We photograph a lot of lighthouses when we travel during the summer and early autumn, but we rarely have the opportunity to take wintertime photos of the light towers. A summertime visit often means you get great shots of the towers set against a clear blue sky, and many lighthouses offer tours or the opportunity to climb the tower to see the view from the top of the light during warmer months.
Wintertime at a lighthouse usually results in a very different experience with dreary weather, steel-grey skies and a site where even the outhouses close for the season. But the quiet isolation and beauty of some of these deserted beaches probably give visitors a much clearer picture of the lonely lives led by lighthouse keepers.
Here are a few more photos from our recent hike out to Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park.
Check out the story links below for more about our visit to this beautiful lighthouse, plus more photos of the lighthouse and park.
Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.
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© Dominique King 2009
These are beautiful pictures, cold, moody, perfect.
Posted by: Carolina | February 27, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Beautiful as always, and you're right - incredibly isolated feeling.
Posted by: DeliciousBaby | February 27, 2009 at 03:49 PM
Carolina-Thanks! It was pretty much the mood of the day...cold, moody. I hope we can get back there soon in the summer. We've managed to do a few lighthouses in winter and summer, and it's always interesting to see how different the vibe is from season to season.
Debbie-I wish we were able to get out to some of the lighthouses more often in the winter months. The photos and feeling are always so different from those sunny, summer day shots.
The real advantage to visiting in warmer months at a lot of the lights in recent years is that more and more of them seem to be offering tours of the towers as the government gives more of them over to private ownership.
I'm a big lighthouse fan, though...so it really doesn't matter to me which season I'm able to go out and visit.
Posted by: Dominique | March 01, 2009 at 03:50 PM
What beautiful lighthouses!, the last one is my favourite!!
Posted by: Peace Mitchell (Australia) | March 02, 2009 at 02:04 AM
These are beautiful photos. Much as I hate to admit it, there is something lovely and stark (albeit, lonely) about winter on the beach in Michigan. The white buildings in the white snow are beautiful in these moody landscapes.
Posted by: Cindy L | March 02, 2009 at 05:54 AM
Peace-That last shot was one of my favorites, too!
Cindy-I've always treasured the opportunity to visit a lighthouse during the winter. We went out to Grand Haven the same weekend we took these photos, where the bright red lighthouse gave us some really great contrast in our shots (Tim shot a really nice photo of Grand Haven that he printed as a panoramic picture).
Posted by: Dominique | March 02, 2009 at 09:06 PM