![]() Photo courtesy Bob TrapaniĪ close-up is a fresnel (pronounced freh-nel) lens. I wanted to just sit there and look at this sunrise, but at the same time, I knew I had only moments to capture this shot.” To me, the lighthouse is a sentinel, on watch all year-long. The photo shows you how cold the air is with the sea smoke and it looks like the world is on fire. If my hand had been exposed any longer, I would have gotten frostbite. “I only had about five minutes to get this shot and had to take my gloves off to shoot the photo. probably minus five degrees with considerable windchill,” he said. “This was a sub-zero morning at about 5:30 a.m. Here are five photographs in which Trapani explains what it took to get the shot. They do speak to us in some sort of silent language.” I see them as timeless, and they mean more to us than their utility. “They’re not static not just structures built to save lives. “To be able to express myself in creative writing perhaps allows other people reading it to explore their own feelings about what these lighthouses mean,” he said. Unlike many photo books of lighthouses, in which the text is mostly factual or historical, Trapani juxtaposes his own creative writings on the opposite page of each photograph. In addition, he has cultivated long-time connections with members of the lighthouse community and for the last 25 years, has worked as a volunteer lighthouse technician for the Coast Guard Auxillary. As the Executive Director of the American Lighthouse Foundation, he was able to get access to lighthouses that the general public doesn’t typically have. Trapani’s background has given him exclusive access to Maine’s lighthouse. At the time of taking the photo, I don’t really have time to process it I have to look at the photograph later to really immerse myself in the scene and enjoy it.” And oftentimes, I don’t photograph a lighthouse to show a pretty scene, I’m looking to capture some emotion I might have about it. “Where is the light? What do I want to show? How will the photo capture how I feel about it at the moment? The only way to find that out is to be out there all year-round, in all seasons and weather. ![]() “When I take a photo of a lighthouse, I’m always looking for a way to dig deeper than the typical emotions we associate with lighthouses,” said Trapani. ![]() Not merely content with standing on a lawn to snap a photo of lighthouses he photographed, Trapani climbed through rockweed-covered ledges, stood outside in sub-zero winter temperatures at dawn, trudged through waist-high snow, waded through the ocean, and laid down in brine pools to capture, “the romance, mystery, drama, isolation, dedication and heroism” of lighthouses for his book. In his new coffee table book, Gleams and Whispers: Maine’s Lighthouses and Their Allure, Rockland photographer and author Bob Trapani is compelled to find a deeper understanding of Maine’s 66 lighthouses. While they may seem utilitarian to Mainers who’ve grown up with them, a new book is determined to find beauty in the elusive nature of these historical structures.
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