It's not often I get to photograph the milky way somewhere that's never been done

[jsecordphoto]

It's safe to say I've never put this much work into photographing a location before. What started as a dream, very quickly grew into reality. I spent last week scrambling around making phone calls, networking, and planning transportation to spend the night at Seguin Island Lighthouse, which is about 2.5 miles off of Popham Beach, Maine. As far as I can tell, this is the first photograph of the milky way from Seguin Island. This lighthouse was, quite frankly, a pain in the ass to expose. The light is constant going out in all directions, the Tokina 16-28 flares horribly so that was tricky to work around, and there was a constant breeze so you can see that the foreground grass isn't sharp. Not my favorite lighthouse photo of my trip to Maine (can't wait to share my photo here from Pemaquid!) but the story behind this is what makes it really special for me.

Easily one of the best experiences of my life, and such a cool adventure. I plan on doing a full write up of the whole process of setting it up, getting out here, and sharing one of the other compositions from the night soon. The story is pretty crazy and I couldn't believe how everything came together. Life has been pretty amazing lately.

 

[SnappingShark]

I love this shot!!!

Did you give up mowing the lawn though?

Looks like one of my bad haircuts!

 

[jsecordphoto]

I love this shot!!!

Did you give up mowing the lawn though?

Looks like one of my bad haircuts!

Hah, the lighthouse keeper mows these paths about once a week, but everything else was completely overgrown. Made it difficult to find compositions because the grass was taller than my tripod in a lot of places.

 

[Twannie1980]

stunning!

 

[pgriz]

This is the first I've ever seen a lighthouse and the Milky Way shown together. Very good execution!

 

[Aloicious]

beautiful, great job!

 

[astroNikon]

totally awesome. Great concept and execution !!

 

[pjaye]

This is an incredible shot. Well done!

 

[jsecordphoto]

This is the first I've ever seen a lighthouse and the Milky Way shown together. Very good execution!

Thanks! One of the most difficult scenes to expose ever. Such an amazing experience though. If you like this one, wait til you see the photo I got from Pemaquid Lighthouse I'll share here soon...very proud of that one and it was like a perfect storm of composition, the milky way, and just a hint of moonlight.

 

[julianliu]

Did you photoshop the light ray from the light house ? It looks so uniform.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Did you photoshop the light ray from the light house ? It looks so uniform.

Nope, not photoshopped. Those rays from the dividers in the lens were really defined and clearly visible to the naked eye

 

[Scatterbrained]

Very, very cool shot. I'd say well worth the effort you put into it.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Very, very cool shot. I'd say well worth the effort you put into it.

Thank you! I had a lot of help setting this up from some of the locals in town, including the owner of a small framing/print shop I stopped at. Apparently the people of Maine are the nicest and most helpful in the world.

 

[Msteelio91]

Amazing photo!

 

[D7K]

Great shot.. And pleased you had a blast (despite the "less than perfect" conditions) and walked away with fantastic shot, a great experience and memories to keep..