2008.11.15

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse was built in 1872 on notoriously dangerous coastal cliffs fifty miles south of San Francisco.

The lighthouse is one of the tallest in America, and has a first order Fresnel lens. The lens is a seventeen foot tall glass beehive of 1008 lenses and prisms. It weighs four tons and simultaneously shines beams in 24 directions. The spokes of light spin slowly, visible for as far as the eye can see.

The Fresnel lens -- now obsolete -- has been preserved in the lantern room and is illuminated once a year for the anniversary celebration. For five minutes the Coast Guard doesn't engage the massive clockwork mechanism, to allow photographers to take time exposures such as the photos below.

And then, the huge lens and its beams begin to spin.

Here is a shot from this year. The unusually warm weather -- amazing weather for mid-November -- left the coastal air relatively dry. Because of this, the beams weren't as prominent this year. But it was still a beautiful sight.

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Here is a shot from 2006 -- the air was full of moisture that year, with a fine mist catching the light and amplifying the beams.

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In 2007 it was foggy and so the beams were extremely well defined. However, you couldn't see the lighthouse from beyond 100 yards! (That I suppose explains the large fog horn shed at Pigeon Point Light Station.)

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