Sturgeon Point Lighthouse-Michigan

Sturgeon Point lighthouse is located on Michigan's east coast about 5 miles north of Harrisville on the banks of Lake Huron.  The 70 foot tower and keepers house was built in November of 1870.

Today the keepers house is a maritime museum and the lighthouse is maintained by the US Coast Guard.  The museum and tower are open to visitors during the summer months, but the grounds are open to the public year round.

We visited this lighthouse in June of 2015.  We were able to park in a lot just a short distance from the lighthouse and I wandered the grounds taking photos from various angles.

There is a rock jetty that juts out into the water in front of the lighthouse and I found it a good place to get some clear shots of the lighthouse.  The photo above shows the lighthouse as taken from that point.

The keepers house has a bright red entrance door and red window trim and shutters.  They make an interesting contrast against the white tower and house.

Do you have a bathroom with a lighthouse decor?  This great bathmat from Zazzle will add to your theme.

Sturgeon Point Lighthouse Bath Mats by lighthouseenthusiast
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Michigan has  many wonderful lighthouses to visit and photograph.  This book will give you a guide to many of them.

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Photographing Port Sanilac Lighthouse

Port Sanilac was built in 1886.  Today it is a private residence but the light is still active for navigation.  I found it to be a bit challenging to get good photos of the lighthouse.  First of all it was June when we visited and the trees hid the lighthouse from the front and secondly when we got to the lighthouse the sky was very cloudy and gray looking.  In the two photos below you will note the sky.  I walked out on the breakwater and was able to capture these two shots without capturing too much of the sky.

We decided to hang around for a while and see if the clouds would lift.  After about 1/2 an hour I was able to capture some blue sky in the photo above taken from a parking lot on the side of the light.  I like the wooden fence that I was able to photograph in the forefront of the photo.  It gives a nice leading line to the lighthouse.

After the breakwater photos and the wooden fence photo, we drove around the town a bit and then decided to try to photograph from the marina just below the lighthouse.  The cloud cover lifted and we were rewarded for our patience as you will see from the photos taken from the boat dock!

Photographing from Breakwater

Photographing from Boat Dock

 Finally  -- Blue Skies

It only took 2 hours, but I finally got a shot with blue skies.

In this book the author gives great tips about places to get good photographs of lighthouses.  I like how he tells if the light is best in the morning or afternoon and what places are good for sunrise/sunset photos.  It also gives directions to each lighthouse and sample photos of the lighthouses.

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Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse

Point Aux Barques lighthouse is located on the shores of Lake Huron at the tip of Michigan's thumb.  The lighthouse is one of the oldest lighthouses on the Great Lakes.  The first lighthouse on the spot was operating in 1848 but didn't last very long due to bad construction.  The current tower was completed in 1857 and it is still in operation today guiding boaters and commercial traffic.  The tower is 89 feet tall.

The first lighthouse keeper, Paul Shook, drowned in 1849 and his wife took over the operation of the lighthouse.  She is said to be the first female lighthouse keeper on the Great Lakes.  The brochure on the lighthouse states that her salary was $350 per year.

Today the lighthouse grounds, a museum, and gift shop are operated by the Pointe aux Barques Lighthouse Society.  When we visited, there was no one else around so I had plenty of space to explore and photograph the lighthouse from various angles.  The photo above was taken from a platform going out on the lake at the campgrounds that adjoined the lighthouse grounds.  Below are several other shots I took of the lighthouse.

Here is an ornament made from one of my photos of the lighthouse.

Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse Double-Sided Ceramic Round Christmas Ornament by lighthouseenthusiast
View more Pointe aux barques lighthouse Ornaments at zazzle.com

I love finding interesting place to visit in the "Off the Beaten Track" series of books.  Here is one on Michigan.

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Photographing Tawas Point Lighthouse

Tawas Point Lighthouse is located along the Michigan coast of Lake Huron.The lighthouse has been in operation since 1876.  Today the lighthouse is part of Tawas Point State Park.  If you have ever dreamed of being a lighthouse keeper Tawas Point Lighthouse offers you an opportunity to stay in the keepers house and conduct tours of the lighthouse along with some other keepers duties.

We visited Tawas Point on a beautiful June afternoon, the skies were bright blue and had some interesting cloud formations.  The lighthouse grounds was not crowded so I was able to shoot several photos without people in the photos.  The trees and grounds around the lighthouse made this an excellent lighthouse to photograph.

When I photograph a lighthouse I like to shoot from several different perspectives.  I look for interesting objects or foliage in the foreground and leading lines such as paths or fences to draw your eye to the main subject.  I found Tawas Point to be a great lighthouse to photograph.  Below are the results of my efforts.

Leading Lines

These first two photos were taken using two of the many trail paths to lead your eye to the lighthouse.

Foreground Interest

The next group of photos uses some of the trees and flowers on the property to give foreground interest and perspective.  These three pictures were taken over about an hours time.  You will note how the cloud formations changed the look of the photos over the time I was shooting.  On days when there are moving clouds it really pays to hang around and get the changing formations in your photographs.

Here is a greeting card made from my lighthouse photos.

Twas Point Lighthouse Greeting Card by lighthouseenthusiast
Find other Twas point lighthouse Cards at zazzle.com

I found the ideas in this book to be very helpful in photographing Great Lakes lighthouses.  It includes directions to each lighthouse along with great photos and ideas of vantage points to take each photo.

