Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Fog. Pescadero, California. November 17, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell

Shot last night at the annual Pigeon Point Lighthouse open house. Although the historic fresnel lens lighting system was turned on, the fog came in and obscured the view.

A little background and story about this photo. As posted a few days ago on this web site, I had heard about this event by way of a post at Andy Frazer’s Night Photography Blog. Based on what I read and saw there I was interested in photographing the interesting star-like pattern of the old lighthouse fresnel lens.

When I arrived at Pigeon Point last night several things caught me by surprise. First, I had no idea that this event was such a big deal! There were hundreds of cars parked in every direction: along highway 1 both north and south and on side roads. The CHP had set up flares and was directing traffic. There were people everywhere. I also didn’t know until later that the evening event is not the whole show – special activities were scheduled at the lighthouse throughout the day.

As I drove up the coast from Santa Cruz, I was impressed by the colorful post-sunset sky. Yes, it was quite clear. Although I could see a distant fog line far offshore, Monterey Bay was completely clear and it was almost as clear along the coast. Until about a quarter mile before the lighthouse, that is. A dense line of fog had moved in almost right at the lighthouse – so my plan for a clear shot of the lights was no longer going to work.

I set up just a bit south of the lighthouse on a low bluff – along with quite a few other people – and made a few test shots. (It can be difficult to compose a night shot like this since you can’t really see everything in the dark and gloom, especially with the fog so thick.) In the end, I got one photograph that I like, the one posted here.