Portland Head Lighthouse in fog sepia

A sepia-toned photograph captures a lighthouse standing atop rugged cliffs, with waves crashing below and a misty sky above. The architecture of the... more

by David Smith

Title

Portland Head Lighthouse in fog sepia

Artist

David Smith

Medium

Photograph

Description

A sepia-toned photograph captures a lighthouse standing atop rugged cliffs, with waves crashing below and a misty sky above. The architecture of the house connected to the lighthouse is traditional, complementing the natural, rocky landscape surrounding it.

South side of the Portland Head lighthouse, Cape Elizabeth, Maine on a foggy morning.

I had driven my mother up from New York to spend Christmas with my sister's family in New Hampshire. She had a full house so I decided to spend a couple of days in Portland, Maine rather than sleep on an air mattress in my nephews room. On the morning of Christmas Eve I drove over to Portland Head Lighthouse hoping to catch the sunrise. The sky was clear in downtown Portland when I left the hotel, but by the time I got to the lighthouse fog was moving in.When I started on the North side of the lighthouse the fog was thinner, but by the time I got over to the South side it had gotten denser. I used a fairly slow shutter speed to blur the water a bit to keep the tones more in relation to the rest of the image.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

Uploaded

December 23rd, 2015