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Fort Gratiot Lighthouse

Oldest Lighthouse on the Great Lakes

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in Michigan.  It was first put into service in 1829 and still operates today to guide  ships in the area through the rapids at the head of the St. Clair River.

There was originally a lighthouse built in the area in 1825 but it soon collapsed due to poor construction.

The current lighthouse stands 86 feet tall.  It has a green flashing light that was installed in 1933 that can be seen from as far away as 17 miles.

Photographing Lighthouses

When I visit a lighthouse I like to photograph it from all different vantage points.  Before  my visit I look for photos that other photographers have taken of the lighthouse.  One book that is particularly helpful for Great Lakes Lighthouses is by Richard F. Edington.  He gives directions to the lighthouses and then several ideas of how best to photograph each lighthouse.  For the Fort Gratiot lighthouse I was  able to follow his advice and photographed from several different perspectives.  The first in the photo above is a shot I took while on the grounds of the lighthouse.

The next shot in the photo below was taken from across the river on the Canadian side of the river.

It is one of my favorite photos of the lighthouse.  I took it in the morning when I was able to get the reflection of the lighthouse on the river.

The next photo shows the lighthouse from the west side/street side.  I took this photo through the fence.

Next, I walked out on the beach just north of the light to take these two photos.

Here are some of my photographs on a Zazzle poster.

Fort Gratiot Light Station by lighthouseenthusiast
View more Fort gratiot lighthouse Posters at zazzle.com

Lighthouse Coloring books are a great way to introduce children to lighthouses.  Here is one I found on the Great Lakes.  My granddaughters love to color these lighthouses.

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Presque Isle Lighthouses

Located on Presque Isle near Alpena in Upper Michigan you will find two beautiful historic lighthouses. In September of 2013 my husband and I took a drive along the Lake Huron coast and visited these lighthouses. We were traveling along Grand Lake Rd and we found a sign that took us off the main road and onto Presque Isle. When we got to the end of the road we turned right and found the Old Presque lighthouse.

  This lighthouse was first put into use in 1840. It is one of the oldest lighthouses still standing on the Great Lakes. The thirty foot tower is opening for the public to climb from May through October. From the tower you can get a view of Lake Huron and the coastline. The lighthouse is an interesting looking structure and definitely has an old feel to it.  Some people claim it is haunted.

Old Presque Isle Lighthouse

After photographing Old Presque Isle lighthouse we went back up the road about a mile and we came to New Presque Isle lighthouse. New is a rather relative term for this lighthouse which was built in 1870.


The grounds to the lighthouse also include a keeper's house that is not attached to the tower. It was built in 1905 and has been restored into a very interesting museum. There is also a building that now houses a gift shop.

When we arrived at this lighthouse I thought it really looked familiar. The top of the structure and the railings were painted a green color much the same as the Seul Choix lighthouse that I had seen on Lake Michigan. Upon further research, I found they were constructed by the same architect during the same time period. Here is a photo I took of the New Presque Isle lighthouse.  

For more information on my travels to Michigan lighthouses stop by my Squidoo pages at Michigan Upper Peninsula Lighthouses and Lake Huron Lighthouses

Round Island Lighthouse

Mackinac Island is one of the most popular places to visit in Michigan. Each day tourists board the ferries that take them from either Mackinac City or St. Ignace to spend some time on this beautiful island. As you approach the island the ferry passes a charming little lighthouse called Round Island Lighthouse.

Here you see a photograph of the lighthouse as we passed by it on the ferry. This lighthouse was built in 1895 and has been kept in shape by a major renovation project in the 1980's. It is only reachable by boat in the summer or snowmobile in the winter months, however I found that with a good telephoto lens it can be viewed and photographed from several spots on the island. My first view of it was on the ferry, but the ferry was moving and I had to be quick to get this photo. After the ferry landed, I walked on the Main street to the left on the island and was able to get this view from the shoreline.

Later in the day we were walking along the shoreline in the other direction and as the shore makes a curve back toward the dock, I found that I could get another view of the lighthouse. I was a bit further away this time but with a 300mm lens, I was able to capture this photo.

The tower of the lighthouse is a solid red color and the attached house is red on the bottom and white on the second story. This gives it a very distinctive look. Stop by my Squidoo pages to read more about my Michigan lighthouse adventures.Michigan Lighthouses

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

This historic lighthouse is found in Mackinaw City just before you cross the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The lighthouse has been in operation since 1889, guiding ships through the waters of the Straits of Mackinac where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. When we visited in September of 2013, it was a cloudy and misty day. You can see in the photo above I was able to capture just a portion of the 5 mile Mackinac Bridge in the background. The rest of the bridge disappeared into the misty fog. In researching a bit about the lighthouse, I found that it served to guide ships for over 65 years through the dangerous waters. In 1957 it was decommissioned. It was no longer needed because the lights on the newly constructed bridge served to guide the ships. Today visitors can tour the lighthouse and visit the exhibits to get a feel for the importance this lighthouse played in the history of the shipping industry. I have photographed many lighthouses and this one has a very distinctive look and feel to it. I love the brick work on the tower. Here is a photo I took from the water side.

Read more about my adventures in photographing lighthouses. Lighthouse Photography

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Postcard by lighthouseenthusiast
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