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California's most famous lighthouse is now missing its remarkable 24 beam Fresnel lens. As reconstruction of the aging lighthouse gets under way, the first major step was to safely relocate the 16 foot tall, 8000lb first-order Fresnel lens, which consisted of 1008 individual prisms, to the fog horn building next to the lighthouse.

The massive lens can now be viewed up close during visiting hours as work continues on the upper portion of the lighthouse which was damaged in 2001 when a 200 plus pound piece of the brick and steel framework forced closure of the lighthouse to the public.

As a result of the planned repairs, the famous annual lighting of the lighthouse will not grace the coastline until the lens is returned to its rightful place atop the 117 ft tower. Estimates on the repair time range from 5 to 10 years depending mostly on funding.

Along with me on this day were my friends and fellow Flickr photographers Matt Granz, Miguel De La Cruz, and Mike Oria. I always enjoy shooting the lighthouse but the decision we made was to head further south to try and get a better angle on the storm clouds. It would turn in to a mad dash to get the best light with Me and Miguel getting separated from Mike and Matt.
One thing is for sure, we all had a very interesting night.

If you have read this far and not seen the brightly illuminated seagull in flight, click on the Wallpaper Size and look for him. He's fairly well hidden but you should be able to find him.

© Darvin Atkeson
LiquidMoonlight Studios

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Make:	NIKON CORPORATION
Model:	NIKON D300
Exposure:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture:	f/2.8
ISO Speed:	200
Focal Length:	48 mm
Lens:	17.0-55.0 mm f/2.8