One of the seacoast’s icons is the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, which sits on the coastline in New Castle in Fort Constitution. I have always loved getting out in a boat on the Piscataqua River – and this day was no exception with the warm air and soft rays of sunset on the fort’s wall and the lighthouse.
On a sunset cruise with Portsmouth Harbor Cruises, we were treated to a beautiful sky and a vivid cloudscape. On our way back into Portsmouth as the ship was turning around, this scene caught my eye – bright pink and blue clouds hovering over Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in New Castle.
One of my favorite vistas in the seacoast features the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse at Fort Constitution in New Castle. I probably inherited my love of lighthouses from my dad, and we made our first trek to this beauty many years ago – and I’m always coming back in search of good lighting and to enjoy the view of the ocean. Be sure to take a tour if you ever have the opportunity!
With the clouds clearing out in the afternoon at Fort Constitution at the New Castle waterfront, the light wasn’t ideal for photos, but it revealed a rich blue sky that complimented the tones in the water and also reflected off the water’s surface. Combining the blue with the soft colors in the clouds made for a beautiful scene, so I wanted to capture the mood in a more abstract way. I’m liking the abstract series and to when I find another scene that would lend itself to some creative shooting.
This solitary window on the side of the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse opens my imagination to what it must have been like to be a lighthouse keeper back in the old days. What a view to survey the waterfront and enjoy all the water traffic, especially when old freighters or old cutter ships made their way upriver towards the Portsmouth docks or further upriver to Dover. I went with a black & white processing on this shot, as the grey skies didn’t present much interesting color, but it simplified the shot down to what really mattered to me – the interesting curve of the sheathing around the tower and the window.
Today’s images feature the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse located at Fort Constitution…as seen from the outside. (Earlier this week I featured the geometric beauty of the interior staircase). If you haven’t been – I can’t encourage you enough to catch one of the open houses…if for nothing else than to take a stroll and enjoy the view from the top of the structure…and marvel at the really old structure (that has a fresh coat of paint).
As I wrote yesterday, New Hampshire has the smallest coastline of any oceanfront state in the US. One of the treasures along our coast is the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. I decided to head over to the open house hosted by the Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse. These great folks host an open house on Sundays throughout the summer…and I was happy to take advantage. I’d been to a tour a few years back before I bought my beloved Canon 5d Mark II….and had been itching to get back to shoot the interior ever since. Since the lighthouse is located on an active Coast Guard station, it had pretty tight security due to the significance of this somber weekend.
The lighthouse is just awesome…I’ll stay away from the technical aspects of the lighthouse and encourage you to take a tour to hear more about it. The staircase is a marvel as seen from below with its rich brick walls and industrial stairs. I’ll feature more from my stop later in the week…but for now I’ll let you enjoy the stairs and the window.
I headed out to Fort Constitution in New Castle, NH in the rain a couple weeks back to investigate what I might see off the coast….I ended up not making it out of the parking lot, where I saw a freighter being escorted towards the Piscataqua River by a Moran Towing tugboat…and I also happened to see this classic “woody” wood paneled car apparently known as “The Anchor” from New Castle, NH. I didn’t have much time otherwise I would have stopped and said hello to the group selling rain barrels or educating folks on conservation and saving Great Bay – I am not exactly sure (hopefully someone can fill me in or correct me if they have any info)…but essentially it seemed like they were good people hanging out and encouraging people to be good environmental stewards.
In any event, it was great to see such a cool and beautiful older car on the seacoast.
Fort Constitution has a stoic feel to it, appropriate for a location first fortified in 1632 for the early New Englanders. Read up more on the site here. The fort is home to the US Coast Guard and Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, a regular fixture here at The Daily Portsmouth, and one of my favorite landmarks of the seacoast. The shot below is a view of the Fort from Great Island Common in New Castle.
Today’s shots feature Strawbery Banke with some freshly fallen snow. Above is a panoramic shot of the museum campus and the former Puddle Dock neighborhood with the North Church visible in the background. Below is another shot from my trip to Fort Constitution, where you can see just how cold the Fort’s stone wall is with the ice built up from the snow and sea spray. View on large for a nice crisp shot of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse (you can even see Whaleback Light in the distance). The fresh snow definitely made for a lovely walk on Monday afternoon.
THE DAILY PORTSMOUTH 