Crescent City
is a coastal town just below the Oregon boarder. Its economy was built on timber and the sea. It also houses
the headquarters of the Redwoods National
Park. One hundred years ago the Battery Pont Lighthouse
was erected to safely guide ships into the treacherous harbor. It sits off the
shore on a rocky point that turns into an island at high tide.
My wife, daughter and I were camping
in a campground just south of town. For several mornings I tried to photograph
this lighthouse but wasn’t successful. It was on our last morning that
I found this vantage point. So much of my dawn work is solitary and this was
no exception. But there was something very special about this morning, standing
on the edge of the endless Pacific with the deceptive waves softly hissing as they innocently washed over the dark, jagged
rocks below me.
The world started to awaken. A few sea lions began to bark. A sea
gull or two ventured into the salty air. Lights came on in the kitchens of a
few nearby houses. A lone car drove by, its tires hissing on the damp pavement. And the lighthouse with its lifesaving beam kept beat to the rhythm of the waves.
