For five minutes a year the Fresnel lens at the Pigeon Point lighthouse is lit. I have been waiting for this event for nearly 10 months now and I almost missed getting this image. I showed up at the lighthouse a good 6+ hours before the show so no I wasn't late. The day was clear and shattering 100+year old records for high temps around the state. little did we all know that this clear weather was going to play havoc on our carefully planned exposure settings. In past years there was a slight to medium fog lingering around the lighthouse but this year it was clear. I had a feeling that the fog would help define the beams kind of like dust passing through the light beam of a flashlight. As much as I like being right this was the worst time for that to happen.

So for five minutes the beams stood still while we all frantically ran through as many exposure settings as we could to try and get some sort of light. I was able to get one or two images with just enough light to see the beams but it just wasn't going to have the look I wanted. Finally the beams started to move and the lighthouse grounds started to clear of the hundreds of photographers that had lined the fences and walk ways of the park. I was a bit frustrated that my shots didn't work the way I wanted when I remembered that I packed my 50mm 1.4. The 50mm was not nearly as wide as I wanted but the giant aperture combined with a super high ISO would give me the speed to capture the slow moving beams with enough light to show the detail.

Its a little noisy and soft but at least I managed to get something usable.

It was nice to meet all of the people out there today as well as getting to talk to some of the few that I have met before. Thanks for your company...