This is a fun one that you're certain to enjoy since the photos are very good and the lighthouses are viewed from an unusual perspective.

"Lighthouses from Aloft: 51 Scenic New England Lights", by Charles Feil.

Down East Books
Camden, Maine
1997

ISBN 0-89272-394-7

Soft cover, 7" x 9", 66 pages, $14.95.

I got mine several dollars cheaper through Barnes & Noble.Com, and many other Internet book stores also carry this title.

The author is a private pilot with his own airplane and an interest in lighthouses. Here he presents 57 aerial views of New England lights and no fewer than 17 of them are subjects of Harbour Lights sculptures.

The photography runs from good to excellent (in my opinion), and I found it most interesting to see these lighthouses from the air instead of the more conventional perspective we see in most lighthouse photography books. That is, we're looking down here instead of looking up.

These aerial views allow you to compare the base of the lighthouse and its surrounding area and topography directly with your HL pieces. I was especially interested in how accurate HL's Bass Harbor Head was in comparison to the original, except for the red roof. Well, perhaps the Coast Guard reshingled the original's roof.....

As a pilot myself I found this book appealing, and was surprised at how disorienting the photo of Pemaquid Point, with its striated rocks, truly is. I had to study the photo for quite some time to make sense out of the angle of photography since the rocks make the perspective misleading.

*** Three stars out of five: recommended



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Bob Steinbrunn
Nautical Research Guild