South Stack Lighthouse

Lighthouse #58

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The story behind this image

Late one winter's afternoon, after a fresh day spent exploring the bays and beaches on the beautiful island of Anglesey, Liz and I found ourselves, coffees in hand, at our default sunset location high on the cliffs of South Stack overlooking the famous lighthouse.

This is a great place to spend a sunset, but rarely do you actually see the sun setting into the sea as there's usually a bank of cloud over Ireland to the west which cuts the show short.

However, on this occasion the horizon stayed clear and allowed the golden rays of the lowering sun to splash across the lighthouse and cliffs, lighting the rocks in a gentle, revealing warm glow.

Idyllic you might think, but what this image doesn't show is the howling gale that was blowing at the time, lifting sea spray up the two hundred feet or so of cliffs to coat me and my camera in a welter of salty droplets.

So in-between furious filter wiping on my part, and leaning heavily on my tripod to stop it blowing away, let alone stop it vibrating, I was able to take this image of the South stack lighthouse in all its sunlit glory.

I'm glad to say that both I and my camera survived the experience.

Liz stayed in the car!

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Image data

Filename - lighthouse 58.jpg

Camera - Canon 5D

Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 47mm

Exposure - 1/8 sec @ f11, ISO100

Location - South Stack, Anglesey, North Wales

This image - 800x450px JPEG

Conversion - ACR & PS-CS2

Comments - ND grad filter used to balance exposure between sky and sea