Old Barney at Dusk, and other New Jersey Lighthouses

I'm back from my week long trip to New Jersey! Long drive, but we made it safe and sound. I managed to hit all the NJ coastal lights, Statue of Liberty, Hershey in Pennsylvania, underground cave, and lots of shopping! I got to meet up with Barry at Sea Girt and Fran at Eastpoint and Cape May. We had a great time and I got some INCREDIBLE shots. I thought I'd start off backwards from my first lighthousing day - Barry, as promised, Happy Birthday! Here's Barnegat, about 1/2 hour after sunset.

I found this little old abandoned building right outside the state park, and in front of it was a little triangle shaped dock to enticingly lure you out for the reflection view, especially since it said, "keep off"! We were naughty and got a few shots from here, since it's almost impossible to get one from the shoreline in the state park itself. ISO 200, 30 seconds at F16.



And then we wandered into the state park and got some from the ocean side about an hour after sunset. I looked up as we were walking past, and the sky was clear, the stars were out, and the quarter moon was smiling down. It was an incredible moment and one I won't soon forget. Barnegat was one of my favorite NJ lights and I will definitely be back! ISO 400, 30 seconds at F11.

Welcome Home, Jen.

Magical images. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, John.

Continuing backwards on New Jersey, my stop at Absecon was decent. It's too bad the neightborhood in which this light sits is surrounded by condos and the amount of trash that resides on the ground. Absecon was closed, so my only option was to walk all the way around the fence and poke my lens through to get shots. Thankfully, the slats were large enough!



Hereford was definitely one of my favorites. I love Victorian-style lights, and judged by the upkeep on this one, it is well taken care of and loved. The gardens are extraordinary and I did get a chance to see some of it in bloom, even though it's early in the season. There were a couple of young men who were acting suspicious when I stopped here - they were climbing the metal tower that sits next to the light and they were poking around the back like they were trying to get in. I was watching them and giving them dirty looks since they were in my way anyhow and they didn't like me standing there tapping my foot waiting for them to move! I can only hope I deterred them from an attempted break in.



More tomorrow.

Lovely shot of Hereford with the daffodils in the foreground. Sure hope your presence deterred any would be vandals. The pictures of Barnagat are pretty awesome!

Hope you took pictures of the would be vandals. Of course if you didn't they may not know that. OH YEA, good pictures as always.

Thanks for sharing your pics of some "home lights!" Sorry we couldn't get together...but the past few weeks have been pretty hectic - end of the marking period, trying to get everything done before vacation...and it might have been hard to really do anything, since my parents'd have to come along.

Next time you come up, hopefully we can do something. Not sure if you got into Sea Girt, but maybe I could arrange a "private tour."

The woman puts her son on her back and takes pictures with ease. Great Pictures. I met her Uncle and 2 kids. It was a nice time. I wish I had more time to do the other lights with them. Looking foward to CT.

Continuing on backwards to Cape May, this is definitely a light to hit in the morning. I had trouble with the sunlight being in the wrong spot, and this light is hard to get shots of anyhow because of the road that runs in front, the parking lot, cars, and people, so I had to get creative. Here are my three favorites.

From right in front, with some forsythia bushes in full bloom.


From the path that leads to the beach, in the far back corner of the parking lot.


Also from the beach path, and I cropped the cars out of the bottom of the frame.

I like the second one of Cape May the best.

Terrific images as usual, Jen!!

Thanks, Paul, Eric, and everyone!

And my final light for tonight, the first lighthouse of this particular day of lighthousing. East Point Lighthouse is located near Cape Map at the southern end of New Jersey. This is where I met up with Fran.

You have to walk along the beach in front of the lighthouse in order to get to these first two viewpoints.


The second one is when I was walking on top of the swamp and lost my shoe. I had the baby on a backpack (like a papoose), camera around my neck, and one shoe off! Anyone know how to get mud stains off Birkenstocks?! LOL! Fran, you should have taken a shot of me!


For this last one, I went back to the path and took the little boardwalk that runs right up to the light so you can see it close up.


East Point was right at the top of my favorite NJ lights. Secluded with nature at it's best.

Jen, as usual, all your shots are beautiful, but I love the ones of East Point in particular. What a pretty, little lighthouse. The colors are superb!

Beautiful pictures Jen. If memory serves me correctly they just finished restoring Hereford a few years ago. They did a fantastic job.

I should have taken a picture of you. Sorry.

Jen,

Just beautiful pictures- as per usual.

I don't know how I missed this thread before today. Sorry we missed each other during your trip.

Dennis

Love the first shot with the reflection in the water.
Hereford is one of my favorite too. I have met the man who takes care of the garden. He works for the city doing all the islands etc, but Hereford is his pet project. Told us only he works on that garden he does not let any of his men near it!
HCS