The Boothbay Harbor region has some nice lighthouses that can be seen and photographed from places that afford good look angles but at very different times of the day. The Cuckolds is best seen from the Newagen Town Landing in the later afternoon, Ram Island Light can be seen from Ocean Point a little before local sunset and Burnt Island looks nice from the road to Spruce Point in the morning hours after sunrise. And Hendricks Head Light on Southport Island looks nice in the morning light from the road to the beach. A good telephoto lens will help to fill the frame for all of these lights when capturing from the aforementioned points.

But there is another option that is very easy and that is to see the lighthouses by boat. Saturday Aug. 22 is the date for this year’s photography cruise on the Balmy Days II out of Pier 8 that leaves at 6 a.m.

Lighthouses in Maine mostly face East and the best time to see and photograph them is in early morning light. The warm colors of the sun and the low angle of the sunlight make for a perfect recipe to make breathtaking images of our local lighthouses. A cell phone camera is perfectly adequate to capture the really beautiful light that is bathed upon the lighthouses at that hour of the morning. Captain Bill Campbell maneuvers the vessel to afford the very best look angles of the lights that will help you to make your best shots.

The first lighthouse we usually see is Burnt Island Light with the warm glow of the morning light having just arisen over the horizon. Next, we see the Cuckolds light followed by Ram Island light where we get both a silhouette view and a fully lit view with a rocky coastline in the foreground - again a view that is only seen by boat. And in the past couple years we have had the great fortune of seeing Pemaquid light with the morning light from the ocean.

If you like lighthouses and photography you do not want to miss this most unique opportunity to be aboard for this cruise. Photographer Mike Leonard, frequent contributor to the Boothbay Register, will be aboard to help with camera settings and to offer general photography help. He will also have the Maine Lighthouse decks of playing cards available for sale that includes pictures of the local lights. 

This trip usually goes in September but a lot of folks expressed an interest in wanting to attend but could not as they had school and work commitments which is why the earlier Aug. 22 date was selected. While this is a photography cruise, non-photographers are also very welcome to come aboard to view the local lights in their best morning light and to get to see the region from the ocean perspective. 

Tickets are available now for purchase at the ticket booth or online at Balmy Days Cruises. I hope to see you aboard this year!

Side note - if you really like lighthouses, join Mike for the Grand Slam Lighthouse cruise out of Bar Harbor Sept. 5 where we will see 19 lighthouses between Bar Harbor and Monhegan Island in eight hours. Many of these lights are only viewable by boat. Details available at the Photo Events tab at my website www.phototourismbymike.com