Long Island Lighthouses 2024
In April 2024, Lerro Photography sponsored a photo workshop at two Long Island Lighthouses.
Part 1 – Montauk Point Light:
From 1860 to 1903, the Montauk Point Lighthouse used a massive 1st order Fresnel lens. In 1903, a 3 ½ order Bivalve Fresnel lens was installed and was the official aid to navigation until 1987, when it was replaced with a modern aerobeacon. While it served its purpose aesthetically, the modern optic looked tiny inside the large lantern room. In 2023, the 3.5-order Fresnel Lens was reinstalled at the top of the lighthouse for a two-year trial with the Coast Guard. When I found out the Fresnel lens was back in operation, I immediately started working on getting all the permits needed to run a photo workshop.
Having shot Montauk Point many times over the last 24 years, I knew that there were external security lights mounted on the tower and keepers house that illuminate the entire museum ground. The external lights would need to be turned off to get any night shots with the stars. The lighthouse museum is its own entity but sits within the Montauk Point State Park, so we would need a permit to shoot overnight. The town of East Hampton owns the public beach adjacent to the museum and state park, so we would need a 3rd permit to make it all happen. With all the paperwork and effort it will take to make this happen, I opted to do the workshop for two nights just in case of bad weather. After working with the lighthouse museum, the NY State Park, and the Town of East Hampton, we had everything set to make the photo shoot happen. All we needed was good weather.
On Monday evening, we met up and took pictures at several locations until sunset. A mix of clouds and sun created a really nice contrast of pink light on the lighthouse against dark clouds to the east. Once we finished shooting sunset shots, I put on the lighthouse keeper uniform and posed with the 3 ½ Fresnel lens. We then took a break for a few hours.
We were supposed to meet back up around 2:00 am but waited until about 3:00 am due to cloud cover. Luckily, the clouds cleared around 3:45 am, and we got amazing photos of the lighthouse with the Milky Way. Having the external lights turned off made all the difference in the world. And seeing the Fresnel Lens cast its beams made it even more special. We didn’t want to waste the clear skies, so we continued to shoot through to sunrise. After sunrise, we took a long midday break.
We met back on Tuesday evening and took sunset shots from several angles. With clear skies after sunset, we continued to shoot and took night shots, with the moonlight illuminating the lighthouse and landscape. Once we were happy, we took a few hour break and met around 3:00 am for more Milky Way shots. After shooting for a few hours and dawn began, we took a short break and returned to the beach for sunrise. Once we were finished shooting sunrise, we took our midday break and drove two hours to Eatons Neck Light for our evening shoot.
The Montauk Point Lighthouse museum staff was amazing to work with, and all the work paid off. We hope to do another photo shoot at the lighthouse next year.
Part 2 – Eaton Neck Lighthouse:
The Eatons Neck Lighthouse was built in 1798 and sits on an active Coast Guard base, gated off to the general public. Several Coast Guard families live on the base, so accessing the lighthouse has historically been tough. With the help of the US Lighthouse Society, I contacted the right person at the base to get permission for us to visit that evening during the photo workshop. The primary purpose of our visit was to photograph the 3rd Fresnel Lens, which has been the active aid in the lighthouse since 1858. The US Coast Guard was accommodating and allowed us to climb the lighthouse to photograph the lens inside the lantern room. They also allowed us to set up several LED lights to illuminate the tower at night.
Thank you again to the staff at Montauk Point Lighthouse, the NY State Park, the Town of East Hampton, and the US Coast Guard for making our Long Island Lighthouse photo workshop a huge success!
