St. Augustine Lighthouse

St Augustine Lighthouse-through the eyes of the camera

Historic City

I love photographing lighthouses, so I went to St. Augustine specifically to photograph the lighthouse. I was pleasantly surprised by a wonderful, historic ciy with many wonderful attractions. We were only there for one day so we really only touched the surface of all of the sites to visit. I spent quite a bit of time photographing the lighthouse and touring the lighthouse museum.

Afterward we went to the Castillo de San Marcos, an old Spanish fort that is right on the inlet. We also spent some time walking around the downtown area and taking in the many historic buildings. St. Augustine is truly a historic treasure. It was settled 55 years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and is full of hundreds of years of fascinating history.

This page will give you a photographic tour of the lighthouse and the Castillo de San Marcos.

photographs by Mary Beth Granger

St Augustine Lighthouse - from the Parking Lot

Here is the first photo I took of the lighthouse from the parking lot. The way the lighthouse is surrounded by trees it is hard to get a good shot of the lighthouse without being right on top of it. In this lens you will see my challenge at trying to get a good shot of the lighthouse.

I moved around to various spots within the lighthouse grounds and even tried to shoot from across the way in a park. If you have a favorite view I would love to hear from you. Just let me know in the comment section at the end of the article.

St Augustine Gifts on Amazon - Lighthouse Gifts

St Augustine Lighthouse is a beautiful sight with it's black and white stripes spiraling up the lighthouse.

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Fourth Order Fresnel Lens - in lighthouse museum

The lighthouse has a wonderful museum that tells the history of the lighthouse and shows a great timeline of the history.

The museum has several fresnel lenses. This photo shows a Fourth Order Fresnel Lens

Lighthouse and Keepers House

Taken from the Museum porch

This photo was taken from the porch of the museum, directly across from the lighthouse. It was one place I could get an unobstructed view of the lighthouse with the little house in front of it. I'm still a bit close for comfort and it gives a distorted look to the tower.

St. Augustine lighthouse has a 165 ft tower. Visitors are welcome to climb the 219 steps to the top.

An Artists point of View

Up Close section of Lighthouse

While we were visiting the lighthouse, there was a local artist painting an oil painting of the lighthouse. When I finished touring the grounds and museum I stopped to look at what he had been painting. I snapped this photo from the same angle the artist was using to paint the picture. It gives a closeup point of view. Interesting...although I will admit it looked much better in the oil painting.

A view through the Trees

The grounds of the lighthouse have trails through the woods that go up and down hills. I explored one of the trails looking for a view of the lighthouse. This photo was taken of the lighthouse through the trees.

Photo from Park

There is a park not far from the lighthouse where you can get some great views of the lighthouse. With my telephoto lens, I was able to capture the lighthouse framed in palms. You can even see a few tourists enjoying the view from the top of the lighthouse.

Nighttime View

We stopped by St. Augustine on another trip to Florida and I was able to capture the lighthouse at night. The lighthouse is surrounded by buildings and trees so to get a good shot of the light at night I went to a nearby park and set up my tripod.

St Augustine Lighthouse at Night by lighthouseenthusiast
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Castillo de San Marcos

This wonderful old Spanish fort was constructed between 1672 and 1756. It was made from coquina, a local shell-rock formation.

Old Spanish Fort

Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse

Hillsboro Inlet lighthouse is found near Pompano Beach, Florida. I first visited this lighthouse about 5 years ago with my granddaughter, Rachel. I found it to be a great lighthouse to photograph through the palm trees and I wrote a Squidoo page on the lighthouse. You can read it at Lighthouse Through the Palms
This year when we were staying in Jupiter, we took a drive down to Pompano Beach so that I could photograph the lighthouse again. I thought there might be a better angle to take the photographs, but I do believe the park across the inlet where I took my photos the first time is the best vantage point. Hillsboro lighthouse is a skeletal tower type of lighthouse with the bottom half being white and the top of the tower plus the lantern house being black. The lighthouse is 142 feet tall and was originally built in 1906-1907. It is a working lighthouse that is operated by the Coast Guard. It is only open to the public during tour dates. Here is another photo that I took from the park with my zoom lens. <

Cape Florida Lighthouse

I thoroughly enjoyed my photographic session at Cape Florida lighthouse.  This lighthouse is located at the southern tip of Key Biscayne, Florida and is very accessible to the public.  I was able to capture it from the beach and from the lighthouse grounds.

The lighthouse and keepers house are both open to the public and I enjoyed my tour of both.  It is a very interesting and historic lighthouse.  You can read more about the lighthouse at my lens http://www.squidoo.com/cape-florida-lighthouse