Lighthouse Point

This photo was taken on an overcast breezy/windy day. The overcast conditions allowed the exposure to be captured on film this late in the day. But, to capture the Morgan Reinauer Tug passing the SW Light in New Haven required the combination of the Leica 560mm Telyt lens with the Leica 2X Apo Extender (1120mm). In order to keep some semblance of sharpness and clarity of the image with this much magnification and wind, I needed to push down on the lens and tripod assembly into the sand as I was holding and shooting the camera with the motor winder. The weight of the barge being pulled by the Tug is evident by how low in the water the Tug is riding and the taughtness of the tow lines. The original 16" x 24" copy of this is in the Reinaurer Tug Corporate offices in Richmond (Staten Island) and the second copy in this size is in the hands of the company that maintains and upkeeps the Tugs. Rich

Interesting image Rich, and I'm not sure why. I just keep coming back to it. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Robert,

Thanks for the kind words. Extreme magnification or "super telephoto" effect (1120mm, about 22X on film) has been used in this image and the Tug and the Lighthouse were actually hundreds of yards (a mile or more?) from the beach where I was photographing. I think the "construction" of the compositional elements along with the extreme distance and compression due to the "super telephoto" effect, the overcast and somewhat gritty look to the sky are what you are finding interesting. The image is fairly sharp considering the extreme distance and the extreme focal length but not super sharp. This helps to contribute to the image.

If you look at the "construction" of the image, first what you will find is the horizon is along the lower third where the overcast lighter blue intersects the darker blue of the Long Island Sound. The rock jetty upon which the Lighthouse sits is just slightly above the horizon line. There is a tension between the Lighthouse and the Tugboat. The Lighthouse is a vertical compositional component just to the left of the left third of the image. The black caisson lifts the white body of the Lighthouse above the Tugboat. Additionally, the Tugboat is actually very large in relation to the Lighthouse both in length and height. The Tugboat is comprised of both a horizontal and a vertical component. The greater part of the Tugboat is the horizontal component that is just below to a bit above the horizon line; but the boat is traveling at a slight diagonal to the Lighthouse. Most of the Tugboat height falls within the height of the Lighthouse black caisson with only the upper Tug, tower and mast along and slightly above the white body of the Lighthouse. Additionally, the red of the Tug contributes to the image and you can see the white water behind the Tug from the propellers and you get the impression of the boat bouncing up and down at the bow as it plows through the water which is white along the side and the front of the boat. Rich