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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 15, 2011 - 02:42am PT
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After going 0-for-lighthouses in 2011 - from Tijuana to up past Pigeon Point - my luck has turned. I've got a winning streak going now!
I like the Point Arena Lighthouse. It's the talleast lighthouse on the West Coast at 115' ( tied with Pigeon Point ), it's in an isolated place ( for California ) and it's the first lighthouse I ever saw. You always remember your first.
Five years ago, I didn't think there were any lighthouses on the West Coast. I'd traveled the entire coast from Santa Barbara to Ensenada, and I had never seen one until I went to Point Arena a few years ago.
The Point Arena Lighthouse was built by a company who specialized in building smokestacks, which is why it looks like one.
I was a little disappointed when the sunny forecast didn't materialize, but then I realised that this is the type of conditions lighthouses are for. Nobody needs a lighthouse on a nice, sunny day.
At least the wind was blowing when I was there on Friday ( 8-12 ).
I'm in the next two shots, standing next to the open door at the base of the lighthouse, shooting the breeze with one of the lighthouse docents:
"I remember you", she said. That could be good or bad. This time, it wasn't bad.
Later that same afternoon, I went back to the Point Cabrillo lighthouse. Two lighthouses in one day!
It still runs the old-timey Fresnel Lens. This one's a Third Order Fresnel ( First Order Fresnel is the largest ):
Today, my luck really came through. I had another two-lighthouse-day.
I've been trying to KAP ( kite aerial photograph ) the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, near Port Orford, Oregon for a few years. This has always been like unfinished business for me - until today. I get one chance per year, about a two-hour window, to get shots. The weather there typically stinks - one reason there'a a lighthouse there - but today was absolutely perfect. The kite was like a tripod in the sky. I couldn'n miss!:
This one also runs the old Fresnel Lens, this one's a Second Order Fresnel:
This afternoon, I went to the Coquille River Lighthouse. The waether was perfect here today, too, so I sent up the tripod in the sky:
That's me in the shot, sitting down on the job!
"Me, I'm still on the road, a headin' for another joint", so stay tuned to this same Bat Channel for more.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
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Aug 15, 2011 - 02:50am PT
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Lovin' it, Chaz. Groovin' on the Frenzel Lens.
The Old Dads had some Masters, huh? WoooHooo!
Big dig.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 23, 2011 - 01:29am PT
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North Head Lighthouse. Long Beach, Washington:
The handles along the window frames are for the lighthouse keeper to grab onto when the wind comes up. This is either the second or third windiest place in the U.S., depending on who you ask:
I had to get a couple self-portraits in:
( the shadow is of the kite )
I'm supposed to wear a hat when I do this, but I believe the glare off my shiny head bumps up the shutter speed a couple notches, at least.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 23, 2011 - 01:31am PT
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Thanks - I always enjoy these threads.
Nobody needs a lighthouse on a nice, sunny day.
Even on sunny days, it's dark about half the time.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Aug 23, 2011 - 01:48am PT
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I love the images and I love EVERYTHING about lighthouses!
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 24, 2011 - 10:37am PT
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Admiralty Head Lighthouse - Whidbey Island, WA - in the fog:
The kite disappeared into the clouds. The camera hangs 100' below the kite, so it looked like I was flying just a camera in the fog. Numerous people were asking how I got a camera fly. Think "Indian rope trick".
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 25, 2011 - 12:25pm PT
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Admiralty Head, in clearer conditions:
The guy up in the lantern room is Ray. He's one of the volunteers who work to keep the inside of this lighthouse accessible to the public.
Hats off to Ray, and all the lighthouse volunteers.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 8, 2011 - 10:08am PT
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A few more from Admiralty Head.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Chaz, I am worried. Where is #1 Doggie?
Amazing shots. Obviously your KAP is kind of a photo essay and should make it into a book or one place somehow. I really enjoy these threads of yours.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Yo Chaz! How come you only have a two hour window at Cape Blanco? I hope it
isn't anything personal. ;-)
When ya gonna do Vancouver Island? You'd swoon over Cape Beale. I kayaked
there BITD. We paddled over a nearby wreck of a Japanese car carrier. They
came barrelling onto the rocks secure in their thinking that the light they
were 'rounding' was Cape Flattery. Ooops! It was a field day for the local
first nation people. They all went out to the wreck before the Hoser Coast Guard
did to start yarding Toyota engines outta the pickups that were still above water.
