There are many lighthouses in the Northeast and this collection ranges from Buffalo to the New Jersey coast. The project began near my Rhode Island home and quickly ran out of subject matter. It expanded first easterly to Massachusetts and as those lights were all photographed, expanded west to Connecticut and New York. The frustrating part of this is encountering more ambient light pollution from the larger cities and great strides have been taken to shoot on the darkest nights to maximize the stars. What you see in these photographs are what is captured by the camera and never are stars Photoshopped into the frame. It would be really easy to add the Milky Way to anyone of the images but that would run counter to my artistic and photojournalistic ethics. Most have been lit by using either dimmed LED stand lights, by a handheld flashlight, or by a combination of both. I call the images "digitally organic", an oxymoron for sure, but true. I do not manipulate any but for minor color and contrast adjustments, minor lens distortion correction, and the removal of distant airplane lights. Many of these are rare captures as few people have ever ventured to photograph these historical structures this way.
In December 2017, the first book "Stars and Lights: The Darkest of Dark Nights" was released to critical acclaim, and it has won numerous national and international book awards. The Stars & Lights Project has been adopted by the United States Lighthouse Society, and David Zapatka has been named an Ambassador for the organization. We hope to continue the night photography on the national level, and soon the entire collection will be available through the USLHS website.
I hope you enjoy these photographs and any can be purchased from me directly at [email protected]
DZ Sept 2019
I hope you enjoy these photographs and any can be purchased from me directly at [email protected]
