Chasing the Light

Sore and tired from my “hike” in Deception Pass, I decided a photographer in motion tends to stay in motion and went south to Fort Casey State Park.  There are several reasons why I love Whidbey Island: temperate seasons, beautiful scenery, and several State Parks and a huge National Historical Reserve.  Fort Casey, named in honor of Brigadier General Thomas Lincoln Casey, was built in the 1890s.  Along with Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island and Fort Worden at Point Wilson, the three forts formed the “Triangle of Death” to protect Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound from a naval invasion.  Almost immediately after construction was completed, the forts were obsoleted by better battleships and airplanes.  Fort Casey was mothballed in 1935, but reactivated at the start of World War II (when the guns were scrapped for the war effort) until it was placed in caretaker status in 1950 then acquired by Washington State in 1955.

As with most of the places I’ve been photographing lately, I’ve visited them many years ago when I first moved to the area in 1990.  I’m sure it happens to most people; they lose the appreciation of their surroundings due to constant exposure.  It’s happened to me.  Only through the viewfinder of my D90 have I been able to become reacquainted with the beauty of Whidbey Island and its surroundings.  I’ve been to Admiralty Head Lighthouse a couple times this past year, and to get to the light, I have to drive past the barracks and gun batteries of Fort Casey.  The lighthouse is literally in the Fort Casey State Park.

So, today, I decided to explore the guns of Casey.  My first stop was to the lighthouse.  Inside, there’s a small interpretive museum of old photographs, a plan-relief of the Fort, and several other lighthouse items, including two Fresnel lens (both of which were never used at Admiralty Head, oddly enough). In the Lighthouse, I took several pictures of old photographs.

No, I’m not a plagiarist.  I’m a member of a Flickr group called “Looking into the Past.”  The object is some part of a modern day scene is overlapped by an old photograph of the same scene.  You can either hold up an old photograph and align the old scene with the current scene, or use a photo manipulation program like Photoshop to superimpose the old scene into the modern scene.  The photo left is an example of what I did with one of these old photos I “copied.”  I photographed a picture from 1902 of the Lighthouse under construction, then took my own picture of the Lighthouse at the same angle.  Using Photoshop, I positioned the old photo over top of the new photo and culled out what I didn’t want.  The result is two photographs captured 108 years apart, creating a Look into the Past.  I did the same thing for a photo of a 10-inch gun and the main battery line.  You can see these and other photo-montages of old photos I’ve created by exploring the link at the end of this blog post.

The rest of the photos I shot at Casey were of the historic emplacement.  It’s amazing to think that at the time this fort was built, there wasn’t electricity, or wireless communications.  Everything was done with manpower, counterweights, and acoustics.  The steps have narrow treads and tall risers with no hand rails.  The only way to go above the second level to photograph the muzzle of the guns is to climb ladders or walk all the way around the end of the main line and climb the hill.  Back in the 1890s, there was no such thing as OSHA.  During my visit, I walked around and took pictures of the two guns, the carriages of each, the empty gun emplacements, and various elements of the batteries.  For the most part, my trip to Fort Casey was an excuse to get out of the house.  I got a few good pictures out of the excursion, which you can view by clicking the link below.

Flickr sets from the day:

Admiralty Head Light House: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/sets/72157623319834985/
Fort Casey State Park: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/sets/72157624307460842/
Looking into the Past: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafwot/sets/72157624200255000/