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squishy
Mountain climber
Sac town
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You need to try tricopters or helicopters with FPV on it...
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Nice Chaz! Looks like a lot of fun and great perspectives. Here are some land based views.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 8, 2011 - 11:50am PT
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Mr Milktoast,
The guy in thye first and fourth shot in the last Admiralty Head post is the Docent. He spotted my Point Arena t-shirt ( I always try to buy a book or a shirt at these places, as it helps finance their operations ), and he told me a story of his landing a Navy helicopter there at Point Arena in the 60's. "It was either there, or in the ocean", he said of his emergency landing. I dug out one of the photos I took of it earlier, and he showed me where his helicopter went down. Then he had to ask how I took those shots. I think he's on his way to being a new KAP guy.
Mr Haan,
#1 Dog had to stay in the truck at Admiralty Head. Normally, I tie her to something near where I'm doing my kite thing, but I was afraid she'd throttle herself trying to get after the deer there at Fort Casey.
Reilly,
I only had a couple hours at Cape Blanco because I was in transit - up the Oregon Coast - that day. I hit Coquille River Lighthouse later that same day.
Squishy,
I don't know about helicopters. I just crash-landed both the kite and the camera in the Swinomish Channel last night. Apparently, I'm not as good at this as I thought!
More to come, stay tuned.
EDTI:
Mr Dodrill,
Those pictures are fantastic!
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High Fructose Corn Spirit
Gym climber
-A community of hairless apes
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Chaz,
I think you should employ your great artwork over crags and high sierra routes. I know many at this site would get a kick out of seeing arials along Mt Russell, for example, or Lovers Leap.
Might even pay (handsomely) too for just the right one.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Here's another one ya need to 'do' - El Faro - Beagle Channel. Southernmost
lighthouse in the world!
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey yhere say, chaz... oh my... can you fix all this, after the crashed up stuff? hope it's up and running, well, flying, better said, soon...
:)
giod bless..
:)
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2011 - 10:38am PT
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Point Wilson Lighthouse in Port Townsend. ( WA )
The wind was great that day for almost an hour, then it really started to blow. I walked back to the truck to tie on the kite I use for high winds, and I turned around to see the lighthouse had completely disappeared in the fog. So I was happy with the shots I got.
Hey Neebee,
I can fix it, if I even have to. It's a collection of parts, which can be replaced individually. It has been drying out for a couple days, and we'll see what still works, and what doesn't, and I'll go from there.
The camera works fine after it's salt-water swim! It's a Pentax Optio W80, and it's meant to get wet. I was hoping I'd never find out about it's underwater capabilities, but it just paid for itself this week!
HFCS,
I've been trying for a few years to get decent shots of climbers on Walk On The Wild Side ( one of my favorite climbs ), but I keep striking out. The wind does funny things close to large formations - like the closer I get the kite to it, the more the wind pushes the kite away. If I'm not close, the shots aren't any good, as they look like the ones you can get standing on other formations. I was out there at least ten times last season, with nothing to show for it! I'll be back, though. It's like a climb you can't quite get, but you know you can. Canyons and valleys do strange things to the wind.
Here's a few of the shots I've brought back from Joshua Tree:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/4000342344/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/3384423930/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/2961520265/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/3066894919/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/3353255784/in/photostream
Mr Milktoast,
I've done kite aerial video a couple times - by mistake ( I had the camera set to video by mistake ). When I watch the video, it almost makes me airsick, as things are never still. The camera swings back and forth, up and down, and then I twist and tilt it trying to aim the thing. Some of the kite guys do video, however. One of them even devised a gyro-stabilized servo, just for that purpose:
http://www.brooxes.com/newsite/BBKK/BBKK-PARTS.html
( Scroll down to find the "The Miraculous GS-1 Gyro-Stabilized Servo" )
Reilly,
I'm working my way down there. Here's as far as I've made it so far - Tijuana:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30901290@N03/4031472660/in/photostream
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