opportunity!

Well composed with integrating the bird in the composition! I wonder how did you protect your camera from the rain and humidity! There are solutions for the camera, but the lens, it must be crystal clean at any time!

Best regards Peter!

PDE

Hi Pierre,

thanks for the comments! Yes protecting my camera and lens was a major concern. I waited for a period of high wind but no rain as I wanted the waves to be big. (Irene came in bands of wind and rain.) I scouted the beach and found if I hunkered down right next to a 10 foot high wall built around someone's beach mansion that I could shoot protected from the wind as it was blowing over top of me. The sand was still blowing like crazy on the beach 100 feet to the left of me though! When the next band of rain came by I had already got my picture.

Yes, bad weather often makes for great photographs.  The flying gull was very nice to you as well.

Great capture, Peter ... wonderful shot ! Kind regards

Top shot, Peter. I don't envy the lighthouse keeper's job! The crashing wave adds a lot of drama as does the excellent b&w conversion. I'm in two minds about the inclusion of the bird in comp (perhaps a little distracting), but I certainly understand it's relevance to the story.

Nice adventure.  Really nice scene, the surf looks tough!

A very nice capture of the fury of a storm.  I can feel the dampness and wind.....and the gull is a great addition to the composition.  The wave crashing against the lighthouse is amazing.  Rough weather indeed!