Guiding Light - Yaquina Head Lighthouse
Oregon Coast Fine Art Photography
About
This is the photograph I waited fifteen years to take.
Fifteen years ago I saw Scott's photograph of this lens for the first time. The way he'd handled the light, the way the lens itself became the architecture of the frame — I remember standing in front of it and thinking that I hoped, eventually, I might be good enough to be allowed to make a photograph like this one. I didn't say it out loud. I'm not sure I even fully said it to myself. But the thought was there. Scott is gone now. He passed before I made this image.
The Fresnel lens at Yaquina Head has been guiding ships since the 1870s. It is, to use a phrase that doesn't get used often enough, a working antique. The glass weighs more than most pickup trucks. It's surrounded by single-pane windows that have been there longer than every photographer who has ever wanted to be in this room. And it is still — quietly, faithfully — doing its job every night.
The access took years to arrange. Inside the lantern room you have maybe two feet of working space. You cannot touch anything. You are very high up. The light fails fast at sunset, and when it's gone, the access is gone. I worked quickly. The one difference between Scott's photograph and mine is that I got lucky. He shot his at a flat hour. I had a sunset coming through the window.
The lens caught the warm light and refracted it across every prism, and the Pacific opened up behind the glass, and I had maybe twenty minutes before the light shifted. This is the photograph I waited fifteen years to take.
Why You'll Love This Print
- Hand-stretched canvas on premium cotton substrate with UV-protective sealant — the same archival standard used in professional galleries
- Museum-quality Gicleé printing with archival inks rated for 100+ years of display
- Personally signed by Jeremy Burke
- Free shipping included
Perfect For
Oregon Coast lovers, Pacific Northwest home décor, collectors of dramatic landscape photography, anyone who has stood at the edge of the Pacific and felt small in the best possible way.
About the Artist
Jeremy Burke is a multiple award-winning photojournalist and Oregon Coast fine art photographer. After 20 years as a newspaper publisher and 15 years behind the lens, he shoots between 5,000 and 20,000 images every month — and sometimes the best ones come from the days when the weather had other plans.
Built to Order
Every print in this collection is individually produced after your order is placed — never mass-manufactured or pulled from inventory. That means your piece is made specifically for you, using the materials and format you select.
Production takes 2–3 weeks from the time of order. Each print is personally inspected by Jeremy before it ships.
